Meal Planning for the Adolescent

In addition to factors such as nutritional adequacy, income, acceptability and availability we must keep the following major considerations in mind: 

Whom are we planning for? 

• Is the adolescent in the 13-15 years (16-18)rears category? 
• Is the adolescent a girl or a boy? 
• What income group does the person belong to? 
• Where does the person stay? 
• What is the religious and cultural background? 

Once you have outlined these characteristics, you can list the RDIs for the adolescent. 

Which nutrients are of particular importance? 

Nutrients of particular importance in adolescence are: 

• energy - giving nutrients (carbohydrates and fats) 
• protein 
• iron and 
• calcium 

Which foods to select? 

Selection of foods for the adolescent's diet would mean including 

• items from each food group in each meal 
• good energy and protein sources 
• cereal-pulse combinations to improve protein quality 
• animal protein, if  possible and acceptable 
• good calcium and iron sources 

As mentioned earlier the items arid combinations selected would be determined by how much money is available to be spent on food. Which foods the person likes or dislikes would also be of importance. 

What meal pattern should be adopted? 

The daily routine of an adolescent who attends school would be similar to that discussed earlier for the school child. The college-going adolescent would, however, tend to have a more variable schedule. One would, therefore, need to consider the likelihood of the person consuming a packed lunch on some days and consuming lunch at home on others. 

As in the case of school children, well planned, balanced snacks are of importance. They help to increase the meal frequency and thus decrease the tendency of the main meals to become heavy. This would ensure that the child consumes enough food to meet his needs. Suitable snacks providing substantial energy, protein, calcium and/or iron can be offered mid-morning and at tea-time. 

 Losing weight-the easy way? 

What specific considerations should we keep in mind? 

In addition to the points we mentioned in the case of the school child, some other aspects become important: 

i) Adolescents sometimes adopt extreme or bizarre (strange) diet patterns in order to reduce weight in the case of girls or build muscles, in the case of boys. Figure takes a light -hearted look at the tendency of adolescent girls to try different "diets" in search of the ideal cure for overweight. 

Adolescent girls frequently want to lose weight - sometimes even when there's no need. They, of course. seek the easiest way to do it! They look for "diets"  which can help them reduce in hours or days. But we must remember that they must be actively discouraged from adopting such "diets". There is no such shortcut to weight reduction or muscle building for that matter. The same is true of boys. Remember that we are using the word "diet" here to indicate a rather extreme diet pattern. The best advice is to keep to a reasonable dietary pattern. Reducing or increasing the total amount of food consumed must be done with great care because of its impact on growth. People frequently make statements such as "Try this diet. You could lose 8 inches off your waistline in ten days". or "You can add two inches to your shoulder muscles in a fortnight with this diet". Adolescents must know that such statements are wrong. They should never cut down on intake of water or adopt diets based on protein foods only. Such measures are dangerous and can lead to serious diseases and even death. The best and safest remedy for overweight in the growing years is plenty of exercise. Overeating should, of course, be avoided. 

ii) Too much emphasis should not be placed on fat-or carbohydrate-rich items, particularly refined carbohydrate or sugar-rich items. Consumption of  ready-to-eat snacks and processed foods also needs to be avoided. Foods such as milk, dark green leafy vegetables, deep yellow vegetables and fruits and whole cereals should be emphasized. 'Eating such foods helps to add valuable minerals and vitamins to the diet. Vitamin A and vitamin C-rich foods are frequently neglected and must be included in addition to iron and calcium-rich foods. 

iii) Even in the matter of food, group  acceptance is very important for the adolescent. They quickly adopt food patterns prevalent among their friends. They frequently consume snacks which are junk foods such as potato chips and fast foods such as noodles, pizzas, hamburgers, fish and chips. You are already familiar with the term 'junk food'. Let us also talk of the fast foods. Fast foods are generally not elaborate and can be prepared by relatively simple cooking methods. They are commonly served at snack bars/pizza parlors in cities. The fast foods available commercially tend to be rich in energy. and may not provide enough protein, vitamins, minerals and fibre. However, these foods can easily be modified to improve their nutrient content. A sandwich with butter can be modified to a sandwich with a paneer or meat or egg filling mixed with tomato and onion. Pizzas are commonly described as junk foods. But they can be nutritious.  A pizza with cheese and mixed vegetables as topping is balanced because the pizza base is made of refined wheat flour (maida). Similarly when hamburgers are made with a meat or cottage cheese and mixed vegetable cutlet rather than just potato they become a balanced snack. This shows how simple modifications can help to make common and popular snacks more nutritious and balanced. 

You have so far gone through a number of aspects related to meal planning for the adolescent. Here's a quick review of points you would find useful.