Standard Handbook of Healthy Eating for Teenagers

Height and weight growth is in line with the adolescent growth curve interval released by the WHO, daily energy is high without unknown fatigue, and routine physical examination indicators are normal. All other standards can be flexibly adjusted according to individual circumstances. There is no need to make the whole family eat as if they have completed KPIs in order to gather "12 kinds of food per day" and "nutrition ratios accurate to grams".

Let me tell you a true story I encountered last week: A mother of a sophomore basketball player from Hangzhou came to her and told her to give her son 400ml of fresh milk every day, vitamin D supplements, and deep-sea fish three times a week. However, the child has been complaining of knee pain recently and is prone to cramping during training. After looking through his food records, I found out that the boy trained for two hours a day. His mother only ate one bowl of rice for fear of getting fat. All the milk and eggs he drank were used as energy, and there was not much left to supplement calcium and grow bones. In the end, he adjusted the plan and only added a meal of multigrain steamed buns before the game, and the cramp problem disappeared after half a month. You see, talking about dietary standards apart from consumption is all in vain.

There are a lot of controversies about teenagers' diet nowadays, and different fields even have completely opposite opinions. In fact, no one is right or wrong, it's just that it suits different groups of people. For example, the most controversial question is "can we eat snacks?" The "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents (2022)" recommends that the energy intake of processed snacks should not exceed 10% of the total daily energy. Try to choose low-added foods such as original nuts and fresh-cut fruits. ； But scholars who work on adolescent behavioral nutrition will tell you that completely banning snacks can easily trigger revenge eating. My neighbor’s girl was so controlled that she never even touched potato chips. In the first month of college, she drank 12 cups of milk tea in a row and gained 8 pounds. This is because her childhood desires were suppressed for too long. I really want to say that eating spicy strips and drinking a cup of Coke occasionally is nothing at all. As long as you don’t eat empty-calorie foods as meals every day, there is no need to go above and beyond.

The debate about "whether you can drink iced drinks" is even more interesting: Western medicine nutrition circles generally believe that as long as there is no stress reaction in the gastrointestinal tract, there is no difference between whether the ice is warm or not, and there is no so-called "cold".； However, the Traditional Chinese Medicine School of Food and Nutrition would specifically remind girls to avoid icy drinks as much as possible, especially right after exercise and before and after menstruation, to avoid irritating blood vessels and gastrointestinal mucosa. There is nothing wrong with either statement. If you don’t have diarrhea or stomachache after drinking the iced milk tea, you can drink it if you want. If you feel uncomfortable after drinking it, just don’t bear it.

I have met with many school nurses and catering nutritionists in middle schools. In fact, the advice they give in private is very down-to-earth and not as complicated as what is posted online. For example, if day students have physical education classes in the afternoon or self-study in the evening, stuffing steamed corn or a handful of plain almonds in their schoolbags is much better than being hungry and eating fried skewers at the school gate after school. ； When boarding students eat, they first pick up green leafy vegetables with chopsticks, then pick out the meat, and finally the staple food. Without realizing it, they won’t eat too much refined rice and noodles, and they don’t need to diet deliberately. ； Children with allergies don't have to stick to the standard of "eating enough 300g of fruit every day". They can just avoid mangoes and peaches that can cause rashes, no matter how nutritious they are. You can't suffer the consequences just to get some vitamins, right?

I have met more extreme parents before. They prepare meals for their children down to the gram. They must eat 5 kinds of vegetables and 3 kinds of fruits every day, no more than one bite or less. As a result, the children are under great pressure in their senior year of high school. They secretly buy fried skewers at the school gate and feel guilty after eating them. They secretly pick out their vomiting and are eventually diagnosed with eating disorders. The gain outweighs the gain. To be honest, healthy eating in adolescents is never just about nutrition. Eating happily and without psychological burden are also important components of health.

At this point, you may have discovered that there are no "iron rules" that must be followed in this manual: it is okay for children who love sports to eat two more bites of staple food, and those who are prone to acne can drink less high-sugar milk tea. Even if you want to drink a glass of iced Coke to cheer up before an exam, as long as you don't feel uncomfortable after drinking it, just drink it. Those full "must-eat food lists" and "fasting blacklists" are essentially placebos for lazy people. If you really want to be good to your child, take a closer look at his growth curve and ask him if he feels comfortable after eating. This is more useful than any standard.

Oh, by the way, the only red line you have to remember is: don’t give alcohol to minors, whether it’s fruit wine or so-called “children’s beer.” Alcohol’s damage to the brains of teenagers is irreversible, and there is no room for negotiation on this point.