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Teen Diets and Weight Loss

Nutrition for kids, children, pre-teens, and teenager is important - due to the significant amount of growing that is going on during this phase of their life.

Getting Help For Your Overweight Child

There are a number of excellent holistic programs out there to assist parents in helping their overweight child.

The PariPlan RECOMMENDED

The PariPlan was developed by a busy mother. She was determined to fix this problem without putting her daughter on a diet or setting up a bad relationship with food.  Based on her success (and the amazement and encouragement of her pediatrician who was particularly well-versed in child weight issues), she created The PariPlan to help other families.

This is a book and CD-ROM (or software download) that contains weight management tools, printable activities for child and family involvement.

The program sells for $14.99

See the PariPlan

See Also

Trim Kids Review - Outline and excerpts from the highly acclaimed Trim Kids 12 week weight loss program for kids and teens.

Slim Kids - An excellent program for kids and teens.

Sample Meal Plan (Slimkids)

This meal plan was written by Laura Kraemer of Slimkids.

You may substitute any type of food for the ones listed as long as they are the same type of food!

For example: Instead of chicken salad sandwich, you can choose any kind of sandwich you would like.  That goes for the vegetable and meat choices.  We limit pasta, rice, and macaroni and cheese on the program because the portion size is so small (½ cup).  You can reintroduce those foods later after you have lost the weight.  Kids can still have hot dogs, hamburgers, French fries (baked), cereal, and other kid foods and still lose weight!  Children under 11 years old can lose one pound a week.  Kids and teens over 11 years old can lose 2 pounds a week when they follow the program.

The program shows you exactly what to do to lose weight the healthy way-it's easy, and it's written for the child (over or teen do on their own using words they understand.  Parents will help the younger child follow the program.

Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
1 large egg scrambled or fried, use a pan sprayed with oil spray. 1 slice whole-wheat toast with 1 teaspoon butter or reduced calorie or margarine ½ grapefruit 1 cup skim or 1% milk	1 chicken salad sandwich made with 3 ounces cooked chicken breast, celery, lettuce, 1 teaspoon mayonnaise, pita bread or 2 slices whole-wheat or white bread. (remember-you can trade any type of sandwich for what's on the menu) 1 apple (or other whole fruit) 1 cup mini fresh carrots, or large carrot cut up with 2 teaspoons of non-fat dip on the side for dipping. 1 juice pack drink	3 ounces lean roast beef, broiled (other lean protein source)½-cup mushrooms, fresh or canned, served hot over beef 2 cups tossed salad with 2 tablespoons reduced calorie salad dressing 1 cup cooked broccoli 1 cup skim or 1% milk
Snack
2 cups popped light popcorn 1 chocolate milkshake (recipe included in the program)

Approximate totals for the day: 3 milks, 4 breads, 3 fruits, 2 servings of protein, 4 vegetables, and 3 fats.

If you don't like a food on the menu, you may substitute any type of food for the ones listed as long as they are the same type of food and is the same portion size!

Related information:

Carbohydrates may be classified as monosaccharides, disaccharides, or polysaccharides depending on the number of monomer (sugar) units they contain. They constitute a large part of foods such as rice, noodles, bread, and other grain-based products. Monosaccharides contain one sugar unit, disaccharides two, and polysaccharides three or more. Polysaccharides are often referred to as complex carbohydrates because they are typically long multiple branched chains of sugar units. The difference is that complex carbohydrates take slightly longer to digest and absorb since their sugar units must be separated from the chain before absorption. The spike in blood glucose levels after ingestion of simple sugars is thought to be related to some of the heart and vascular diseases which have become more frequent in recent times. Simple sugars form a greater part of modern diets than formerly, perhaps leading to more cardiovascular disease. The degree of causation is still not clear, however.