How to Make Healthy Meals That a 13 Year Old Would Like

Encourage your teens to sample foods that are included in a meal prior to cooking.

By the time children become teenagers, they may have developed several unhealthy eating habits, including dieting, skipping meals, and heavy consumption of processed meals. Poor eating habits can result in insufficient intake of several key nutrients including vitamin A, iron and calcium, according to the website Women's Healthcare Topics. If your teen considers ketchup a vegetable, you may need to introduce new foods slowly and sneak them into homemade recipes. A healthier diet may make a difference in your teen's behavior and performance in school and extracurricular activities.

Instructions

1. Purchase whole foods. Teens may get many of their calories from processed foods that have added salt, sugar and chemical additives. Buy fresh, organic fruits and vegetables in a variety of colors. Purchase whole grain breads and cereals as well as nonprocessed sources of lean, organic protein.

2. Read the ingredient list and nutritional label if you must buy packaged foods. Find brands with minimal processing and a short list of ingredients that you recognize and can pronounce.

3. Substitute healthy ingredients in dishes the 13-year-old already enjoys. When you make pizza, replace fatty sausage or pork pepperoni with Canadian bacon. Swap full-fat cheese for reduced-fat versions. Forgo the beef for a vegetarian patty.

4. Make healthy additions to recipes. Add an extra serving of finely chopped vegetables such as bell peppers and zucchini to homemade tomato sauce. For healthier burgers, include vegetables like mushrooms to ground beef. Enhance salads with a variety of tastes and textures like slivered dates, dry roasted almonds and spicy peppers.

5. Include sources of Omega 3s. Teens may eat too many greasy, prepared foods that are heavy on Omega 6s while not including enough Omega 3s. Although flax oil and ground flaxseed are good sources of Omega 3, a 13-year-old may prefer salmon, fresh tuna, pumpkin and walnut seeds.

6. Replace salt with herbs and spices. Largely through processed foods, adolescents consume the highest amount of sodium of all Americans -- over 3,800 mg each day. The American Heart Association recommends no more than 1,500 mg daily, since heavy salt consumption is strongly linked to an increasingly early onset of high blood pressure and heart disease. So, as you prepare healthy meals from whole foods, reach for antioxidant-rich spices like cinnamon and oregano. Your 13-year-old will not miss the salt.

7. Involve your 13-year-old in food-preparation tasks. They may not be as eager to accompany you on a trip to the grocery store as a younger child, but teens may enjoy tending to an herb garden or learning to cook fresh bread. Once they make an investment in the preparation, they are more likely to want to eat the meal.

Tips & Warnings

• Chia seeds are also a good source of Omega 3. Add 2 tbsps. of chia seed to ½ cup of water to make a tasteless gel that looks like something from a science experiment. You can stir this Omega 3-rich novelty into soup, smoothies or puddings.

• Slip a handful of spinach into a fruit smoothie. Your 13-year-old will enjoy a green milk shake and the spinach taste disappears.

• If your child suffers from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, depression, dyslexia or difficulty learning, she may be deficient in Omega 3s. Improve her diet and consult your physician.

References

• Women's Healthcare Topics: Adolescents Fail to Meet Recommended Dietary Requirements
• WebMD; Antioxidant Riches Found in Unexpected Foods; Jennifer Warner; June 17, 2004
• University of California San Francisco; Reducing Salt in Teen Diet Could Have Big Impact on Future Health; Lauren Hammit; Nov. 15, 2010
• Feingold Association of the United States; Pure Facts; A Different Kind of School Lunch; Oct. 2002