Conversations I have with my teenager daughters about food: 1. Be prepared, it’s ok to have McDonald’s, pizza and Taki’s on occasion but if you are intentionally under eating to have those things that sets up a real bad scenario of relying on poor choices for nutrition. Note to parents (the last thing I want my children to do is view foods as bad or good and set up a scenario of disordered thinking for the future. Kids are smart, put the facts in front of them and let them make the right choices most of the time. Besides, there isn’t a McDonald’s in your house. We have a rule, if it’s in the house eat as much as you want, that puts the responsibility on me to buy them foods that they like but also represent smart choices). 2. Carbs, firstly they aren’t evil like you might be hearing. There are some things you should know though, for every gram of carbohydrate your body takes in it requires 3 to 4 times that in water to process. This process is made a lot easier when you move so the carbs have a chance to go where you would like them to go (brain and muscles). The best thing you can do is eat in a balanced way with adequate amounts of food. When you over eat carbs you can often feel bloated and watery, no big deal, do something or eat a few less carbs in the upcoming days. There are no big mistakes with food except over reacting. 3. Protein, have some, actually have a good amount. There is no single macronutrient that reigns supreme but protein plays an important role. Firstly eating adequate amounts of it is favorable for muscle maintenance and building. Think of it like this, as your body takes in nutrients it’s either building or storing. The more lean mass you have the more favorable it is for your metabolism. So if you move and eat adequate amounts of protein that will go a long way to keeping you full and strong. Note to parents (I like my kids to get close to 1 gram per pound of body weight in protein. My kids do supplement protein on occasion. Also the topic of veganism and being a vegetarian comes up a fair amount, they should know that it’s difficult to get bio-available protein from plants. If they are going to eat less meat they should absolutely be supplementing protein and if it’s coming from plant sources they will need more than one gram per pound of bodyweight.) 4. Fats, once again have some. Dietary fat is known to help you feel full. This is why avoiding things like butter, nuts and seeds will often lead to an over reliance on processed carbs. Your body has to get energy from somewhere. Want a good snack, try a coconut milk smoothie. Lot’s of energy and tastes great. 5. Sleep is the one thing on the list that should probably be first and likely will be the thing ignored the most. Here are some tips, lose the devices, if you want to keep soft music on as you get to sleep that’s fine but if it leads to texting or video chats it has to go. Sleep needs to be a priority because it has healing properties. Ever notice how you are always more hungry when you sleep less? That’s because when you don’t sleep much your heart rate increases, this will often leads to cravings because your body needs more food to recover on these days. The worse thing you can do is to avoid eating in this situation setting up a cycle of disordered sleep (and eating). An hour before you go to sleep focus on chilling out, dim the lights, have some warm tea, take some time to enjoy your own company without distractions. When it’s bedtime lights out, like pitch dark. Learn to love the alone time you get and just snuggle in, it doesn’t matter when you get to sleep, even the resting you will be doing is helpful and restorative. So no need to think thoughts like “I really need to get to sleep I have to wake up early tomorrow”. As you make it a bigger priority throughout your life you will get better and better at it. 6. Find something you love where you move. Exercise sounds like a task. Weightlifting, Dancing, Swimming all of those things sound like things you would like to do. Find one. Also do it with other people, it’s social and it’s nice to know that other people are counting on you being there. 7. Girls rule, boys drool;-) P.S. Enjoy Food, its one of lifes greatest gifts. Click here for more info and a FREE chapter of Met Flex --> bit.ly/17DNa1e
Posted on: Sun, 15 Dec 2013 14:26:25 +0000
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