Lifestyle Diseases – A Dilemma For The Hip Indian Teen.

... Well, its time you put a stop to these issues by taking charge of not only your jean and shirt buttons, but more importantly your eating habits and what you chow down on.

So, Hey you teen dudes and dudettes out there! It is time to wake up to the gravity of your situation and take control over your bulging tires.  If you consider yourself pleasantly rotund, or find you cant run around the block without panting, take action now to reverse these trends. As a teenager, your body can lose weight easily by cutting down on how much you eat and what you eat!

Fortunately, diabetes and heart disease are preventable, and can be avoided or at least delayed, with timely appropriate precautions. As teens you can lower your risk of developing these lifestyle diseases by changing or controlling the following factors:

1. Lets start with: What you eat!

• Do you eat `junk' foods like fries, pizzas, burgers, pastries, doughnuts etc more than three times a week? Yikes! Ask yourself; do you really need to eat these?
• Do you consume aerated drinks to quench your thirst? C'mon man, you can do better choosing lassis and fresh juices instead.
• Are you the college champion in the `pizza-eating' contest? Here's a wake up test. Try putting a napkin on your pizza, see how much oil and fat gets absorbed by the napkin. That's whats going straight to your belly bulge.
• Do you skip meals? Well, don't. Make them smaller.
• Is breakfast the most frequently missed meal? This is a big No-No!!

If your answer is `Yes' to three or more of the above questions, then you are in trouble kiddoo; your dietary habits need a complete reality show type of makeover, NOW!
`Junk' foods are full of `empty' calories `0' and can slow growth, decay teeth, and promote super size tires around your waist.

Ok, lecture time: A healthy eating plan including fruits and vegetables, low-fat milk and milk products, lean meats, poultry, fish, beans, eggs, nuts and whole grains will provide your body the required nutrients in the right proportions. Ensuring that your diet is low in saturated and trans fats, cholesterol, salt, and added sugars will give added benefits.

2. How much do you burn off?
I am going to be blunt. Are you a `couch potato'? Is that going to be your claim to fame?
Being physically active can simply mean going for a walk with your friends or a bike ride, or even going trekking on weekends. It will make you more energetic, will a) helps you control your weight; b) strengthens your bones; and c) reduces your risk for chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure.

3. Whether you smoke or drink?
Getting to the real killers - Indulgence in Alcohol and/or Smoking.
Chilling out with friends is fun. But does the word `fun' have to come at the cost of your health and perhaps your life. I am not going to tell you what smoking does to your healthy lungs, or how alcohol can rot your liver through cirrhosis. But its.

YOUR life, your call. Watch what YOU eat!

By, The Dietetic Team @ NutritionVista.com