Teens and snacks
The teen years can be frought with angst, questions of self doubt and teetering back and forth on the see-saw of adolescence into adulthood. Part of making home a sanctuary and a place where teens feel they can be themselves is simply just being there.
Part of being there for teens includes maintaining the parent’s responsibilities of feeding. The responsibility of providing foods and supporting timely eating is still part of the parent’s job and can support teens both mentally and physically. Teens may not let you know that your being there is important to them and providing regularly timed snacks may not be on the top of their minds. Helping young adults to fuel every three to four hours can be made easier by helping them to make snacks portable or by having some of these snack foods easily available at home for them to grab. Here are some quick foods to have be there for your teens!
PROTEIN/DAIRY FRUIT/VEGGIE GRAIN
1/2C cottage cheese 1 pear 2 slices cinnamon toast
1 oz cheddar cheese 1 apple 7 wheat crackers
1C skim milk 1c blueberries 1C Cereal (5gm fiber)
1 oz almonds ¼ c died cranberries 1C whole wheat pretzels
2 oz turkey 1C lettuce /tomato 2 slices whole wheat bread
1 oz hummus 1C baby carrots 1 med whole wheat Pita
2 oz lean roast beef 1/2C sliced red peppers 1 whole wheat roll
1 C skim milk 1 med banana 2 Graham Crackers
1 oz cheese stick 18 grapes 3c air popped popcorn
1C Soy milk 1C strawberries 6 Nilla Wafers