Finding the safest teenage diet plan has many challenges.  Your battle begins with the media your teen swears is more knowledgeable than dumb old Mom and Dad.  In addition to that, with the amount of misinformation out there about proper nutrition, finding a teenage diet plan that will promote healthy eating habits for a lifetime is quite difficult; however, it could be one of the most important things you do for your child.  Let’s talk about eating disorders first so that you can understand how important this is.  Then, I’ll give you the basics of forming a healthy teenage diet plan.

For starters, check out the celebrities that your teenager emulates.  So many shrinking starlets and ultra-thin models promote a terrible body image for our teenagers these days.  These “two pounds above heart failure” gals are almost revered for their dangerously low weights.  Sure, the media splashes words like “dangerous” and “in trouble” with the headline above the paparazzi pic of the starving celeb, but what teenagers really see is a world that gives this person attention for their skeleton-like figure.  They want to know what teenage diet plan was used to achieve this figure and they aren’t afraid to try it.

Alarmingly enough, there are actually websites devoted to a pro-ana (pro-anorexia) movement.  Instead of promoting a healthful teenage diet plan, these sites serve to promote anorexia using terms like “thinspiration” to inspire anorexics to continue their deadly ways.  Most of these sites will claim that they do not exist to promote becoming anorexic.  They think that they are simply helping current anorexics cope with their disease.  The problem is that anybody can view these sites and in a world where thin seems to matter so much, any teenager is susceptible to the dangerous advice given.

Though the sites don’t promote a teenage diet plan per say, judging by the general commentary on the forums, it’s easy to gather that most of the girls on the sites are teens.  What the sites do promote are diets geared towards rapid weight loss via virtual starvation.  One of the sites had diets such as the “Rainbow diet” which consists of eating different colored fruits and vegetables each day of the week.  For instance, Thursday is “orange” day and the meal plan consists of half an orange for breakfast; half an orange for lunch and one carrot for dinner.  What!!??  The total calories for the entire week are 696 calories.  That’s not enough calories for one day let alone one week and would certainly rank as an extremely poor teenage diet plan!

It gets worse.  The site has a section with scads of advice on how to keep an eating disorder a secret.  Tips like “Spend different meals with different groups of people, tell them all that you had a big meal earlier or will be eating something later on.  Make sure the different people will not be comparing notes.  Or plan your schedule so you’re too busy at mealtimes to eat then.”  Yet another section has tips such as these: “Pour tons of something gross on your food like salt or dish soap so you can’t eat it.”  Or a personal favorite of mine: “Curl up in a ball if you have hunger pains.”  Think your teenager wouldn’t succumb to advice like this?  I hope not, but a discussion about a healthy teenage diet plan won’t hurt.

This brings me to good advice about a teenage diet plan.  First and foremost, promote a healthy body image in your household.  Yes, Mom and Dad are idiots at this point in your teen’s life, or so they’ll say on the outside.  On the inside is something they may not even realize: the values and things they’ve been surrounded by for most of their lives.  Be careful not to talk trash about yourself.  How often do you find yourself saying negative things about your own body?  If your teen is in fact overweight, don’t say things like “You want to look good, don’t you?”  Try, “I want to help you become healthier.”

In addition, just understand the basics of a healthy teenage diet plan or any diet plan for that matter.  Calories in = Calories out.  Set your teen up on positive websites like www.eatright.org and use the My pyramid tool that will help determine calories and healthful eating to achieve ideal body weight.  Stock your kitchen with a wide variety of foods especially fruits and veggies and whole grains that are high in fiber.  Prepare lean meats instead of burgers and steak.  Try out a new fish each week.  Help your teen avoid the cafeteria at school by keeping quick and easy foods that your teen can throw together in the morning to take to school. 

Form a healthy teenage diet plan with your teen and above all, be there to show your love, support and encouragement in a gentle, reassuring manner.  If you suspect that your teenager is at all interested in starvation or seems overly concerned about weight loss when they aren’t even overweight, please pay attention.  Monitoring your teen’s internet habits is just simply being a good parent.  Don’t worry about being snoopy.  What you find on your internet’s history might just save your child’s life!!