Teenager

Fascinating facts about this age group

Teenagers

  • One-fifth of Irish teenagers are overweight or obese,
  • Young boys have more of an issue with weight than girls. Since 1990, the number of overweight and obese teenage boys has more than tripled.
  • A high salt and fatty diet is setting teenagers up for future bad health. Half of their intake of potatoes was in the form of chips.
  • Teenagers whose parents were overweight were far more likely to follow in their footsteps, 84% of mothers and 92% of fathers of obese teenage offspring were also overweight or obese themselves.
  • 1 in 3 Irish teenagers don’t eat fruit.
  • Almost 96% opt for white bread instead of wholemeal or brown bread.
  • 41% of teenagers travel to school by car, while only 1 in 3 walk. Almost half of those playing computer games for four hours or more during a weekend are overweight or obese.

Foods that need particular attention

Teenage years are an important time to develop the eating habit you’ll have for a lifetime. Routines you start now will probably stick with you so try to make the good ones!

You should be eating 5 portions of milk and dairy foods a day to build strong bones to serve you a lifetime! This is the time when your bones become the strongest so invest in your future!

Try to get involved in daily activity or exercise. Starchy foods are a great way to store up your energy supplies so include bread, pasta, rice, potato or cereal at every meal and snack.

You could be on the go, or on a budget, teenage years are often when you need a quick, healthy and cheap meal! A wholegrain sandwich or roll with tuna, ham, egg or sardines or beans or cheese on toast are standard fare for many teenagers and are full of vitamins and minerals.

Bringing it all together

Daily menu plan:
Breakfast: cereal and toast, fruit or yoghurt, tea, coffee or juice

Mid morning: peanut butter roll and a banana or yoghurt

Lunch: wholegrain sandwich with tuna, chicken or cheese and tomato, glass milk

Afternoon: cereal bar

Dinner: fish, baked potato or pasta and two portions veg

Evening snack: Tea and toast or sandwich

Food Pyramid

To see how many servings of each of the food groups you should be including in your diet on a daily basis, view our Food Pyramid or download our detailed PDF.

Ask the Dietitian

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