HEALTHY EATING FOR TEENAGE BOYS

Getting a teenage boy to eat healthy can be challenging, because boys aged 13 to 18 are going through a growth spurt where they gain about 50 percent of their adult weight. Combine this with the generally high activity level of a teenage boy, and you have a person who can appear to have an insatiable appetite and for all the wrong foods. Teenage boys need 2,200 to 3,200 calories a day, depending on their growth and activity level, according to the Mayo Clinic. The trick is to get them to take in most of these calories from healthy foods instead of from a constant diet of pizza, burgers, sodas, fries and cookies.

In the book "Secrets of Feeding a Healthy Family" by registered dietitian Ellyn Satter, Satter says that a parent's job is to provide food, and the child's job is to decide how much food he is going to eat and whether he is going to eat that particular food at all. Start by setting the example yourself if you want your teenage boy to eat healthy. If you grab a quick fast food burger on the go at lunchtime, your teenage boy is likely to do so as well. If you instead eat fruits, vegetables and whole grains, your teen is more likely to eat them, too. Where you eat also matters. Eat together at the kitchen or dining room table instead of taking your meals on the couch in front of the TV. In a paper presented in 2000 before the American Dietetic Association, and reported by Washington State University, researchers K.W. Cullen, et al., found that preteens who ate with their families ate more vegetables and fruits and consumed less saturated fats, trans fats and sodas. These preteens also had better eating habits when 

eating away from home.

Controlling and over managing your teen doesn't work, and neither does not setting limits. Teenage boys eat many of their meals at home, but they also want to be autonomous and buy some of their meals out. Teach your teen some short-term benefits of eating nutritious foods, such as having more energy to compete in sports and to do better on tests. Also, teach the short-term consequences of eating a steady diet of junk food, such as decreased energy and the tendency toward obesity and not looking as good as he could. Short-term consequences generally motivate teenage boys more than a discussion of long-term health.

Teenage boys need to focus on getting enough protein, calcium and iron in their diet. For body and muscle growth, they need 10 percent to 30 percent of their calories to come from protein, or about 45 g to 50 g per day. They can get this by eating fish, dairy and meat. Teenage boys need 1,300 mg of calcium a day for healthy bone growth. Discourage your teen from consuming sodas and sugary foods because they take calcium away from bones. Instead, encourage him to consume fortified cereal and juice, dairy, leafy greens and sesame seeds. If your boy doesn't get enough iron, he can become weak and fatigued. He needs 12 mg a day that he can get from beans, nuts, red meat, chicken and enriched whole grains.

Teenage boys can be notorious for wanting to sleep in as long as possible, meaning that they scramble to get out the door in the morning. Have your teenage son get up early enough to have a proper breakfast. According to the Mayo Clinic, breakfast jump-starts a teen's metabolism and gives him energy. A good breakfast consists of high fiber cereal, fruit, whole-wheat toast and fortified juice. If that doesn't appeal to him, offer the leftovers from dinner or some string cheese with a handful of nuts.