Parents of teens are sometimes asking “how do I get them to eat enough, but not too much?” Well it turns out that is a layered question! With so much development in this age group, there is a lot to take in. Hear all the insight, strategies, and recommendations in today’s episode.
Send us an email: parenting@iastate.edu.
Find us on Facebook: @scienceofparent.
This institution is an equal opportunity provider. For the full non-discrimination statement or accommodation inquiries, go to www.extension.iastate.edu/diversity/ext
Parents of teens are sometimes asking “how do I get them to eat enough, but not too much?” Well it turns out that is a layered question! With so much development in this age group, there is a lot to take in. Hear all the insight, strategies, and recommendations in today’s episode.
Send us an email: parenting@iastate.edu.
Find us on Facebook: @scienceofparent.
This institution is an equal opportunity provider. For the full non-discrimination statement or accommodation inquiries, go to www.extension.iastate.edu/diversity/ext
Welcome to The Science of Parenting podcast where we connect you with research-based information that fits your family. We'll talk about the realities of being a parent and how research can help guide our parenting decisions. I'm Mackenzie Johnson, parent of two littles with their own quirks. And I'm a parenting educator.
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:And I'm Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt, Professor of Human Nutrition, guest cohost and a mom to one sweet angel baby and one young tenacious eater.
Mackenzie Johnson:Yes, we love having you here this season, Lyndi. We've been talking, I mean, gosh, about a lot of things. We've been going for a while now. We're pretty good. I think we got this.
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:Okay. Don't jinx it.
Mackenzie Johnson:You're like, don't be talking like that. Yeah, last week, well, two weeks ago, we talked about the first 1000 days. And then last week, we talked about feeding and eating with our kids, kind of that school age, two to eight. And what are we going to talk about today?
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:Well, this week, we are getting older. I mean, obviously we are getting older. But we're also getting older in terms of what we're talking about. And we're talking about feeding and eating with teens.
Mackenzie Johnson:Yep, we're digging into these teen years. You know, those preteens are going to be a little bit kind of rolled in. They're going to have some of this, but it gets even more intense in the teens. But similar things are happening because there's a lot that changes between being like eight and being like 18. Right?
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:I often say you could never pay me to be this age again. I'll talk about it.
Mackenzie Johnson:Please. Yep, I will not accept payment for that either. Adulthood. I'm a big fan. I like that. Now, I made it through the like, I need an adult phase. I feel like I'm mostly through that now. So now I'm like, yeah, adulthood is cool. But yeah, a lot happens with our teens. You know, there's even I think of like I said, eight to 18. But even like, eight to 12, 12 to 14, right? All the way through, there's just a lot happening. And our role as a parent changes so much. At eight, I'm still like carting you everywhere and I'm in charge of all the things for the most part. And at 18, there's a lot more shared decision making and just lots of changes. And those things have impact on food. Right?
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:Oh, huge impact on food, food choices, food access, all the things.
Mackenzie Johnson:Yeah. All the things. So yeah. Because our roles change. Right. What else? What else is happening?
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:Yeah, so yeah, our roles are changing, you know, those external influences, the needs of our kids are changing. So what they need to eat, how much they need to eat, all those things we need to think about.
Mackenzie Johnson:Yes, yes. And so we can kind of dig in to some of the specifics here too, of thinking about what are those influences, right? You said external influences. Our role as a parent, and what our kids need, let's dig into some of those specifics about the teen years. During this transition, lots of stuff happening. But I think one of the ways that they talked about it in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, they use this phrase, new influences on eating behavior emerge, and I was like, that's what happens.
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:It emerges, it emerges. That's a fun word.
Mackenzie Johnson:That's a fun word. And one thing that I was gonna say, like the biggest one. No, I feel like they're all big ones. They're all big ones. They're all big ones. So I'm gonna go with top of mind, top of mind, yes, right. One that comes to mind for teens is their friends, right? Their peers, that is such an important part of their life and their values that they have right now. We know that they spend more time away from home in the teen years than they did when they were younger. It was typically because they're spending more time with their friends. Yep. And so the Dietary Guidelines for Americans talked a lot about kind of these two things that fit together when it comes to peers and that was peer pressure and peer modeling. So right, because they're like, yeah, friends, what's going on around me? I'm looking at everybody, everybody's looking at me. That idea of peer modeling, right? What their friends eat, how the friends spend their time, what their friends bring when they're bringing food somewhere, or bringing a drink somewhere. That all influences their behavior. And also, like, more directly peer pressure, right? Like, why do you eat that? I actually can remember a friend in high school taking the skin off of like a broasted chicken. And I remember teasing them about it. And I'm like, that was not nice. I should not have knocked people's food. But that was a form of pressure related to what they're eating. So that happens in the teen years, too.
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:Yes. Just judging in general, I think. This is when, I mean, it always happens, right? There's never a time when it's not happening. As a child, as adults, it's always happening. But this is when teens are much more aware of it because, as our friend Barb Dunn Swanson talks about, this is a time when kids are trying to fit in. They're trying to be accepted in the community that they're in. And they want to be like the other kids around them. So it's a hard time because you are being judged by what you're doing and trying to be like everybody else.
Mackenzie Johnson:Yes. And that need for belonging, right?
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:Okay, good. That's what Barb was talking about, a basic need for belonging as they shift from, my parents are always the most important people. They would still say their parents are the most important people in the teen years, I like to remind people of that. So they still, like the research says teens still say that.
Mackenzie Johnson:And like, and it's the case while the parents are still the most important. And it's the case that their peers increase in importance. And so what does this mean? Well, it says that as parents, we have less direct influence on what our kids eat, right, on their food choices, because it's not always like, hey, we're sitting at the table, and I'm serving food and you're deciding whether or not to eat it. We don't always have the direct impact, because we're not always serving them the food they're eating because they spend more time away from home. Naturally, that means they eat and drink more outside of the house or outside of whatever your home is. And so we're not even always present. Not only are we not serving it, we're not even always present during their food consumption. And then another one that they talked about in the dietary guidelines is kind of a pattern when it comes to teens and peers and all this is they often have a preference for convenience foods. I was like, yeah, that's all I ate. I remember going to the gas station to get stuff, right. I wasn't sitting at home making a four-course, well, a single course meal. I wasn't making a single course, let alone a four course. But so convenience food, which often is not very nutrient dense, right?
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:Yes, yeah. Yes. I mean, convenience food is synonymous, is known to be, you know, not nutrient dense, not the most healthy choice for us. Which, you know, is something maybe a strategy parents can do. It's like, again, we can control our food environment at home. So offering those convenience foods in that environment. But you're talking about like, okay, well, they're going out. Obviously, they're spending more time outside the home, they're spending their time around more kids. I remember going to the grocery store with my friends when I was a kid and buying what they bought, even if it's not something I always bought before. So there are a lot of influences that go into what decisions teens are making about food. But there's also strategies that you can use, great news, to help guide them, right. Yeah, and influence those choices, that positive influence. I feel like we've been talking about, like, oh, these are a lot of negative influences. Okay, let's talk about some positive influencing you can do as a parent. So the first one that I want to mention is, this is especially true for those younger teen years, the you know, 9-10-11-12 years, when maybe you still have a little bit more control. Not to say this isn't beneficial in later years, too, but really maybe talking to other parents of kids in your classroom about what's being eaten in the environments that your kids are in. So your kids are gonna go over to other kids' houses for parties, of course, you're gonna do that as kids, too. But you're gonna go over, you know, and hang out in the basement of your neighbors, in and out in our pantries and random houses. I mean, not really, I hope your kids are not going into that random house. But talk to those other parents about what food is in those environments. And then what foods that you as a family maybe have in your environment, and then articulate to them, tell them why it's important for your family to have, you know, why you think it might be a good idea to kind of create a healthy food environment wherever they're going without judging or shaming the other parent if they have different parenting practices than you do.
Mackenzie Johnson:Absolutely. Yeah, that idea of not judging or shaming but sharing your values around food. And I think of like, the amount of time, yeah, if you have kids that are on a traveling team for some sport, the amount of time you spend with fellow parents, right? Or even like, if you have a kid that's in the play, or, you know, whatever activity they might be in where they are having food, because they're involved in that activity. There's great opportunities to have those conversations around, you know what, hey, I'll bring some fresh cut fruit, some melon to the next tournament. That'll be fair game for everybody or, you know, talking about those kinds of things with fellow parents. I love that. Because, yeah, you are coexisting, or at least your children are in a lot of the same space.
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:They are, yeah, and you are obviously listening to this podcast, because you were interested in learning more about food and your kids. So maybe, you know tell them to listen to this podcast to learn more about food and their kids.
Mackenzie Johnson:By the way, go listen to what they said at episode whatever season 10, this many seconds.
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:Yes, yeah, but they might not know, too, so this is an opportunity for you to share your values and then also maybe provide a little bit of education in a very nonjudgmental way. We don't want to shame anybody further for their behaviors around food. Okay, and one additional tip I have around peer pressure and the eating more away from home is one option is to read through a school menu with your kid ahead of time and discuss the healthy meal choices or the meal choices that you would, you know, encourage them to take like you might have done with them when they were younger kids, too.
Mackenzie Johnson:Yes. Well, and I think of like, yes, okay, remember you have that test on this day. You know, we're gonna want to be thinking like, that's right after lunch, you want to make sure or that's not till right before lunch, you wanna
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:Our local grocery store had Dunkin make sure you have a good breakfast that day. I love that idea. Those are decisions you can make together and what great skills for them to take into adulthood. You know, to kind of do that planning and figuring that out. Because, oh, what a segue, haha, because one of the things we know about teens/adolescents is that they are growing so much in independence. So much autonomy is happening, right? We talked about autonomy support, aka, supporting them to make their own choices when it comes to food. And in general, with teens, not just food, we are working on more shared decision making. I always say we want to let them practice decision making when the stakes are a little lower. Right? If they make a terrible decision when they're 25, that can be a little bit different than if they're making a low stakes decision when they're 16. And they're like, oh, maybe that wasn't great. So as we think about independence, we know, like I said, more time away from home. They're not under our direct supervision all the time. But that means they have more independence in their own food choices. Right? They're choosing that food themselves more. They're also exposed to new food choices, things that yeah, maybe this was never. You were talking about going to the grocery store with your friends. Well, my parents never bought that. But I remember buying a lot of Slim Jims in high school. So that was like a big deal to go buy a beef stick at the gas station. Because I'd never had oh, these are delicious. I've never had these. Donuts. Very dangerous.
Mackenzie Johnson:Right. And so we're exposed to new foods during the teen years. We also know that more foods for our teens, more food and beverages, are happening kind of socially, right? They might go out to eat with someone they're dating. They might go as a friend group to the movies, or whatever. More food is being consumed in that social setting. And again, there comes that peer influence stuff. But the other one that you brought up when we were talking about this was now they're kind of setting their own schedule, right? That's more independence. That can also mean they might be more active, they might make their own choices. And it could mean they might be more sedentary, right? They might spend more time on screens or playing video games or on social media. So yeah, I feel like I often talk about teens as like busy playing sports. But there's also the kind of flip side of like, okay, but also busy sitting in front of the TV.
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:Yes, busy playing computer games or video games or watching movies. All things that, well, I don't love to play video games, but I do love to watch movies, so understandably. But also an important thing that comes in here, maybe also for the sedentary time, the inactive time, but in general knowledge around kind of those different behaviors they're participating in. So this is where we start to again, talk about nutrition knowledge and nutrition education. So of course, we hope that, you know, if you've listened to these podcasts when your children are young or you already participated in some of those positive food parenting practices, you set that strong foundation for your healthy eater. But if you're just, you know, starting in on this now, it's never too late to start to engage your kids in nutrition education and building that nutrition knowledge, especially for these teenagers. They understand more complex things, right? So you could start to talk about why you are eating the foods you're eating, why that's important. So, you know, we don't try to have too much sodium in our house. Because well, I mean, we're gonna talk about the immediate reaction to that, like, it makes us feel bloated, or, you know, it's not healthy for our heart or those, you know, more specific details of it. So they might be able to better understand those more complex things around food.
Mackenzie Johnson:Absolutely. Yeah. And cognitively, they're more ready for that, the specifics of it, right? When they were like four, we told them it helps your body grow strong. But now that they're maybe 14, they can understand a little more of like, yeah, how it's gonna make us feel, how it impacts how our body works, and things like that. Yeah, that nutrition knowledge can get more complex.
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:Yes, yeah. I mean, part of that means you have to bulk up on your nutrition knowledge, too. So you can say refresh.
Mackenzie Johnson:Or start fresh. Wait, is that a food pun? Do I get to count that - start fresh?
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:Sure. Yeah. That might be a stretch, but yeah.
Mackenzie Johnson:Okay. I'm gonna take it.
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:Yeah. And then again, this is just they're showing their independence. But this is a time for you to, like you said, engage them in some of those independent behaviors like take them grocery shopping with you and and explain to them, this is also a key time for nutrition education. Show them a nutrition facts label and how to read it. And if you don't know how to read it yourself, go and look up how to read it. There's great tools and resources for that. And then have them prepare a healthy meal with you and things like that.
Mackenzie Johnson:Yeah, and I think that opportunity, because yeah, let's say your child is 17. And at 19, they might not be living with you anymore. Or even if they are, they're probably more independent in making even more of their own choices. And so we have this opportunity, right, this like critical period if you will, of this opportunity to teach those skills that they can carry with them into adulthood. And so yeah, there's the benefits of it helps them eat maybe more nutrient dense food now, but also like the long term habits, right? Like we've talked about in the previous episodes of the first 1000 days and kids and same thing with teens. We're setting a foundation still that they're going to carry into adulthood. Oh, yes. Yes, we hope so. We hope so. I mean, fingers crossed. Yeah. Okay, so we've talked about peers and friends and talked about independence. Now I want to think a little more abstractly and think about thought processes. So this is very like, oh, I love human development of me. But there's two terms that I remember learning about when I was taking a class on the adolescence teen years. One is something called the personal fable. So when it comes to teenagers, it's basically this idea that they're invincible. We know they don't have an awesome prefrontal cortex thing going on yet where they think about consequences and long term and all that but essentially it comes down to like, that won't happen to me, everything's fine. I like to say it's a symptom of adolescence, of being a teen.
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:I'm glad we grew out of that to a degree, right?
Mackenzie Johnson:We love that. But as we think about it in terms, yeah, as I thought about this term, and how it relates to food, the idea of what we need to make this choice so that you live longer, in 80 years, right? Or you need to make this choice, because your heart health when you're this age, and it's like, well, that's not totally exactly it. We can teach nutrition knowledge, but they are not necessarily always going to be super responsive to that very long term, because long term consequences aren't front of mind because of their brain development. Yes, yeah.
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:Yeah, this is true. It could be true for everyone to a degree, right, but yeah, definitely for these teenage years. So we really want to talk about the kind of the immediate consequences of not eating nutrient dense food or eating nutrient dense food. So for example, you could say that eating a meal, like a whole grain pasta with veggies, it's gonna really help you. If you're eating that, you could say, well, it's really going to help you perform better at your game tomorrow. Or if you're in a marching band, you're going to be able to sustain that marching. Or if you are into taking tests or really are invested in your school or your performance at school, you could say it's going to help you, you know, it's going to help you do your best on your test.
Mackenzie Johnson:Absolutely. And I think, yeah, you have large group speech all day tomorrow. Let's eat, you know, something that's going to stay with you and help you stay full. And I talked about that with my young kids talking about how food makes them feel. Like, how do you feel when you eat that? And yeah, I feel like the same thing kind of comes through of the flip side is, well, if you have a pop right before the tournament, or right before the game, like how that might not leave you feeling so ready to run up and down the court or, you know, to make your best time at the track meet. But yeah, I like the idea of not that we never teach them about long term consequences of food, but that we pair it alongside the immediate benefits and potential downfalls if they don't eat at all, like if you don't eat. Oh, I didn't eat lunch today. Well, you might not perform your best that evening at whatever event you have. Yes. So that was one thought process that I thought was really interesting. Like, yeah, they're not great at that long term. And like you said, oh, maybe I'm not so great at it either. Hopefully, I'm better than a 15 year old though. Fingers crossed. But another kind of thought process, a cognitive process that happens with teens is something called the imaginary audience. So essentially, it is this idea that like, everybody's watching me, everybody knows what's going on. How I look, how I appear to people. And it's really what's happening in the brain. Sometimes it's like, oh, calm down, don't be so self centered, right? Don't be such a narcissist. But actually, it's developmentally appropriate in teens because they're becoming so much more aware of the world around them that they do naturally have this imaginary audience that everybody's watching me and how I appear is such a big deal. And so one of the reasons I bring up that thought process is because it's really closely related to the idea of body image. And we know that body image is such a big deal in teens.
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:Big deal in teens and food, big deal for teens.
Mackenzie Johnson:Yes, absolutely. And so a few things that kind of feed into this, I like to say it's kind of a perfect storm for body image issues in those teen years, because of the physical changes that happened in this body and at different rates. Right. There might have been some, I think, classmates who were early bloomers versus late bloomers, and how big of a deal that was, and whether we talked about in the locker room. Like why, let's not do that. But we did. So like how bodies are changing, and that it might be different than the people around you is one component, that idea of the imaginary audience, right? That everybody knows what's happening with me. If I am the late bloomer, everybody notices. Or if I wear this brand, or this whatever, everybody notices. Or if my body is this size or this certain way. But also, that increase of peers. What our peers think, what our friends think is so important to us. It does kind of create this perfect storm for body image issues. And so we do, you know, I didn't feel like, we didn't feel like we could talk about teens and food without talking about body image. Because how they feel about their body image can impact how they consume or don't
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:Yeah, yeah. And I mean, I want to consume food. first of all, say I am not an expert in this particular area myself. There's amazing experts out there. It takes a whole team of experts for this, you know. You definitely want a dietician nutritionist on your team, but psychologists, all, you know, spectrum goes deep on this. But yeah, I mean, speaking purely from a person who's invested in making sure kids grow and develop in appropriate ways, it's a very important time for kids to eat. Just like we say with pregnancy, you're gonna, you know your nutrient needs, you're going to probably eat a little bit more. You're definitely going to eat more during this time. Kids are growing and it's very important for that development. So we do need to watch out for any disordered behaviors, and then respond to them appropriately. One thing parents can do, even preventively, during this time is model positive self talk, you know, about your own body as a parent, about your child's body, and then about others around them. So we just need to have that positive body talk. And then also normalize weight, you know, appropriate weight gain at this point in time.
Mackenzie Johnson:Yes, that there's weight fluctuation because you are no longer like a small child. You are now forming into an adult, your body changes over that time a whole bunch, which includes your weight. Weight fluctuations are a natural part of this. And yeah, I love the idea of reflecting on the way we talk about bodies, whether it's our own body, right? Like, I look in the mirror, and I'm like, Oh, I can't wear that, I look fat. Oops, no, that's actually really not helpful body talk about ourselves, and our kids can absorb that. And I think we often talk about girls' body image. And that is the case as there are higher rates of disordered eating and body image issues with females. But it does not, that does not mean that it does not happen with males. So we want to pay attention to our boys too for this kind of disordered eating and body image issues. But one of the things I've been teaching both of my kids is like, I mean, yeah, they're young but I would say this. And actually, I do say this to others. I've said it like a little bit like snarky in some situations. But that bodies are not open for comment. Right? So how a body looks, what clothing somebody else has on and so yeah, whether you're talking about your children. I think of school shopping, prom dress shopping, tuxes, you know, all that stuff. They can actually be really vulnerable times where a comment we might think is well, I want them to look their best, actually can be a negative comment that can have really hurtful impact. And so we're not talking about how bodies look as much, right? We're not commenting on how bodies look. I focus on with my kids, we talk about how does the body feel? How does your body work? And so I do, I think that comes to terms now in the teen years, right? As you think about their athletic performance, it's not as much about how that uniform fits as it is about like, how do you feel good, you want to feel strong, etc. Things like that. So we did want to mention, I mean, again, we are not experts in this, but we wanted to list some of the kind of things to watch for. If we see kids, our teens, skipping meals. It is very common for teens to skip breakfast. That's kind of important to have in perspective. But when we see our teens skipping a lot of meals, or having excessive exercise, or we notice binging behavior, all those things are kind of signs of disordered eating. And definitely you'd want to consult an expert or your family doctor about those things, but it is prime time in these teen years for body image issues and disordered eating but yeah, but like you said, there's lots of great things we can be doing, right? We can model good things. We can have positive body talk. We can help them learn about food and yeah, why it's important and why we need to consume it. That it's natural for the weight to fluctuate. All those things help kind of prevent, and have positive impact on a healthy independent eater in the teen years too, right?
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:Yeah, yeah. And again, all of this can start earlier than the teen years. So this is when we go back to talking about, we don't want to use restriction or food as rewards in those early years. Because what we're teaching at that point in time, using restriction or using reward, is some of these disordered eating patterns. So if you do still have kids in those early years, again, this is just another reminder to avoid restrictions or using food as a reward.
Mackenzie Johnson:Yeah, that's gonna set a great foundation or avoiding it will set a solid foundation. Right? Yeah, well, I even think of the food reward things, I think of like, oh, yeah, if you'll go to the grocery store, you can buy yourself a pop. If you'll go cook this stuff for me, I never really thought about but like, yeah, that's a food reward, too. I think of like the M&M for potty training as a food reward. But it happens in the teen years, too. We're like, yeah, if you'll go do this, you can get yourself a pop or if you'll run into the gas station. And so we do, we want to think about more tangible non-food, like, you can like have five bucks. Yeah.
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:Because what you're doing then is maybe starting to teach also your child, oh, food reward. So like, if I do well, then I'll let myself have this special food. So it just, you know, normalizing foods in general so they're not in your mind, like, oh, that's a bad food, that's a good food. But like normalizing, I don't need to not eat that now so I can eat it later, just will help with some of this disordered eating as well.
Mackenzie Johnson:Absolutely. And part of that conversation around how our body works, you know, you're kind of talking about weight fluctuation happens at this age, and also thinking about their energy needs. Right? That's something that you were talking about that is a really important part of the teen years because of their growth spurts because of how active they are. Because of all this stuff. Their energy needs are different as teens than it was when they were like seven.
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:Yes, yes, yeah. So the energy needs are going up. This is a rapid period of growth, puberty, all of these things are happening in their bodies. Very confusing time for these poor teenagers. Again, I don't want to be this age again. So it's important to make sure that kids are eating enough. And again, eating enough of the right things. Nutrients are incredibly important at this age. One of them that you're going to hear me say this and think, oh, duh, but anemia is a very common thing to happen during these teenage years because of low iron. Yes, yeah. So iron needs are changing, specifically, even for girls. So your iron needs change once you hit puberty and so you need to make sure that you're getting enough iron. Yeah, another couple important nutrients of need would be calcium. Our bones are fast, quickly developing and growing.
Mackenzie Johnson:That's part of how you get taller, right, those bones.
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:Those bones, yeah. So you know, making sure that you are getting calcium from some sort. It could be obviously dairy is a great source of calcium. But then there could be a plant based alternative that your family wants to drink, but just making sure it's fortified with if it's dairy, it's going to have calcium or it's fortified with calcium. And then on top of that, a lot of those products also are fortified with vitamin D, which is also a very important, important nutrient, micronutrient for anybody of all ages, but it's something that's commonly under consumed in kids. So making sure that you are eating those things. We're gonna talk a little bit more about this later, I know. But in general, I do want to talk about the whole balance of, of calories. So yes, nutrient needs go up. But you mentioned this already. Kids may tend to be more sedentary at this age if they're not in sports, or if they're not participating in some physical activity, because they're more likely to watch TV or or just sleep, right. Like, you also need a lot of sleep when you're growing, developing. So just sleeping until noon. Yes. So again, kind of thinking about that calorie balance and watching how many, what we call empty calories they're eating so like sugar, sweetened beverages, added sugar, in general, processed foods. Just something to be aware of because they're going to be more likely to eat it at this age, because they're exposed to it potentially more. And just a thing to look out for.
Mackenzie Johnson:Yeah, and I also think it's important like this highlights that it can be I mean, yeah, it's such a continuum. And that the each parent like you know, your kid, you know, what's happening if you have a kid that yeah, that they really enjoy video games, they're spending more time doing like a sedentary activity, you know, thinking about that, you know, versus if someone is like, has an athlete who is at three hours of practice every day and so yeah, that can be individualized to your child and what they need and even within siblings, right, that like it looks different for this sibling and that one and because literally what their body needs can just be different. And that's okay. That's okay, guys. That's okay.
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:Yes, it is normal.
Mackenzie Johnson:Yes, yes. Very typical of this stage. Okay, so two more that are kind of like the big picture, I feel like we talked about a lot that we're kind of like centered around what's happening specifically with teens. But thinking about kind of like, what's around them, culture and community level stuff, like we talked about in the first episode this season. One of them is media exposure. As teens, their media exposure goes way up. We do less like co-viewing as parents, right? Like, we're not sitting there every time our child is on their social media, or watching TV necessarily. They do that by themselves now. So yeah, they engage way more with the world around them. And also a lot of marketing is geared to them from the consumer standpoint, they're good consumers. They now have spending power if they have a job. And a lot of that spending power often goes to convenience foods. And so yeah, that exposure to marketing in the media, also, you know, we talk about social media and comparison and things like that can have an influence on body image, but we did know body image was an issue for teens, even before social media existed. But so thinking about the media exposure our kids have, and how that can have an influence to what they take in around them. And what's targeted to them.
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:Yes, yeah. Yeah. And I mean, this is a hard one, because we can't change the marketing to them, right? Like, we can't call up a company and say, can you please stop marketing to my teen, knock that off? I wish, that'd be great. I mean, we can influence that in a way, but we can't have that direct kind of immediate influence where we stop it from happening. But we can help our how our kid responds to it, right? So increasing that nutrition knowledge and that awareness that that is being marketed to them. And then of course, I feel like I am on just pilot repeat saying this, but set that strong foundation for your kids so that they are going to be more likely to make the, you know, the healthy choice.
Mackenzie Johnson:Absolutely. And yeah, I mean, I think I've said this before, that talking with my five and a half year old about being a critical consumer, right? That an ad is trying to get you to do something or that commercial or even that billboard, that sign in the grocery store, that whatever, it has a goal and it's to get you to do something. And so teaching them to be critical consumers of advertising and media is also another really important skill to give our teens that fits in right here, too. Okay, then one other kind of community level factor that I think about when it comes to teens is how policy and I mean, like, yes, like legally, of course, but also even like policy in their school. What's served at lunch, you know, and what's in the vending machine that's nearby? What is the price of convenience food versus something that's more nutrient dense? And so all those things also influence our teens. And so one thing that I thought of actually, and I'm not even gonna let Lyndi say strategy yet because I want to say one. But I think, yeah, I'm like, I'm gonna say it. But leadership development, right? There's student council at this age and they might be involved in leading in different ways. They can get involved in advocacy around food, right, around what should be available. And so can you, right, there's the PTO, and there's the school board. And there's these opportunities that we can have to kind of advocate on our child's behalf for their health. And so I do think policy is part of what influences I remember when the pop machines moved out of our school when I was in high school. And then it was just like juice and milk. And that was the biggest deal of all time. And now I'm like, oh, my gosh, thank goodness. Like what a great thing to not have pop right there in the lunchroom every day. But yes, those policies. Was there anything you wanted to say before I cut you off?
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:Oh my gosh, you said it so beautifully. You did. I mean, I think it has been an active part in the policies, right? A lot of what you're talking about in terms of these policies are helping to influence the food environments that our kids are in. So yeah, we talked a lot about when the kids are little, the things that you can control and you want to control are what foods are options for them to have, right? Like what is in your home that they can eat. So if we're part of policies that influence our food environment outside of our home, we're able to help our kids again make that healthy, healthier choice, the easy choice because it's there for them and it's easy to make that choice and maybe not make the unhealthy choice, whether it's in that moment or for the future so yeah, I don't know if I could have said it any better. Just participate in the policies being made in your environment.
Mackenzie Johnson:Well, thanks. I'm pretty proud, coming from you. Okay, so we covered a lot, right? We said peers, we said independence, we said body image, their changing body energy needs. I skipped one there, media exposure. Oh, their thought processes, right? Like that personal fable thing of, I'm invincible. I mean, this isn't a big deal. So there's a lot of things that influence what's happening with teens and food. Let's like, almost come back for a second. And let's talk a little bit about like, what do we see in terms of like patterns and trends? Like, what impact do all these things piece together? What do we see on the impact that has with teens in food?
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:Well, it has a lot and obviously, it impacts a big thing, their actual diet quality. So when we're talking about just the actual type of food they're eating, and how it's influencing what we would quantify a nutrient dense diet that meets all of the recommendations for a healthy growing body. And so when we look at the actual science behind this, when we look at the literature, we can see that the diet quality for 14 to 18 year olds is really poor. So it is the worst out of all of the other ages that we have looked at.
Mackenzie Johnson:I remember eating ice cream and french fries for lunch, like often in high school. So that tracks.
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:Oh, yeah, the Big Bopper. I don't know if you remember that. That was like an ice cream sandwich at school. I always remember that being an option and available for me if I wanted it everyday at school, which I probably had it more than I should have, because it was available and an option in my school and tasty. This was a pretty healthy. But there's a tool that you can use called the Healthy Eating Index, which is an actual way to grade and to give yourself a score for your diet quality. And it uses it uses the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. So that ideal diet based off of all the science and literature that shows that this is the best diet to meet your needs, and help you develop and grow. So it scores your diet based off this ideal diet and 14 to 18 year olds are failing, like 100% failing, like most others, but really, really failing.
Mackenzie Johnson:And that's a concern, right? Like, oh, there's all these things about why their body needs all this stuff. And like, oh, and they need it and they really aren't getting it.
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:Yes. Yeah. I mean, we talked about, you know, the first 1000 days being incredibly important for brain development. And it's still consistent this time. But we haven't talked about enough, this is an important stage for that really physical growth and development ever hitting puberty, it is going to set the stage for their growth throughout their life, but then also their behaviors, too. Okay, so as we think about it, it's like, okay, yeah, they're not really meeting what what their body needs. Like, can we get a little more specific? What food groups per se are we talking about? Details, yes. So most teens, actually most adults, are lacking in vegetables, fruit and whole grain consumption. So really, you know, try to, in general, think about adding a variety of fruits and vegetables, and then everybody, teens too, should try to make half their grains, whole grains. So that's an important tip that I would give for everybody. They also found in this age group that teens are somewhat lacking and somewhat on track for what they're eating in terms of protein. But that really looks a little bit different. When we started to look at the details, the fine details of it, so teenagers are doing a really good job of eating what we would typically think about in our protein category, or you know what a lot of people do a good job of consuming. So that's like our chicken or pork or beef. But what maybe we're not doing a good job of consuming and we should think about because again, it's adding a different variety of nutrients, is more seafood. And then also more legumes, so that would be things I'll say I gotta admit, I'd like to eat more seafood. But yeah, I like our nuts and our seeds and our beans and our lentils. So think about adding that into your teenager's diet. You know if they're accepting of it, so yeah. don't know that my kids how much access, right, and we don't have a ton of it. Yes, I know. They access thing is hard. If you're listening to this from outside of Iowa, we are landlocked. We're jealous.
Mackenzie Johnson:I'd like to but I'm jealous you get more seafood than I do. Okay, so sorry, you were saying? You're talking about protein. Not so much on the vegetables and fruits and whole grains, proteinish, some parts of protein. Anything we're getting like too much of?
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:Yeah, so like you said, you did a good job summarizing. We're not getting enough of those what we would like to get the most of, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and healthy proteins. What we're getting too much are those things that we don't want. So that being added sugars, saturated fat and sodium. So specifically we're seeing in teenagers and I think in kids in general is really high intake of sugar sweetened beverages. And I think you know, as a lot of parents know, this is really tied to marketing, availability, those kinds of things. But also I think there's a misconception or misunderstanding about things even like sports drinks. So like, yes, maybe there's appropriate times for it. But I'm a very big advocate and proponent for not maybe having a sports drink if you're not participating in a sport. Yeah. Because it does have added sugar to it, which we get too much of, period.
Mackenzie Johnson:Yes. Well, yeah. As you think of the sugary beverage stuff, you know, I think of like, yes, that it could include pop. I think of fruit drinks, as opposed to actual 100% fruit juice, right? Yeah, that all those things are in the sugary, sweetened beverages category.
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:Well, I just remember a vending machine in my junior high and it had sports drinks in it. And I remember thinking too like, I'm making the healthy choice by having this Powerade and it did have a lot of added sugar. And I was just drinking it at 10am because I wanted energy, I wanted a sports drink.
Mackenzie Johnson:Yes. And well, and understanding the importance of, we need water. Water helps us absorb our food, and get the nutrients and all those things. And you know, you need water, you know, it's good for your kidneys. And also as we think about fullness, throughout the day. I think of a typical school day and your child, if they don't have water. And I think of the fullness of getting from if they didn't eat breakfast. So we might be talking, the last time they ate was like 8pm the night before to get to 11:30 or noon, right? Water is also a component of that. Water, we like that. We like water.
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:Yeah. Which brings me back to a policy component, like encouraging access to water at all times in schools is an important thing. And something that I think you should try to advocate for in your school if you haven't already.
Mackenzie Johnson:Yes, yes. And so it's nice to get a little specific of in general, yeah, I can be thinking a little bit more about how can we make it easier to access whole grains, fruits and vegetables at home? And yeah, are there opportunities to add in some nuts and seeds? You know, that kind of category. Okay, where are there opportunities to maybe replace water for a sugary beverage?
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:I think you said that backwards.
Mackenzie Johnson:Oh, we want water. We don't want the sugary sweetened beverage. Thank you for clarifying. That was important. But where can we add in water in place of some of those things that we know our kids might be getting a little too much of so that they have calorie room and fullness room to have those things that they do need?
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:Yes. Yes. Well said. You are talking dietician to me.
Mackenzie Johnson:I'm like speaking your language, huh? Oh, okay. So we've kind of covered a lot of strategies throughout the episode. But we did just kind of like want to wrap a bow on some of these of like, you have a teen, there's all this stuff happening. Perfect storm, we know in general, right? Maybe your teen is an exception. But in general, these are some of the things teens don't get enough of, or maybe have too much of. So what do we do about that as parents?
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:Strategies, strategies. Yes, and we've talked about so many, and I've said this throughout, but I can't reiterate enough, how important it is to set a strong foundation. So you know, when your kids are exposed to those nutrient dense foods and beverages at an earlier age, and you continue to support them making those healthy choices across different food environments, it'll be easier for them to establish those healthy behaviors and when they become more independent, as adolescents, they'll hopefully maintain it over time. So that's a key first one. And then again, just finding ways to provide convenient access to nutrient dense foods so that healthy food environment.
Mackenzie Johnson:And yeah, this isn't written in necessarily, and remember our body talk, right? The way we talk about bodies, we talk about how our bodies feel as we think about nutrition information. We talk about how our bodies work, right? I even think of some of the strategies that we can talk about next time, but teaching our kids around nutrients and how our bodies work. This helps our body do this. Not so much about what your body looks like or your body size, what we think it should be, or societal standards. How it works and how it feels are important conversations around bodies. But there were a few other ones that you've kind of looped in throughout but I don't want to skip them just because I have too much to say today.
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:No no no, I'm just gonna reiterate that once we have that independence and the ability to go out and, you know, do their own things a little bit more, continue to involve your teenagers and your adolescents in those meal decisions, that shopping, that cooking, to help empower them to make those decisions when they go out. And especially once they're 18 and older, and maybe they're going out and cooking for themselves, they know how to cook for themselves. They can be that independent being. And maybe they'll have their friends over for
Mackenzie Johnson:Pasta!
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:Make pasta, delicious. And then again, I think we hit home on this, but really try to limit those sugar sweetened beverages and encourage a variety of nutrient dense foods that you can tie to immediate outcomes, like you said, like school performance or sports performance, that kind of thing.
Mackenzie Johnson:Yes, there's so much good stuff to kind of dig in. And there's a lot of opportunity, we said a lot about the foundation and there's still a lot of opportunity in these teen years. If you're listening, and you're like, okay, I didn't know a lot of this before. That's alright, teenagers are a really great opportunity to have these conversations, and to build these skills and still practicing all of them. So all kinds of good stuff as we think about feeding and eating with our teens. That does bring us to our Stop. Breathe. Talk. space, which is based on our favorite parenting strategy of slowing down, taking a breath, getting our bodies regulated. So our producer is gonna come in and ask us an off the cuff question here. You came in the middle this time? There we go. She surprised me if you're watching the video, she threw me off a little.
Mackenzie DeJong:Think it's because I logged Mackenzie into the account.
Mackenzie Johnson:Yep. I'm in charge, guys. I'm in charge. Scary.
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:That's always the case.
Mackenzie DeJong:Can't let that go to her head. I might have to log her out. So today, I would like to do an activity. Okay. And this comes from a conversation with Barb and also with Lori. What we want to talk about with our teens, and we've talked a lot about what to talk about. I want to do sort of a role play of how do you have a conversation with your teen. Say you notice that maybe they're having issues with why can't I eat what my friends are eating? And you know they are so skinny, and I'm not that skinny. Having problems keeping up. Or I have these intolerances or these allergies that maybe I'm not noticing or whatever. So I would like you to pretend that I am your teenage daughter. And that you would like to have that conversation with me. What would that look like for a parent who might be like, okay, you told me all the things to talk about, but like how?
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:Okay, well, maybe I'll take on the first one of those.
Mackenzie Johnson:Okay, good, because I felt like I could take on the second one.
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:Yeah, why are my friends eating that and I can't eat that. First of all, I would probably tell you, it's not that you can't eat that. Your friends are eating something different than we typically eat at our home. And then I would probably tell you why we eat that in our home and why it's important for me and our family to eat that. You know, do you want to give me specific food?
Mackenzie DeJong:Okay. Christie's parents let them eat pizza every single night. And why would we always have to have like, avocados and pasta. You make me eat like kale sometimes.
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:Oh, pizza is really good, isn't it? And that's interesting that they have pizza every night. Well, you know, we can have pizza at our house, too. Let's talk about what kind of pizza you want. And when we can have it sometime this week for dinner. What do you want on your pizza? Let's work through that. So do that meal plan. First of all be like, yeah, it's totally normal to have pizza, like we can have pizza at our house. So let's talk about what you want on your pizza. So how to prepare it, get them involved in that meal planning?
Mackenzie DeJong:Also, how can Christie eat all that pizza and she is skinny as a rail and when I eat pizza, I seem to like gain a pound.
Mackenzie Johnson:I'm ready to answer. I was like I'm ready. I'm ready. Like tag team. Well, everybody's body is different. Right? There's not one way that bodies look or even if you're the same age or live in the same town or whatever, everybody's body is different. You know, that's not what tells whether you're healthy. You know, how does your body feel? How does your body work? Is it working well? Do you have enough energy for the day? That's a good sign that you're eating things that your body needs. I would also, as you talked about a food allergy or maybe like a food intolerance. And I feel like you maybe would have headed this way, Lyndi, if I hadn't said, it's my turn. But I also think like yeah, if your child has a certain allergy or think of like celiac disease or need to be gluten free. Talking about, this is what your body needs. And that's hard. You know what, it is hard when it feels like everybody else gets to do this and you have to do it a different way. You know, if we want to look for some things that are good alternatives for you, that help you feel more included, I'd love to help you with that. Or, you know, can we come up with something else together? Or is it that it's hard to talk with your friends about it? Because we could work through that together. And so I think building those skills alongside kind of their knowledge, too.
Mackenzie DeJong:So I will say, not as the teenager roleplay.
Mackenzie Johnson:Yeah. Back to real you.
Mackenzie DeJong:Mackenzie, the adult. I only recently started trying to work towards less gluten because I was having really bad stomach issues. And I know why. And I finally had someone say to me, this may cause inflammation and may be the problem and for me to just do it on my own. You know, I was living alone without people around me. That was, you know, that could be hard. But as you know, I had someone's support like, hey, I cooked this with gluten free pasta. I was like, oh my gosh, thank you so much. My mom would say, oh, I cooked that with that gluten free pasta that you had. Mm hmm. It makes it so much easier. So as a teenager, having my mom be like, oh, you know, that's something like, oh, sure, we'll just swap it. Oh, like no big deal.
Mackenzie Johnson:Yeah. And I think we do have that chance to validate their experience. Like, you know what? That sucks. Like, that's a bummer. Let's validate that, that is hard. If that is the case that they can't have things because of whatever condition they might have going on. And acknowledging, and I'm here with you, let's figure this out together. Yeah, let's find alternatives that still feel good. Or if it is the process of like, my friends make fun of me because or, you know, we can talk. Those are things we can help you and we can do that together.
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:Yeah. And then I think it's also important as someone in my family has celiac disease, and I think something that I don't want to speak for their family, but I am gonna speak for their family, because I'm gonna share this. But I think something that was also hard was then telling the other siblings that did not have celiac disease, like we're eating this way because we're doing it for your brother, because if he eats this, he will get sick. You know, you also have to have those conversations and educate the other children about other children. That sounds so formal, other kids, about why you're doing that. And then again, when this comes, we're going to talk about picky eating in another episode. But offering, yes, you do want to offer options, but make sure you're not in short order cooking for everybody. And you are like, this is what we're eating. And this is why we're eating it. And here are the options that are available to you. Yeah.
Mackenzie Johnson:The other thing that we didn't say that I'm like, oh, we should have in the roleplay. The idea of family values around food, right? So like, why does this family choose to do this, our family, it's important for our family, we really value, we think we should have a variety of food, right? That's important to us or talking about the family, though, yes, if one sibling has this condition or food allergy, well, we value having a family meal. And the way that we can include your brother in this meal is by offering this alternative. So it's important, we value that as a family. And so that's another way to talk about when it's tough. It's like this is a value for our family. And that gives values that are very important to teens.
Mackenzie DeJong:Yeah. And that's totally like the pizza thing. Like they have pizza but a value for us is maybe we still do have pizza, but we include things that make us feel better, or we value that nutritional piece.
Mackenzie Johnson:And I think values are a great way to talk about the differences between families without judgment, right? Because if we said like, wow, they eat pizza every night, okay? And so you know what, they might be valuing that both of their parents work an evening shift, and kids have to make their own dinner. And so they have to value convenience right now. You know, and so values are a great way to talk about the differences without being like, right, to shame them that we're different. But we can talk about our own. That's fine, too.
Mackenzie DeJong:Elevating that time that they get to spend together. Yeah, going over the differences.
Mackenzie Johnson:Yes. All right.
Mackenzie DeJong:Well, thank you for going along with that. I'm not sure I've ever made you roleplay.
Mackenzie Johnson:I don't know. I'm wondering. I'm thinking do it every time.
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:I'm thinking, do it every time. That was fun.
Mackenzie Johnson:Not every time, not every.
Mackenzie DeJong:We do that a lot in classes, so why not?
Mackenzie Johnson:Oh, gosh. All right. You said you had an activity and it was role playing. I was like, oh, okay.
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:That's where I shine. Bring it on. Well, I think I shine that way.
Mackenzie Johnson:We thought so, too. We thought so. Awesome. Well, thanks, Kenz. Oh, yes. So many good things as you think about the teen years. And it's funny because we almost didn't separate kids and teens, right? We almost did one episode on them together. And as we got into, we're like, no, no, no, there's so much that we needed a whole, teens need their own time to shine.
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:Yeah, they will tell you that, too.
Mackenzie Johnson:But there are a lot of things that are happening in the teen years that do influence what they eat, why they eat it, how they eat, you know, how they choose food. And there's still opportunities for us to be engaged even as they get more independence. There's still a lot of strategies for us to have positive impact to help them find nutrient dense food.
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:Yes, yes.
Mackenzie Johnson:So that leads us, well, Lyndi, you gave us quite a teaser earlier. What are we going to be talking about next week?
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:Okay, so next week, we are finally, for all the parents who are on this only listening to this season to hear this episode, I feel like there will be a few of you. We are going to finally talk about the tough topic of picky eating.
Mackenzie Johnson:I think that is probably the most common kids and food question I have heard. Right? And maybe that's just my kids.
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:It's hard. It's hard.
Mackenzie Johnson:But it's tough. And it's like, well, what do I do if they're picky? Because, right, you're saying variety, but... We'll tell you all that next week.
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:Oh, my gosh, can't wait. Awesome.
Mackenzie Johnson:Well, thank you so much for joining us today on The Science of Parenting podcast. If you've been listening for quite a while and you're liking what you're hearing, if you want to go to your podcast app and give us a five star rating, that's really helpful for us. It helps other parents find our information and they're like, hey, that's a good one, maybe I should check it out. And it also helps us when we get to tell our supervisors, lots of people like this, it's doing well, we should keep doing it. So if you want to go drop a five star rating on there, that would be cool.
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt:Yes, yes. And so come along with us as we tackle the ups and downs, the ins and outs, and the research and reality all around The Science of Parenting.
Anthony Santiago:The Science of Parenting is hosted by Mackenzie Johnson, produced by Mackenzie DeJong, with research and writing by Barbara Dunn Swanson. Send in questions and comments to parenting@iastate.edu and connect with us on Facebook and Twitter. This institution is an equal opportunity provider. For the full non-discrimination statement or accommodation inquiries go to www.extension.iastate.edu/diversity/ext