Shock! A Teenager's Diet

I know I'm abnormal because I eat healthy... thought most of my friends don't eat THAT badly. They tend to eat moderately nutritious, home cooked foods and ocasionally have chips/chocolate etc.

I never ate THAT badly as a teenager, although there were several days when I qualified french fries and a soda as "lunch" and Skittles and a Mountain Dew as "dinner". Most of my friends ate pretty healthy in high school, so I don't think this is the "norm" unless you are one of those teenagers who thinks that if you barely eat you'll be thin. Never mind the quality of the nutrition you're putting into your body.

I ate really bad as a teen, maybe not that bad. I way too much though.
I feel like I want to hand that kid some oatmeal, veggies and yogurt.

That really is shocking!

Too bad they can't they get those people who "can't lose weight because of glandular problems" to record what they actually put in their mouths in this much detail. That'd pretty much put an end to the glandular excuse.

Mark
there is more to metabolism than calories in.

I think that is normal for teenagers. I was a teenager not long ago and I ate bad like that.

Wow...I thought I ate bad! I'm 16, and maybe I never eat breakfast, but lunch is usually a salad, and I have ramen or rice for dinner. This person doesn't seem to eat anything!

I suppose it is the norm. At school, I see kids buying chocolate chip cookies for lunch, and only that. Some don't even eat breakfast. I'm not sure why kids eat like that, maybe because parents aren't home enough to cook or the kids are unable to cook for themselves?

This makes me extra-extra grateful that my mother packs me a good lunch and makes excellent home-cooked meals.

Also, that kid needs some fruits and vegetables. Hoo boy.

Mark...exactly! I always thought I was overweight because of a "slow metabolism" when in reality, I just didn't realize where my calories were coming from. I was drinking lots of liquid calories, eating candy, and underestimating the calories in everything. Look at the calories consumed on day 1: stick of gum (5-10), Twix (280), 3 sticks of KitKat (165), 4 portions of french fries (600), bag of corn curls (400), stick of gum (5-10)...totaling 1465 for the day. That's slightly low for a teenager, but there are absolutely NO nutrients in that diet at all. Plus, wouldn't you constantly be starving? For the same amount of calories, you could eat lots of fruit, veggies, dairy, etc. and feel much better and probably maintain your weight more easily as well.

I am completely for fat acceptance movements BUT I also think that something needs to be done to educate kids about food! If it means bringing in the government to enforce changes in school meals and banning junk food from schools then so be it! Kids now a days are so uninformed about vital issues. My parents did not educate me about healthy eating choices, I wish I would have gotten more informed earlier on. We need media campaigns, we need to be constantly reminded that unhealthy eating habits lead to disease. And we have to start early. I don't think that health awareness campaigns are discriminatory to overweight people as some fat support groups claim. Fat discrimation involves insensitivity and ignorance towards a group. Junk/health food awareness is about living longer, living healthier and preventing diseases.

Thanks for posting that link. I looked at the diets of all 5 people. The teen's was definitely the least healthy, but many of the adults were making consistently unhealthy choices, too. Most skipped breakfast. And I was surprised how much sugar the dentist consumed. What an eye-opener!

We did a similar exercise in my high school health class. The teacher randomly picked a few people and asked, "What did you eat yesterday?" Unfortunately I was chosen and had to admit that I'd not eaten or drank anything the day before except for one can of Diet Coke. (During high school, I often felt fat and kept myself so busy that I'd forget to eat.) Meanwhile, the skinniest girl in the class bragged that she'd eaten a huge breakfast, a huge lunch, and --this stuck in my memory-- a huge supper including 2 Big Macs and large fries from McDonalds. She was so tiny that I doubted that that much food could fit into her body. Now I realize that she and her siblings (all rail-thin) were blessed with high metabolism. Also, they were track stars and generally extremely active, burning LOTS of calories every day.

It's an interesting study. A lot of people keep their food diaries online, making one's diet easier to track and share. I think it would be very interesting to see more and more people (even anonymously) sharing their honest diets. Then again, it might be hard to be 100% honest once one knows that their choices will be scrutinized. The scrutiny and moreover the self-awareness can cause people to change their food decisions. This is the pinnacle reason that food journaling is encouraged to improve one's diet. But, if you are trying to study the "real world", it seems to me that the study itself could affect the subjects and skew the results.

I wonder how they achieved this level of honesty! Amazing... and scary!

Over the course of the week, the girl did manage to eat 2 bananas (total fruit and veg intake).

This sort of diet would makes the junk food manufacturers laugh all the way to the bank.

No wonder they are so fat, the kids these days. I think the government should enforce healthier food in schools and should educate the parents how to feed their children.

The first thing I noticed was just how little she drinks...

Wow, that is unbeleivable to see what other teenagers diets are. I am in college now nut seeing what they eat almost makes me look like I eat a well balanced healthy eating plan.

Wow!!!!! After reading some of the enteries I feel like such a PIG!!! I just received gardianship of my 14 yr old nephew. He's overweight and knows it. He asked me yesterday if i would help him loose weight. Where do I start? He has had 14years of bad food choices put on him and no positive healthy eating habits installed!!!!
HELP

this was pretty much my day back in high school. I was never hungry except on gymnastic days,then I'd eat a PBJ sandwich at lunch.

7:30 am :
2slices of toast w butter cup of tea

School lunch: apple, carton of milk, a cookie

after school snack cheese and fruit

dinner: meat potatoes, veg

snacks, candy, cookie

Well...IM 15 years old,and im starting to think more in my health as my body too,im not fat...and im not thin...but im regular...i would like to know some kind of a diet nutrition,cuz im vegetarian,and what i like to eat is CHEESE!...but i dont eat it so much,i eat cookies,corn flakes,,,and its nnot good!

Im vegetarian to0!and Astrid you just gotta check out what you eat,so you can balance it with exercise...thats what i do

im doing slimming for teenagers for my course work in food technoligy and if you have any stange diets that teenagers have put em up and il read em :D so help :D

Yikes! That poor girl! I want to take her home and give her a decent dinner. Where are her parents?

Spectra - thanks for working out the calories. It's truly disturbing that someone could eat so little and still manage to put away nearly 1500 calories. Talk about "empty calories"!

I agree with DietSue that parents need educating about how to feed their kids. When I was at school we actually studied nutrition. But than I'm ancient...

When I was a teen my diet was worse than that... I barely ate at all.

omg wot the hell get a life!!!!!
dat is shockin

I have to agree with Mark's earlier comment. People don't realize that they are making unhealthy food choices. Even if you consistently eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner, or don't eat frequently during the day, it's the kinds of foods you eat that pack on the pounds or cause health problems.

whats wrong with that.....i'm 15 and the only meal i have is my dinner at around 6 in the evening. the only other things i really eat are fruit or a cereal bar for a snack.. and chewing gum

laura..*: Let me guess, you also needed braces at some point in your life.

nope

there isnt anything else for a teenager to eat. i hate the food in my school .. its just chocolate , and cakes. i wish there was healthlyer foods. because its makeing me not want to eat anymore.

Ashley, brown bag it.

Laura, you need to eat actual food other than just at dinner (assuming it is a real dinner and not pizza or something like that).

dang that girl needs to eat something. yes, other than fries. just because some teens eat badly doesnt mean all of them do. get over it.

jan, yes it is a real dinner but i dont need to eat anymore food than i am already

Laura, you'd feel a lot better if you did. 1 meal + chewing gum + fruit + cereal bar does not make anyone feel healthy. Sure, you don't technically *need* to eat more food than that; you are alive after all. But you'd be much better off if you did.

That's bad? My meal for the day was:

11:10 few bites of candy, handful for trail mix
7:00 sweet potatoes, ham, cornbread
I chewed gum almost constantly through out the day.
That girl eats too much junk food.

plus some milk and yogrut

HELP TEL ME IF IT"S NORMAL!!

Marie, you need a lot more food.

right.........but it is very hard.

You have the support system you need to start eating more. When it is hard, think of your "mantras", so to speak. The things they've taught you that have stuck with you. And then sit there and force it down, no matter how hard. There is a part of it that is just bucking up and doing it.

i do force it down, just i don't like the feeling after it goes down. I tried drinking juice like you told me. It helped a little bit. So thank you. When i am stressed, my food amount decreases and my exercise increases...causing problems...that i don't think exist. But my "support system" thinks there is a problem, and i am finally slowly starting to come out of denial, considering i lost a few more pounds, like 3. sorry to bother you, but thanks.