You Are What You Eat

It's the new year and everyone is thinking about a healthy lifestyle.  Turning over a new leaf,  losing weight, eating right and exercising.  If your teen seems to be making the wrong choices in their diet, the new year is a good time to offer a different way of thinking and eating.

As teens become more independent in their food choices, they tend to make the wrong choices - even teens who were brought up eating healthy. Here are the four worst food habits teens have and what you can do about them:
Skipping breakfast is the leading bad food habit for teenagers. According to the American Dietetic Association, more than half of male teens and more than two-thirds of female teens do not eat breakfast on a regular basis. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Eating breakfast can upstart your teen’s metabolism, which helps with weight control, mood and school performance.
You can ensure that your teen eats a healthy breakfast by making the foods readily accessible to him. Make it a part of your routine to put breakfast on the table and sit with your teen while you both enjoy a healthy breakfast. Or, if time is a problem, go for the grab and eat on the way breakfasts that are now on the market.
The next unhealthy food habit teens have is increased foods from 'other' food group. Think of the food pyramid, the 'other' food group is the smallest smallest section at the top with what is supposed to be the least amount of servings. Teens tend to eat too much high fat and calorie snack foods that are categorized in the 'other' food group.
You can help teens break this habit by having fruits and healthy snacks available more often then having high fat and calorie snacks available. It is easier to grab a bag of chips at the grocery store then picking up a bag of oranges and remembering to wash, quarter and put them out on the table during snack time. But the benefits to your teen's health are worth the effort.
Increased eating outside of the home is another bad food habit teens have. Teens hit the fast food restaurants much more often then they did when they were younger. This tends to be because of school, sports and work schedules overlapping regular meal times.
To circumvent this bad habit, talk to your teen about only eating fast food once a week. Then make dinner and healthy food available to him when he has the time. This is as easy as fixing a plate for him and allowing him to heat it up when he gets home from his sports practice. Or having sandwich fixings ready when he gets home from school and has to run off to work.
Last, but not least, in this list of bad food habits is soft drink consumption. A study looking at American youths aged 6-17 found an increase in the prevalence of soft drink consumption from 37% in 1978 to 56% in 1998. You can help your teen choose a healthier drink by having fruit juice and water available and not buying soda. Or try fruit flavored carbonated water instead of soda. My teens really like these.
One common denominator for getting teens to eat healthier and avoid these bad food habits is your active role in providing healthy foods. When you get in the habit of making these foods more readily available to your teen, you will see a change in their eating habits.(Teens. About.com)
Keeping food available and ready to go is the key to getting your teen to ear right  Breakfast can be yogurt and fruit, in a paper cup as they run out the door.  A corn tortilla with scrambled eggs and turkey sausage.  Cheerios or another favorite whole grain cereal, with banana or strawberries, served to eat on the go.  Smoothies are always a good option.
 Snacks?  Raw vegetables and low fat Ranch dressing or hummus.  Fresh fruit, washed and ready to go.  Popcorn.. Lean meats and whole wheat wraps, or cheese and whole wheat crackers. Fajitas, grilled out earlier and ready to heat up.  A sweet potato, microwaved and served with a small pat of butter.  Guacamole and a few baked tortilla chips.
Weight Watchers is a great resource for healthy eating and losing weight.  Really, anything that works and encourage your teen is a great way to start.  Happy New Year, and Happy New You.  chrissie

It Saves Dollars and Makes Sense

Summer is here and the "Care and Feeding" of teenagers changes it's focus. Breakfast before school and dinner at 6:00 is replaced with breakfast before noon and dinner before dark. Additionally, teens have a tendency to want to eat out and eat out often. It has become more the norm in our society than the exception. Dining is hardly even a social activity anymore. How can there be conversation around a meal when someone is eating a taco with one hand and driving with the other? More importantly, how healthy are teens fast food choices?

Early on in the break might be a good time to re-access your family's summer meals. If the goal is to keep them home a little more, make the prospect more inviting. Have snacks and nibbles that your growing adolescent likes to eat. Keep prepared fresh fruit, veggies and favorite dipping sauces in the fridge. A variety of cheeses and multi-grain crackers and breads seems to be universally popular. Good quality sandwich ingredients and everything that goes with them may keep them eating at home. Invest in a panini press. A pizza pan. A Smoothie blender.

Charcoal a variety of meats and keep the oven turned off. Chicken Caesar salad, Fajitas, hamburgers, salmon steaks- cook it all one night and have dinner for the week.

Sit down with your teen and discuss summer finances. Let him/her put pen to paper and see how much of their baby-sitting/lawn mowing/life-guarding/ salary goes to eating out. Seeing the numbers in black and white may do more for your summer meals at home than anything else. Then, make your own commitment to having a well stocked pantry and fridge that keeps your teen satisfied and eating healthy. Mine learned early to eat their "real" meal at home and order a drink or split an appetizer if they were joining friends.

Has there been any better convenience food than the roasted chickens at the grocery? They are not only grand just sliced and served as they are, but so handy in any recipe that calls for chicken.

Here's a yummy Pasta Salad Recipe that my kids love. It makes a huge amount and just gets better the next day. Perfect for Summer. Enjoy.

Cook 2 boxes of spiral pasta according to pkg directions Drain and set aside
Shred meat from 1 Rotisserie chicken - skin removed
coarsely chop 7 ripe Roma tomatoes or any fresh summer tomatoes
Drain and slice 1 container fresh buffalo mozzarella (small Mozzarella balls found in deli or specialty cheese section)
1 Sm jar Calamari olives drained and sliced (about 1/3 to 1/2 cup )
1 lg pkg or jar of sun dried tomatoes - chopped
1 cup chopped, fresh Basil

Dressing
4 tbs red wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
1 minced clove garlic (or more)
2 tsps Capers
salt and pepper
1 or 2 of the sun dried tomatoes (add rest of chopped tomatoes into pasta salad)
Combine in Blender until well mixed

Combine all ingredients along with 1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese and refrigerate until service. All this needs is a crusty loaf of good bread and you've got dinner!