Teenagers and Diets

[NorthernMommy]

I already posted this in 'teenagers' but realised that this might be a more appropriate place.

My 16 year old daughter wants to go on a diet.

Here is some background information:

She usually eats very healthily and maintains a steady weight which is around the slimmer end of healthy. She is a vegetarian and easily gets her 5 fruit and veg a day. She usually tries to avoid all junk food and fizzy drinks. She isn?t very sporty but she tries to get to the gym once a week.

She is currently taking her GCSEs and decided to give up her usual no junk food rules for a couple of weeks so that she could consume chocolate and energy drinks to help her maintain high energy levels through revision. I very much supported this idea. So for the past few weeks she has stopped going to the gym and has added to her diet 3 biscuits a day plus about two mugs of sugary tea and two glasses of diet coke. She has recently put on about 4 pounds and her usually clear skin has become quite spotty. She is quite small so for her 4 pounds is more than it is for most people. I don?t want her to go on a diet but she says she wants to stop eating junk food now if she isn?t allowed to go on diet when her exams finish. I am worried if she stops eating junk food she won?t have enough energy to revise properly and I don?t want her getting preoccupied about her appearance when she should have revision on her mind. I feel I should add that although she does sometimes get concerned about her weight she genuinely loves food and has never tried to seriously limit her diet before so I am not worried about an eating disorder.

She is still by no means anywhere near over weight but I think she wants her bikini belly back as quickly as possible with summer fast approaching.

Here are the two quick fix diets she is considering:

1.A self-made crash diet where she only eats 3 apples a day for 5 days
2.The vegetarian version of the Dukan diet for two weeks

I have heard that crash diets can wreck your metabolism so that you put on weight really quickly once come off them and that it creates a vicious cycle. Is this true?

Yet to my inexperienced mind her eating 3 apples a day for 5 days sounds much more healthy than her living off veggie sausages and egg white for two weeks with very limited fruit or vegetables. Are all these quick fix diets dangerous?

WHAT SHOULD I ADVISE HER?

P.S. sorry this is so long.

I'm sorry, but she sounds quite obsessed by food. I honestly find it astonishing that you think eating only 3 apples for 5 days is a reasonable course of action.

I don't think it should be encouraged, but if she is going to do something anyway, surely she should just be advised to stop the buscuits and sugary tea and go back to the gym., At her age, she'll soon be as skiiny as she was before.

Junk food won't give her energy. Sugary tea/snacks will cause a sudden raise in blood sugar followed by a sudden slump leaving her wanting more junk. While she's revising she needs slowly released forms of energy - bananas, oatcakes, wholemeal sandwich, a handful of mixed nuts, a glass of milk , a piece of cheese etc. And lots of water to keep the brain hydrated and alert. Sugar slows brain function down which is not what she needs especially at the moment.

CRASH DIETS ARE NOT HELPFUL! For anyone and especially for teenagers who are still laying down bone density. After 25 we start to lose bone density - now is a really important time to guard against osteoporosis by having enough calcium. A calcium rich diet with plenty of milk, cheese, yoghurt, soya calcium products is absolutely essential. It doesn't matter if it's low fat products as they all have calcium.

On a crash diet the body goes into famine mode meaning that as soon as you stop the whole metabolism gears itself up to putting the weight back on. It's what we're programmed to do.

At the moment your dd needs a balanced, sensible diet with some exercise every day - a good walk will help exam stress. She doesn't need to go to the gym but some fresh air every day and a 30 - 45 mins walk is good and expose her to vitamin D which is something we lack in this awful climate.
My advice is that crash diets are useless. The junk will be putting the pounds on and isn't helpful anyhow. Ditch the junk and start eating 3 meals a day with a slow release energy snack between and plenty of water and a brisk walk. The extra pounds will come off, her concentration will be optimised and she won't be putting her growing body under stress by depriving it of vital nutrients.

3 apples for 5 days is totally unwise. She will be cold, tired, crabby, hungry. Nobody would recommend such extreme measures.

I'd advise her to increase her protein levels to make her feel fuller for longer. I wish I'd known about low carbing when I was her age because I ate so much low fat food and went on dangerously low calorie diets, it was really crap and ended up quite obsessed and got fatter and fatter. Celia Brooks Brown has a great low carb veggie cookbook.

are you sure northern mommy that you are influencing your dd into dieting, sounds too young to be worrying about bikini tummy, i know girls can be obsessed with their looks etc but it sounds like you should be dissuading your dd from this crazy diet

I'm actually quite surprised you are encouraging junk food as a healthy way to get energy to revise.
All that does is give you a temporary "Sugar high" and then you crash back down even more tired.

If I were you id do some research on healthy slow release energy foods and I also think you both need to stop obsessing about weight.

Do you really think eating 3 apples a day for 2 weeks or whatever will provide enough nutritional goodness for a teenage girl.

Sorry was in a rush earlier and had just quickly scanned your post - I'm surprised by your suggestion of of eating apples for 5 days - that is a completely ridiculous suggestion - I'm a bit shocked that you think that's ok. I'd advise getting a diet book and following it very carefully because your knowledge of nutrition is woeful - sorry to be blunt but I am really shocked by the end of your post.

The whole OP has shocked me! No wonder so many young gilrs end up with disordered eating :(

I don't understand why you have encouraged sugary junk food to help revision?

She needs to go back to her previous healthy diet and it won't take long to come off again. 4lbs is not a lot to lose and will probably come off in 2 weeks without resorting to any silly diets.