Maintaining a healthy diet during the teen years is an important early step toward a healthy life especially for teen girls, who are under enormous pressure to be model-thin. Whether you’re looking to lose weight or simply feel better by eating right, a healthy diet plan will help keep you in shape and keep you from starvation diets that leave you weak and hungry.
Forget the Pills
Avoid diet pills. They are dangerous, and they don’t work. Many are simply very powerful stimulants, or drugs that make your body burn more calories by speeding up your heart and other functions. People who take diet pills gain back the weight they lost very quickly.
Also, do not take Ritalin or Adderall as a way to lose weight. You may be taking these with a prescription to treat ADHD, but using these drugs as a weight-loss method is dangerous.
Eat Breakfast
Eating a healthy breakfast will actually help you lose weight by getting your body working. Fruits such as apples, bananas and oranges are a great start; eggs are high in protein and low in calories (if you cook them in olive-oil spray); and a bowl of whole-grain cereal or oatmeal will keep you from feeling hungry. If cereal and oatmeal are boring for you, dress them up with cinnamon (but not cinnamon sugar), blueberries, bananas or strawberries.
Many teenagers drink soda for a caffeine kick in the morning. Soda is full of sugar, so steer clear of that. If you need a morning pick-me-up, try a cup of tea instead.