Healthy Snacks for Teens

Teen appetites are legendary and figuring out healthy snacks for teens can seem difficult. My mother always said teens have hollow legs and as a mother of teens myself now, I'm inclined to agree with her. While it is easier to fill your cupboards with convenience foods like chips or cookies, making healthy snacks available for your teen will not only improve their health, but it will help them develop healthy habits they can carry with them into adulthood.

Keep in mind that teens have a higher calorie requirement than adults. In fact, according to the Institute of Medicine, an active 15 year old boy who is 5 feet, 8 inches tall can need over 4,000 calories per day for optimal health. This means that your teen may need to eat a lot more food than you do and will be able to eat a diet higher in fat (although healthy fats are still ideal) as well. You may be watching your carb and fat intake, but these are the kinds of high-calorie foods, when chosen as healthfully as possible, that your active teen may need to nourish his rapidly growing body.

A great thing about healthy snacks for teens is they are old enough to be able to handle a kitchen knife or appliances, as long as an adult shows them the proper safety measures beforehand. Both of my teenage sons know how to use a stove, oven, microwave, and kitchen mixer. I've also taught them proper knife skills so they can slice up their own fruits and veggies. You can start teaching your teen how to cook just by asking for help to prepare the family meals. They'll pick up cooking skills in no time.

You might be surprised at the healthy snacks they come up with on their own when they have a bevy of healthy ingredients to choose from. Scrambled eggs, stir-fry veggies, and french bread pizza are all simple, filling and healthy snacks for teens they can easily learn to make on their own. My youngest son loves to make eggs-in-a-basket. This is simply a slice of bread with a square cut out of the middle and fried with an egg in the hole. He loves to make this not only as a snack for himself, but as breakfast for friends who have spent the night.

You can add variety by expanding your definition of a snack. Think about the breakfast, lunch and dinner options your teen already enjoys when trying to come up with healthy snacks for teens. There's no reason your teen daughter can't have yogurt and fresh berries or even oatmeal with apples and cinnamon as an afternoon snack, and your teen son can easily slap some peanut butter on a tortilla, add a peeled banana, and roll it all up for a snack on the go.

If you want to keep costs down for your healthy snacks for teens, consider stocking up on dried pasta and healthy pasta sauces so your son or daughter can whip up a quick and cheap bowl of spaghetti after school. Eggs are inexpensive and are a great source of protein for a developing teen.

Teens will probably get a kick out of snacks they remember as a kid, such as peanut butter and raisins on celery sticks or apple slices with dipping yogurt - but instead of Mom or Dad preparing it for them, they can whip it up on their own.

Healthy snacks for teens will take a little more effort from both you and your teen, but the rewards will be worth the extra time spent shopping and planning.

Sources:
Dietary Reference Intakes, http://www.iom.edu/Object.File/Master/21/372/0.pdf, Institute of Medicine