To fit into the ‘perfect’ image, many teens turn to fad diets, eat very little, cut out whole food groups like ones with carbs, skip meals or fast. These approaches to maintaining an ‘ideal’ weight or ‘body type’ can be very unhealthy as they leave out important nutrients that your body needs.

Maintaining healthy teen lifestyle is important for people of all weights. A teen’s healthy lifestyle involves adequate sleep, regular exercise and checking what types of food you eat and beverages you drink.

How To Maintain A Healthy Lifestyle For Teenager 

A healthy lifestyle for teenager is not just about eating, but also about a good amount of restful sleep and regular exercise.

Focus on healthy eating: Do not waste your time obsessing over your weight (the digits on your weighing scale). Instead, focus on having delicious and healthy meals with enough nutrients to nurture your body to live a teen healthy lifestyle.

  • DO NOT skip your breakfast, as it helps to ensure that you get your daily nutrient to get you through the day. It will also improve school performance.
  • Decrease consumption of highly processed foods like soft drinks, snack food, convenience foods and desserts. There are many negative effects of fast food on teens, thus everyone should aim to decrease their intake of such foods. Take home-cooked food with you when possible. Focus on healthy nuts, seeds, and energy bars without sugar to add that extra energy. Hydrate well. Even though many teens hate green vegetables it is an important part of an Indian diet from where one draws iron and folic acid which are important to keep haemoglobin levels normal. Many Indian teens especially girls, suffer from anaemia.
  • Decrease eating out. Eating outside has increased significantly, and most of these foods are high in fats and calories. It is much healthier to cook these meals at home if you feel like eating such foods.
  • Stay active. Find a physical activity you enjoy, like walking, playing sports or gymming. Exercise for teenagers is vital and has several benefits.
  • Look for healthy ways to release stress. A lifestyle with regular stress management for teens will break the cycle of unhealthy coping mechanisms.

Why a teen healthy lifestyle? 

Maintaining healthy teen lifestyle will give you a longer and happier life. With the increase in lifestyle diseases in India, one in four Indians is at risk of dying from diseases like diabetes, heart problems or cancer before age 70. This is mainly due to poor lifestyle, lack of exercise, irregular sleep patterns and unhealthy habits like smoking and drinking. And the foremost prevention begins right from a young age!