The Care and Feeding of your Family: Teenagers
By Dr. Mary Starr Carter
Soccer, Football, Dance, Cheer leading, Marching Band, Tennis, Cross Country are just some of the Fall Sports starting up again. Children ages 12-18 play the majority of these sports in Middle School to High School. These teenage years are full of change and development. A very important time that may determine a person's future. Grades, athletic performance, learning a trade, attitude, behavior, social development all can be affected by WHAT YOUR CHILDREN EAT.
Parents of kids in sports spend a lot of their time, money and energy making sure their children have the right sneakers, best gear, and that they can make it to all the practices and games. Why? One parent told me "I want my kids to have the opportunities I didn't have as a kid". Yet she just dropped off a large pizza and soda to her two obese children.
She was doing all she could do to keep up with all the practices and games. She made sure she was at every event, but neglected proper feeding of her teenage athletes. The result was two obese children. What will their life be like 10 years from now or 20 years from now? Diabetes, High Blood Pressure, Rapid Aging, Infertility and the list goes on.
This is a serious problem and although you may not have obese children you still could have nutritionally deficient kids. And although this is just my personal opinion you may be unknowingly or knowingly setting your children up for a very difficult life.
We must learn to feed our children properly especially our teenagers and teenage athletes. Why?
Adolescents include growth spurts, body changes and hormone changes. So many parents complain of their teenage daughters or sons becoming "monsters" or other words we won't use here when they went through puberty. Why are American children having significantly more physical and psychological issues compared to other countries, even some third world countries?
My opinion is NUTRITION or lack of it is killing our children. It may not happen today or tomorrow but within just a few years you can begin to see the effects of poor nutrition.
Did you know that nutritional deficiencies and sugar imbalances can cause fits of rage? Did you know that the teenage body requires certain amounts of protein, carbohydrates, and fats that you simply cannot get from typical processed, fast foods, packaged foods?
Now add athleticism and you have even more requirements. My personal opinion is that schools are not just feeding our children poor nutrition and offering foods and soda that harm our kids but are we also starving our kids. That's right STARVING… Because, see, when a child goes to school they may have lunch at 10 am but not be allowed to eat again until 3pm or later if they are an athlete. Added to that, the lack of nutrition in our school lunches and what do we have?
Several studies have confirmed that children eating whole foods, vegetables, and healthy options during their school lunches and snacks scored higher in various tests, had fewer missed days of school and less behavioral problems.
Many parents think their children's behavior problem is a psychological condition and put them on medications like Ritalin or an Anti-depressant. YIKES, WAKE UP! It's what you are feeding your children or not feeding your children. Even conditions like allergies and asthma can be improved by feeding your children correctly.
So what can you do? Well you will have to wait until Thursday to get part II of this newsletter…. don't miss Thursdays Blog. Parents pay me over $300 to give them the information you will be getting in Thursday's blog. The results they get from those who apply it is amazing.
"My child is getting A's and B's in school for the first time, since we changed to the Wellness program. "
"My son scored 4 goals for the first time this week, and his coach says his performance has improved 100% this season."
"Sarah's singing has dramatically improved since following your suggestions. Her voice is stronger and she rarely gets sick now."
Here is a sneak Peak.
#1) Make sure your children have proper hydration.
Get rid of the soda in the house. Make it for special occasions once a week at the most.
Get rid of the juices in the house including Orange Juice. If you want to drink juice squeeze or juice your own. You will get 50% more nutrition because FRESH IS BEST. There are lots more nutrients and enzymes you don't get with other.
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Dr. Mary Starr Carter has worked with thousands of clients from terminally ill and chronic diseases to those who are healthy and want vibrant health. She has counseled hundreds of families who had given up hope find simple safe solutions. Known as the Total Wellness Doc she looks at all aspects of health to help someone overcome disease. She specializes in difficult cases like Fibromyalgia, Hormone and Adrenal issues, Asthma, Diabetes and Chronic pain.
We publish newsletters and blogposts twice a week for our readers for general education purposes only. We cover topics that are related to achieving and maintaining total wellness which includes our emotional, physical, spiritual and financial health.
Shout it from the roof tops Mary! My 9 yr. old wants all the things in the pretty packages but I tell him garbage in ~ garbage out. When he gets sugar combined with dyes he turns into a child I don’t like to be around and he doesn’t like the fall out of his behavior either. I tried to tell his adult brother who was visiting, after taking him for a slushie, he came back and apologized to me and said he now understood why that wasn’t a good idea. My younger son now often will look at labels when we’re shopping and put things right back on the shelf because he sees that it has high fructose corn syrup or dyes or aspartame. He knows he doesn’t like the effects of those things. I encourage parents, grow your own garden (even if its a tomato plant in a bucket) and get your children involved so they understand what real food is and how it grows, it will help them understand about their own growth! I have struggled with getting my 9 yr. old eating things like broccoli until it was from our own garden, he cleaned his own plate and asked for more broccoli! That never happened before. Moms, we are the educators, educate yourself and pass it on. Dr. Mary is an endless wealth of good information! People who follow her guidance can find their own way to joyful health!
Dr. Mary you are right on point. Too often our children are not getting a balanced meal with healthy snack in between. Cookies, candy and soda are okay sometime but the should not be the norm. Teach kids to eat healthy now will teach them to eat healthy as adults.