Macronutrients

Carbohydrates:
Carbohydrates are the foundation of any diet. To put it simply, they provide most of the energy your body needs. Since an active teen uses more energy than average teens, they need more carbs than average teens.

Carbohydrates are composed of sugar, starch and fiber. When people eat carbs, they get broken down into mostly glycogen and stored in your liver where it can be infused with blood and transported through every single cell. For this reason, they are important to provide the energy to make new cells and new tissue.

Some healthy sources of carbohydrates are thinks like whole wheat bread, beans, potatoes, and brown rice. Almost every food have carbohydrates in them, so there are many unhealthy sources of carbs. Things like candy, chocolate, white bread, and sugar drinks all have carbs. Although these carbs are still used the same way, these ones do not have as many micronutrients that are also extremely important.

The recommended intake vary based on factors such as age, weight, gender, etc. On average though, about 55-65% of total calories consumed should be from carbohydrates. But these should mostly be from good sourses of carbs like the ones listed above, not bad ones.


Proteins:
Proteins are important in the growth, development and repair of your body. It not only helps build muscles, but also helps with your health of hair, immune system and enzyme production.

Foods that are called complete proteins contain 9 essential amino acids, which the body cannot produce by itself. Foods that are complete proteins include: Meat, poultry, certain beans, nuts and soy products. Incomplete proteins include grains, fruit and vegetables. However, foods can be combined to create complete proteins such as rice and beans.

Recommend intake vary based on factors such as age, weight, gender, etc. However, there is a formula for calculating the recommend intake of protein:
(Body Weight/2.2) • (between 0.8-1.8) = grams of protein

If you are highly active you will multiply the first number by a higher number between 0.8-1.8 (Ex. (Body Weight/2.2) • 1.3 = grams of protein). This is due to the fact that you require more protein if you are highly active, particularly if you are weight lifting and you are trying to bulk up.

According to MyPyramid, Teens should eat an equivalent of 6 ounces worth of meat and poultry: http://www.mypyramid.gov/pyramid/meat_counts_table.html (see chart)

A single gram of protein is 4 calories; 10%-15% of your daily caloric intake should come from protein.

Fats:
Fats are important in all diets. There are good fats and bad fats.

Good fats include unsaturated fats (monounsaturated and polyunsaturated). They help with the absorption of vitamins A, D, E, and K. They also provide essential fats such Omega 3 and Omega 6, which help brain function, regulate blood pressure, blood clots and immune system response. Unsaturated fats are found in foods such as vegetable oils, nuts (omega 6s), fish (omega 3s) and avocadoes. Monounsaturated fats help reduce bad cholesterol (LDL) and are a good source of vitamin E, which is an important antioxidant. Monounsaturated fats offer more heart protection than polyunsaturated fats

Bad fats include saturated and trans fat. Saturated fats are fats mainly found in meats and dairy products such as pork, butter and cheese. Consuming saturated fats increases your bad cholesterol (LDL), which increases risk for heart disease and atherosclerosis. Trans fat is created by adding hydrogen to vegetable oils to make them solidify. Another name for trans fat is partially hydrogenated oils. Trans fat raises bad LDL cholesterol levels while also lowering good HDL cholesterol levels. This has a drastic effect on risk of heart disease. Saturated and trans fat should be limited, and instead unsaturated fats should be substituted.

Recommended intakes vary based on factors such as age, weight, gender, etc. An active/athletic teen should eat roughly 60 grams of fat a day (vigorous activities may call for more fat in a diet).

Most of this fat should come from polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats. The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends less than one percent of your daily caloric intake should come from trans fat, which equates to less than 2 grams. The AHA also recommends less than 7 percent of your daily caloric intake should come from saturated fats, which equates to about 16 grams daily.

According to MyPyramid, teens should eat an equivalent of 6 teaspoons of oils. http://www.mypyramid.gov/pyramid/oils_count_table.html (see chart)

A single gram of fat is 9 calories; 20-25% of your daily caloric intake should come from fats.