By Sarah Hines, Year 11
Our everyday meals, the occasional restaurants, the advertisements we see everywhere
promoting fast food and energy drinks…all this surrounds our everyday life, but how can we
realistically balance our eating?
As teenagers, we are at a stage in our lives when our diet is extremely important since our
bodies are still developing and growing. The ideal diet has an equal balance between
vegetables, meat, dairy products…But the truth is, as long as you don’t eat pasta at every
meal and try and have some vegetables, you’ll probably be okay, but will you be healthy?
We need to, therefore, try and somehow find the balance between a perfect diet and a
completely unhealthy one. Here are some ideas to maybe help you if you’re struggling to
keep this balance. You need to have at least some vegetables or fruit to accompany every
meal, and preferably for snacks too. Try to limit irregular snacks in between meals since this
results in a much greater weight gain and usually means that you are no longer hungry at
lunch or dinner and therefore results in skipping meals. Things like candy and cookies are not
bad in themselves, but if they are consumed too regularly this also results in weight gain and
high blood-sugar that can be dangerous later on. You should also try and vary what you eat if
you can, for instance try not to have the same meal two days in a row, or try to vary the
meat you eat: one day chicken, one day fish… Try also to space out the days you eat spicy
food as having it too regularly is bad for the stomach.
Another important thing is what you drink; try and prioritize water, having it with every meal
for example. Carrying a water bottle usually helps since it generally encourages you to drink
more without you even realizing. This is especially important for people who do sport
regularly since they are prone to sweating more, making them lose more water and therefore
get dehydrated. Furthermore, it is important to limit having sugary drinks (such as Fanta,
Coke…) as these aren’t very good for you and contribute to gaining weight. The truth is the
less sugary drinks you have the better, but if you struggle with this, start by trying to have
only one every two days or only twice a week if you can. On the other hand, energy drinks
are another problem. Things like Red Bull and Monster are even worse not only physically
but also mentally, and since our brains are still developing, this makes us even more
vulnerable. Therefore, you shouldn’t have more than one or two per week maximum.
Furthermore, the times at which you eat are very crucial, and you should try and keep them
as regular as possible. Doctors say that it is best to eat breakfast within two hours of waking
since you are low on protein and blood sugar and to have dinner before 8 pm at night
otherwise this can disrupt your sleeping, as your digestive system is having to work later.
However, the time to eat lunch isn’t as important, but try and keep it an equal distance in
between the two other meals, meaning that the digestive system is working more regularly.
Finally, you must not skip meals. This not only messes up the rhythm of your digestion, but
also results in muscle loss and can create dizziness and fatigue. However, if you are obligated
to skip a meal for whatever reason, make sure it is lunch as this is the least important meal
of the day. I know a lot of people skip breakfast since they don’t have time to eat in the
mornings, but you shouldn’t. This is one of the most important meals of the day since it is
the one that gives you most of the energy you then burn during the day.
Keeping a balanced diet can therefore be quite difficult since there are a lot of other factors
to consider, such as sports, allergies…But it is most important when you are a teenager to
pay attention to this since your body and brain are still growing and what you eat now can
affect your future life.
