pg. 2 of Teenage Nutrition: Never more important. The dramatic increase in growth that accompanies puberty in humans doesn’t occur in other animals. For a year or two before adolescence and throughout adolescence the growth rate accelerates. Eating you out of house and home may be noticed. For girls, the most rapid changes take place between 11 and 14 years. In boys this change usually takes place later, somewhere betweenn13 and 16 years. The growth spurt usually lasts from two to three years. The individual variations in this process are great, as is noticeable in freshman class pictures. With variations in growth come variations in nutritional requirements. An 11 year old girl who enters puberty early, will have different nutrient needs (more iron and protein)) than her friend of the same age who has not yet begun these changes. The nutritional requirements of a teenager in proportion to body size are much higher than they will be in adult years. The caloric demands of these years are well known. It is not uncommon for a a 14 to 18 year old boy to consume over 3,000 calories a day–even more if he is involved in sports. And don’t forget the calories used in walking six miles to school up hill both ways. Oh, they don’t walk to school anymore. Requirements for vitamins and minerals similarly increase during adolescence. As a group, teenagers consistently fall short of the recommended nutrient intake for their age, size, and activity levels. Some caveats–who is measuring, testing appropriately? No one. School lunch hardly qualifies for much value. After school sports and activities may often occur in a vacuum of food, especially good food, hydration, and nutrient concentration. We are working on a prenatal to post natal project and the first 1000 days of baby and have learned that 95% of moms to be and new moms are quite deficient in nutrients. Yes, 11 years old, etc, is too young to worry about this…ta,ta.ta. Is it? MY point is these are the foundation years for the rest of them, the years, that is. Why are we mostly ignoring the obvious? Maybe it’s like global warming, or something like that. How is that working for you and the rest of us. I don’t mean to be snarky, I get excited, nervous, thinking about this and the possibilities of what could be and how this could be so much better. There have been many days where I cooked and served 1500 meals, and they were damned good ’cause the people kept coming back. I know it can be done. Sometimes I supervised 7,000. It is 0300 hours and maybe I should take three yoga breaths and go to bed. Bon appetit. Let’s feed and nourish our kids better…Ask me how!!!
