Teenage girls worry about their body image. As a teenager, your body is changing as you develop hips and breasts. Some of these changes might make you think you're getting fat, but it's normal for your hips to become broader. When you see yourself in the mirror, you might think, "I need to diet!" Actually, what you need to do is to keep eating healthy sources of the nutrients your body needs as it develops.
What Your Body Needs
Your body has started to change in ways you may have been looking forward to. Because you're a teen whose body is still actively growing, you need all the nutrition you can get from healthy sources. These sources include proteins such as lean meats, poultry, fish and some veggies. You need whole grains from cereal, pasta and bread. No matter what your girlfriends or coaches tell you, restricting your intake of carbohydrates is one way of restricting how energetic you feel.
You shouldn't restrict your diet in any way, except for steering clear of saturated fats and trans fats. Don't eat too many sweets, but don't deny yourself a cookie or slice of cake once in a while. If you practice total denial, you'll give in to temptation, then you'll feel bad about your willpower. Choose milk over soda, which only gives you unhealthy, empty calories from sugar.
Healthy Carbs
A good meal of whole-wheat pasta with marinara sauce, a salad and a glass of milk covers each of the food groups that teenage girls need. As you choose your carbs, draw from fruits and vegetables, whole grain breads, cereals and pastas.
Don't be tempted to go onto a low-carb diet. Your body needs the healthy carbohydrates and you run the risk of losing bone mass if you go onto this kind of diet long-term.
In the morning, toast a bagel and add low-fat cream cheese or fruit preserves. You get needed protein from that bagel and you'll also fuel your brain for your studies at school. If you're in a hurry, find a whole-grain cereal, pour low-fat milk in and add strawberries or sliced bananas and you have a tasty, nutritious meal that will keep you from getting hungry until lunchtime.
Good Protein Sources
As a teen girl, you need your sources of protein because your body is going through many changes and the proteins provide amino acids, or building blocks, that you need. Make the healthy choices, like lean sandwich meats, beans, cheese, raw spinach salad and broccoli florets.
Steer clear of the fatty hamburgers in the school lunch line and your body will respond by staying alert during your afternoon classes.
Fruits and Vegetables
Fruits and vegetables provide you with a needed source of fiber, which helps keep your digestive system functioning normally. Fruits and vegetables are also a healthy source of good carbohydrates, which, as a female teen, you need for strong bones and energy.
If you're involved in sports, you really need to pay attention to what you eat, so your body continues to grow and develop normally.
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