Helping Your Teen Stay in Shape

Teen obesity is on the rise in America due to poor eating habits and inactive lifestyles. How do we prevent teens from becoming overweight? Some simple lifestyle changes can make a world of difference in preventing teen obesity. You can't change the way your teen lives and eats away from home but changing at home habits can point them in the right direction.

Out of Sight Out of Mind
One of the best ways to prevent teen obesity is by stocking only healthy snacks. If it's not there, they can't eat it. Avoid buying cookies, chips and other fattening snacks. They don't just cause obesity. They cause other health issues as well. Keep kids healthy by keeping snacks low in sugar, fat, salt and white flour.

What to Eat
Just because snack food is healthy and low calorie, doesn't mean it has to be boring. Keep a wide variety of fresh fruit on hand to snack on. Nuts, low fat yogurt and high fiber popcorn are terrific snacks to prevent teen obesity. Go for air popped corn and limit or eliminate the amount of butter. Try different spices in place of salt. Salt can pack on the water weight and cause other health issues.

Eating In
Restaurant portions are out of control. Fast food burgers are hitting the 2000 calorie mark. Prevent teen obesity by dining in more often. Prepare meals using whole foods, fruits and vegetables as the major part of the meal. Keep additives, preservatives and MSG out of the picture. These things cause cravings that promote, not prevent teen obesity.

Substitutions
These are substitutions for the things teens crave that are as good as the "real" thing. Whatever your teens favorite snack food is, there is a more healthy substitute to replace it. These are not typical substitutes. These healthy snacks may even replace the favorite junk foods of the average teen. Check out these two ideas to help prevent teen obesity.

Teen craving ice cream? How about blending a cup of frozen berries for some delicious nutritious low calorie berry sorbet? Prefer chocolate ice cream? Freeze a container of chocolate yogurt. Remove from the freezer and blend with ¼ cup non-fat milk and ¼ tsp. cocoa powder to prevent teen obesity.

Teen craving nachos? Prevent teen obesity. Skip the cheese. Serve chips and salsa. Make your own low fat, low salt tortilla chips. Cut corn tortillas into fourths. Use a spray bottle to coat lightly with olive oil. Sprinkle with chili powder. Bake in the oven until crispy.

Get Up and Boogie
Teens love to dance. Why not enroll your teen in hip hop classes to prevent teen obesity? What teen is going to turn that down? It doesn't have to be hip hop either. Teens can take classes in salsa, swing, two step or whatever they're into. Dance classes don't just prevent teen obesity, they help with self esteem too. Make your teen the hit of the school dance.

Sports
This may be obvious but why not encourage your teen to go out for sports teams? Playing sports can go a long way to prevent teen obesity. Don't push, but do talk about it. If you know your teen has a special talent with a basketball, tell them. Encourage them to try new sports too. Your opinion may be worth more than you think to your teen.

Active Family
Prevent teen obesity by being more active as a family. Explore hiking trails. Go to the beach. Take walks. Buy bikes, roller skates or skate boards for everyone. Go skiing and sledding. Instead of going to the movies, go to the gym together. Install a basketball hoop on the garage. Purchase a volleyball net for the back yard. Play horseshoes. Do whatever you can to stay active and prevent teen obesity.

Source:

Personal Experience