Oftentimes one hears a teen saying, “I’m fat. Many people have trouble adjusting, and this can affect their self-esteem.

For people in their early teens, body image can be closely linked to self-esteem. Parents are advised to encourage children to read interesting articles on teen health and nutrition. When all their peers eat fast food for lunch, you cannot expect your child to munch on green leaves and raw vegetables! Improving eating habits among teens is crucially important for two reasons (among others): building strong bones and preventing obesity.

* The foundation for a lifetime of strong bones is built during the teen and young adult years until about age 30. Many snacks, such as potato chips, fast-food cheeseburgers, and fries, have high levels of fat, sugar or salt–ingredients that should be best limited to a small portion of your diet. Healthy eating doesn’t mean that you can’t have your favorite foods, but the Dietary Guidelines advise you to be selective and limit the total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium you eat. Only animal fat provides cholesterol. Fats are our most concentrated source of energy. It is common knowledge now that eating too much fat, especially saturated fat and cholesterol, increases blood cholesterol levels, and therefore increases your risk of heart disease. When you eat out, particularly at fast-food restaurants look for broiled or baked rather than fried foods. Look for milk-based high-calcium foods with reduced fat.

Eating plenty of these fiber-rich foods may reduce your risk of cancer and heart disease. The benefits from a high-fiber diet may be related to the foods themselves and not to fiber alone.