Parenting Teens

Much has been made recently about increasing weight problems among children and adolescents. Now, a new study from Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta warns that high blood pressure is rising among children and teens.

The study, which will be published in the American Heart Association Journal, Circulation, was led by Rebecca Din-Dzietham. Ms. Din-Dzietham says, “This is a major public health problems. Unless this upward trend in high blood pressure is reversed, we could be facing an explosion of new cardiovascular disease cases in young adults and adults.” Increases so far have been small-just one percent for early hypertension and 2.3 percent for full-blown hypertension. However, those numbers translate into hundreds of thousands more children developing what often becomes a chronic, lifelong condition.

How do you help combat high blood pressure in your children and teens? Small, common-sense measures. Make sure your kids are eating a healthy diet-one low in fat and salt. Just the opposite of what most kids (especially teens) like to eat, right? In addition, make sure your kids get regular exercise. These can be the two most important things you can do for your child.

If you have teens who are resistant to the diet-and-exercise routine, try providing them with an opportunity to speak with someone-a friend or relative-who suffers from high blood pressure. If they can talk with someone about the problems they have with the disease on a day-to-day basis, they just might pay attention!

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Is your college-bound teen a broke student who’ll be living on ramen noodles? A fast-food junkie who’ll subsist on cheeseburgers and pizza? Did you pay for the college meal plan? CosmoGirl! has some great tips for healthy eating in college-no matter what meal plan your student will be following. Here’s a list of ten of them:

1. If you must eat candy, pick one that lasts longer. A minute sucking on a Jolly Rancher is better than popping Skittles nonstop!

2. Put your portion of potato chips or cookies on a plate or napkin, instead of eating them straight out of the bag. This helps you judge how much you’re eating.

3. Try having a healthy snack on hand during study sessions-fruit, trail mix, roasted almonds, high-fiber cereal. It’ll keep you away from the vending machines with all their sugary choices.

4. Have late-night fast food cravings? Try keeping things like chicken noodle soup, low-fat microwave popcorn, or peanut butter in your dorm room. Concentrate on how nice it will be not to have to get in your car and go out late at night.

5. Look over all the cafeteria food, instead of grabbing the first thing you see that looks good. You might miss something just as good (and healthier) on the other side of the room!

6. Choose darker foods over lighter ones-red sauce instead of creamy sauce, sweet potatoes rather than white potatoes, spinach instead of iceberg lettuce. Usually, the deeper the color of the food, the healthier it is.

7. Instead of taking dessert the first time through the cafeteria line, go back for it afterwards, if you’re still hungry.

8. Don’t skip meals. Try to have breakfast within an hour of waking up. Then, make it a point to eat every three-to-five hours, depending on your class schedule.

9. Go light on the frozen coffee drinks. Most are full of empty calories, and are high in fat. Have plain iced coffee with skim milk, and add your own sweetener or sugar.

10. When you eat out, choose the food that seems the least processed. Grilled chicken is healthier than salty deli meats. Fresh mozzarella is better than mozzarella sticks.

Share these tips with your college-age teen. Better yet, let him/her know you will be following them too! It can be a shared activity, and healthy for both of you.

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