Recommendations for menu planning

The greater independence and decision achieved by children in adolescence, leads them in many cases to practice a disorderly diet, making incomplete breakfasts, eating fast food, eating outside the established schedules or consuming toxic substances at parties and gatherings with friends.

When these behaviors are followed regularly, they increase the risk of suffering from micronutrient deficiencies, overweight or obesity. To prevent or counteract such behaviors, the family should compensate for these imbalances by planning attractive and healthy meals at home.

To prepare healthy meals, we should start by preparing foods from the traditional diet such as bread, rice, potatoes, vegetables, fruits and legumes that provide proven health benefits, such as lowering cholesterol and providing the body with fiber and antioxidants. In addition, the current trend of consuming industrial foods, such as precooked or ready-to-serve foods, should be reduced, as they generally provide higher amounts of saturated fats, salt and sugars.

To begin to plan a healthy diet we must distribute the food in at least five meals a day, therefore it would be advisable to follow the following distribution:

• Breakfast.

• Mid-morning.

• Lunch.

• Snack.

• Dinner.

Breakfast planning

Importance of breakfast: It provides energy and hydration essential for adequate physical and intellectual performance in intellectual or physical tasks during the early hours of the morning. It allows the inclusion of basic foods in the adolescent's diet, such as cereals, dairy products and fruits. Allows to balance intakes throughout the day.Improves intellectual and physical performance. Elements that cannot be missing in the breakfast:

• Dairy products: 1 glass of milk, 1 yogurt or a piece of cheese.

• Cereals: breakfast cereals, bread, cookies.

• Fruits: preferably whole fruits. Juice made at the moment, without adding sugar, can be served instead.

• Water should always be served.

• It can be complemented with other protein foods such as eggs, ham, or nuts.

Mid-morning

In order not to go many hours without eating between breakfast and lunch, a light mid-morning snack should be planned. This allows you to get to lunch without an imperious need to eat. Examples for mid-morning:

• Cheese, tomato and fruit juice sandwich.

• Turkey ham sandwich and water.

• Milk with tomato toast and olive oil.

• Low-fat yogurt and a piece of fruit.

Recommendations for meal planning

In order to offer a varied and balanced intake that includes foods representative of the basic food groups, it is recommended to structure it as follows:

• First course.

• Second course with garnish.

• Dessert.

• Bread.

• Water.

To distribute adequately the different groups of foods in each one of the plates in the menus of the lunches and dinners.

If you choose the first course from the group of farinaceous and legumes (pasta, rice, potatoes and pulses), the second course should be accompanied by vegetables, and vice versa.

Preferences should be taken into account, combining daily menus in such a way that less attractive dishes do not coincide in the same meal.

Light and dense foods should be combined in such a way that meals are neither too dense nor too light. Dishes should be varied frequently, for example.

In the first course:

• Pasta (with tomato, in salads, with tuna and with vegetables).

• Rice (in paellas, baked, in soups, and salads).

• Potatoes (mashed, boiled, baked, in stews and salads).

• Legumes (lentils, beans, chickpeas, peas, broad beans; in stews, soups, casseroles, and salads).

• Vegetables (raw, cooked, or pureed).

In the second course:

• Fish (baked, grilled, salads, en papillote and fried).

• Eggs (boiled, in sauce, in omelets, scrambled and fried).

• Meat (poultry, pork, veal, lamb, rabbit, beef; grilled, baked, roasted, boiled, stewed, in salads and fried).

• For dessert, different types of fruits (preferably whole and seasonal, in small pieces, salads or cocktails without added sugar) and/or different dairy products (custards and flans can be included occasionally).

• It is recommended to use monounsaturated oils (olive oil) and polyunsaturated oils (sunflower oil) in salads and preparation of other dishes.

The afternoon snack

The snack, like the mid-morning, contributes to the distribution of energy provided by the diet throughout the day. A piece of fruit and a small sandwich or a glass of milk or yogurt can be offered.

The dinner

The dinner should be light, for this purpose, easy to digest dishes such as soups, steamed or cooked vegetables, fish and dairy products should be prepared. The quantities to be eaten should be moderate. Examples of dishes that can be prepared for dinners:

• First course: salads, steamed or cooked vegetables, rice and potatoes.

• Second course: fish, eggs, poultry.

• Dessert: fresh whole fruits or dairy products such as milk, yogurt, cheese.

Recommendations when eating meals away from home

• Prioritize the consumption of baked or grilled fish.

• Opt for salads and vegetables as garnish instead of french fries.

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