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As you get older, you make more choices that affect your body and your health. Choosing healthy foods and drinks, being active, and getting enough sleep are key for your physical and mental health. These choices can help you
Energy is what helps you grow. The calories you get from foods and drinks give you that energy. How many calories you need each day depends on many factors, such as
Your healthy eating plan should include a variety of foods and drinks that are high in nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, fiber, lean protein, complex carbohydrates, and healthy fats.1 Try to choose foods and beverages that are low in saturated fats, added sugars, and sodium—a mineral found in table salt and in many packaged or prepared foods.
Below, the advice for teens is from the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020–2025. If you have a health condition that affects your food and drink choices, ask your parent, guardian, or health care professional for advice based on your needs and preferences.
Vegetables contribute many valuable nutrients like fiber, potassium, and vitamin A—which can help you have a healthy heart, kidneys, and eyes, and may protect you from infections. Sometimes it takes a few tries to learn to like a certain vegetable, but changing how it is cooked and seasoned can help. Be creative and work with whoever does the cooking at home to find healthy choices you can enjoy.
Some vegetable choices are
Teens ages 14 to 18 should try to consume about 2 1/2 to 4 cups of vegetables each day.2 Try to eat a mix of different kinds of vegetables. The specific amount of vegetables you should eat depends on how many calories you need each day.
Apples, bananas, berries, and other fruits are packed with vitamins, minerals, water, and fiber. These nutrients help your mind and body perform at their best. For example, oranges and grapefruits are good sources of vitamin C, an important vitamin that helps you grow. It also helps repair your body, heal cuts, and protect you from diseases. Try to have vitamin C every day, because your body can’t make this vitamin—you must get it from the foods and drinks you consume.
Teens ages 14 to 18 need about 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 cups of fruit a day.3 A variety of fruits can help you get essential vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients. Although 100% fruit juice with no added sugar can count toward that goal, try to drink no more than 1 cup a day. At least half of your fruit should come from whole fruit, rather than juice. This can include fresh whole fruits as well as canned, frozen, or dried fruits—like raisins, dried apricots, and prunes—with no added sugar.
Grains such as oats, barley, farro, and brown rice are great sources of fiber and several B vitamins. Minerals like calcium, potassium, and magnesium are also found in several grains and help your body build strong bones and muscles.
At least half, or even more, of the grains you eat each day should be whole grains, rather than refined grains—also called processed grains. Eating whole grains that are high in fiber may make you feel full sooner during meals or when having snacks. This might help you consume fewer calories and manage your weight. Refined grains have less fiber and other nutrients and often have added sugar or salt.
Here are a few examples of whole grains and refined grains
Certain grains—such as wheat, barley, and rye—contain a protein called gluten. For people who have been diagnosed with celiac disease, eating foods that have gluten can damage the small intestine and cause long-lasting digestive problems. If you have been diagnosed with this disease, be sure to check food labels and choose gluten-free options. Some people who do not have celiac disease may be sensitive to gluten, which means they have digestive problems after eating gluten. Talk with your health care professional if you’re not sure which grains are safe for you.
Protein is essential for building bones, muscles, cartilage, skin, blood, and hormones. Protein contains nutrients called amino acids that are important for your growth and health. Many foods high in protein also provide iron, zinc, and other key nutrients.
Animal sources of protein include
Plant-based sources of protein include
Unsalted nuts and seeds—including almonds, cashews, pumpkin seeds, and nut butters such as peanut butter—are sources of protein. But you may need to avoid certain nuts and seeds if you are allergic to them. Talk with a health care professional if you’re not sure which nuts and seeds are safe for you.
Dairy products can help you build strong bones and teeth, especially during your teen years. These foods and beverages provide many nutrients, including calcium, magnesium, potassium, zinc, vitamin A, and vitamin B12. Dairy products are the most common source of vitamin D, which is essential for building bones and a strong immune system.
Teens ages 14 to 18 should try to consume about 3 cups a day of dairy products, such as fat-free or low-fat milk, yogurt, and cheese.4 Other options include
Some plant-based beverages—such as those made with rice, almonds, oats, or coconut—may be good sources of calcium. But the Dietary Guidelines for Americans don’t count them as dairy products because they don’t provide the same nutrients as milk or fortified soy products.1
Good question! Many teens do not consume enough of important nutrients essential for their health.1
Calcium can help you build strong bones and teeth. This is really important because your body will build a lot of your bone mass before your early twenties. Some sources of calcium are fat-free or low-fat milk, yogurt, and cheese; vegetables such as spinach, taro root, and turnip greens; and plant-based beverages and yogurt products with added calcium.
Vitamin D also helps to keep bones healthy. Vitamin D is added to several foods and drinks, such as some dairy products, orange juices, and plant-based beverages and yogurt products. Other sources of vitamin D include salmon, mushrooms, and tuna.
Potassium helps your kidneys, heart, and muscles work properly. Some sources are beans, baked potatoes, peppers, jackfruit, citrus fruits, berries, and bananas.
Fiber helps you have regular bowel movements and feel full. It also may help you have a lower risk for heart and kidney diseases. Dietary fiber is only found in plant foods, such as some whole grains, fruits, and vegetables.
People of all ages should choose foods and beverages that are low in added sugars, saturated fats, and sodium.
Some foods, like fruits, are naturally sweet. Other foods and drinks are sweet because sugar is added to them. Sugar-sweetened foods and drinks have lots of extra calories but no added nutrients.
Some of the most common sources of added sugars include
Less than 10% of your daily calories should come from added sugars. For example, if you take in 2,000 calories a day, fewer than 200 of those calories should come from added sugars. One can of soda often has 150 calories from sugar!
Tips for cutting back on added sugars include
Figure 1. Nutrition Facts label
Some types of fat—like liquid olive oil, canola oil, or other vegetable oils—can be healthy in small amounts. However, saturated fats are not healthy. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that less than 10% of your daily calories come from saturated fats.1 For example, if you take in 2,000 calories a day, fewer than 200 of those calories should come from saturated fats.
Saturated fat is often solid at room temperature, such as butter and the fat inside or around meat. But some products that are liquid at room temperature, such as coconut oil and whole milk, are also high in saturated fat.
The most common sources of saturated fat include
Learn how to cut down on saturated fat and still enjoy the foods you love. Here are a few tips for limiting saturated fat in the foods and beverages you consume
Your body needs a small amount of sodium each day, but most Americans consume too much. Many snacks, desserts, and meals such as pizza are very high in sodium. Consuming too much sodium can raise your risk of developing high blood pressure, which is unhealthy for your heart and your body in general.
Teens should try to consume less than 2,300 mg of sodium per day, which is just 1 teaspoon of table salt. This amount includes the salt in ready-to-eat food and also the salt you add when cooking or eating your food.
These online tools can help you learn more about healthy eating
Before making any changes to your eating plan, check with your parents, guardian, or health care professional to make sure these options are right for you. A health care professional can help you develop a plan that is tailored to your needs and preferences.
These tips may help you make healthier choices
Physical activity should be part of your daily life, whether you play sports, take physical education (P.E.) classes in school, do chores, or get around by biking or public transportation. Taking a walk can be great for your health, if you are able to do so safely. The benefits of regular physical activity can include5
Current physical activity guidelines recommend teens do at least 60 minutes (1 hour) of physical activity every day, including5
You don’t have to do your 60 minutes of activity all at once.
The Move Your Way campaign from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services includes other tips and ideas(PDF, 7.9 MB) (Spanish version[PDF, 2.7 MB] ).
Teens spend much of their day sitting down in classes or doing homework. Spending time on your smartphone, on the couch watching TV, or playing video games can add even more hours of inactivity to your day. Try to limit your screen time to less than 2 hours each day, not counting time spent on your homework or your job after school.
Being active can be more fun with friends and family members.
Mix things up by choosing a different activity each day.
You don’t need money or expensive equipment to stay active.
Routine chores, like cleaning your room or taking out the trash, may not get your heart rate up the way biking and running do, but they keep you moving. Fitness apps that you can download onto your computer, smartphone, or other mobile device can help you keep track of how active you are each day.
Like healthy eating and getting enough physical activity, getting enough sleep is essential to your physical and mental health. You need to get enough sleep to do well at school and work, drive safely, and fight off infection. Not getting enough sleep may also affect your mood and ability to make decisions, and lead to gaining excess weight.6
Teens should aim for 8 to 10 hours of sleep each night.7 Sometimes it’s hard to get enough sleep, especially if you have a job, help take care of younger brothers or sisters, have limited space and share a bedroom with others, or are busy with other activities after school. Developing healthy sleeping habits can help. If you can, try to
Young people grow at different rates, so it’s not always easy to tell if a teen has overweight or obesity. If you are worried about your weight, talk with a health care professional. If you don’t have a health care professional you see regularly, ask your parents or guardian to help you find one and make an appointment.
To find out if you are at a healthy weight, a health care professional will consider many factors, such as
This online tool from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lets you calculate your BMI and BMI-for-age percentile, which compares your BMI with growth charts for teens based on your age and sex.
If your health care professional advises you to lose weight, work together to develop a plan for reaching and staying at a healthy weight. Depending on your age and how fast you are growing, you may not need to lose weight—only gain weight more slowly. Your health care professional or a specialist in weight loss or healthy eating—such as a registered dietitian—can help you develop a healthy eating plan tailored to your needs and preferences. If you have a lot of excess weight, or if you have health problems because of your weight, your health care professional may also talk with you about additional options for losing weight, such as weight-loss medicines and weight-loss surgery.
Weight loss is a popular topic. But some methods you may hear about can be harmful if you try them on your own—without being supervised by a health care professional.
During your teen years, your body needs energy, vitamins, and minerals to grow and work properly. Don’t try to lose weight by
Some approaches to losing weight can lead to a cycle of eating too little and then eating too much because you get too hungry. These methods can also affect your mood and how you grow.
Other unhealthy approaches to weight loss include
Changing your habits can be challenging. And developing new habits takes time. Use the tips below to stay motivated and meet your goals. You can do it!
Don’t expect to change your eating, drinking, physical activity, or sleeping habits overnight. Changing too much too fast may limit your chances of success.
Are unhealthy snack foods at home tempting you? Are the foods and beverages you’re choosing at your school cafeteria or job too high in sodium, saturated fats, and added sugars? Do you overeat to help manage stress related to your family or your future? How can you change these habits?
If you drink sugar-sweetened beverages every day, try replacing some of them with water. Once you are drinking fewer of these beverages for a while, try cutting out all of them. Then set another goal, like getting more physical activity each day. Once you have reached one goal, add another.
Get a friend at school, someone at home, or a coworker at your job to support your new habits. Ask a friend, brother or sister, parent, guardian, or coworker to help you make changes and stick with your new habits.
This content is provided as a service of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
(NIDDK), part of the National Institutes of Health. NIDDK translates and disseminates research findings to increase knowledge and understanding about health and disease among patients, health professionals, and the public. Content produced by NIDDK is carefully reviewed by NIDDK scientists and other experts.
NIDDK would like to thank:
Aaron S. Kelly, Ph.D., Center for Pediatric Obesity Medicine, University of Minnesota Medical School; and Linda Van Horn, Ph.D., R.D., Northwestern University