The trouble with teens

Karen’s back on the box, and this time she’s helping out a bunch of teenagers with some seriously bad eating habits.

t’s been said that the health of our British Teenagers (16-19 year-olds) is cause for major concern compared to other parts of the world as they drink too much alcohol, experiment with drugs and fail to eat a good, healthy, balanced diet just when their body needs it most.
We were all young once and all of us went through those turbulent teenage years which can be really hard to handle and I’m sure many of us would not want to be a teenager again (mind you a few of us still act like one!)
We don’t think about the long term health issues when we’re young, after all, as a teenager we know everything don’t we?!
Have times changed that much? When you look at –

• The binge drinking
• The drug culture
• The increase in food additives, flavourings and the use of chemicals in the environment
• The use of mobile phones (radiation exposure)
• The striving for ‘A’ Grades
• The size ‘zero’
• The fast food industry….

I’d say yes, times have changed, and today’s teens have a lot more to contend with than we did, there seems much more pressure on them than we ever had. Sneaking those couple of Campari and sodas from time to time looks a bit limp compared to the hard hitting alcohol abuse we see now.
There’s more information on healthy living than ever before, yet a good percentage of our teenagers still opt for the least healthy. Studies now show that some of the long term health issues that could arise from this will be in the increase in mental health problems such as depression and dementia particularly if the high intake of alcohol continues.
Other common foods that can rob the body long term are –

• Fizzy drinks
• High caffeine energy drinks
• High intake of sugar
• High alcohol intake (really affects brain cells!)
• High salt intake

The trouble is, eating these foods on a regular basis causes a numbing of the taste buds and also triggers the craving for more of them. So when it comes to the healthier options they tend to get pushed aside as the cravings get fed.
Nutritionally before the age of around 10 years-old the nutritional needs of boys/girls are very similar, and for most of us we get fed what we are given from parents, but once we hit puberty demands from the body differ. The extra bit of freedom teenagers can have can often allow them to choose their own foods. The teenage growth years demand a lot of nutrients (which a lot of them don’t get) such as -

• IRON
• ZINC
• ESSENTIAL FATS
• CALCIUM
• VITAMIN D… and more

The problem is, when eating a diet high in addictive foods the good nutrients are used up in metabolising them so they’re depleted from the body, then you get into the ‘more you have, the more you want them’ type of cycle.
A new series that I had the privilege to work on called ‘Teen Spa’ shows five typical, modern day teenagers who had a variety of health challenges ranging from acne to addictions (and more). They represent so many of today’s teenagers who are trying to ‘fit’ into a society which is so much more image conscious than ever before. The programme highlights the challenges that they have but more importantly shows that even the smallest changes can make big differences to their long term health.
TEEN SPA WILL FIRST BE SHOWN ON UKTV STYLE AT 10pm ON MONDAY JANUARY 12  FOR FIVE WEEK NIGHTS
(Also scheduled to be shown on BBC Scotland and UKtv Watch)
For more information on health and nutrition go to my website www.karendevine.co.uk