The Importance of Balance Nutrition for Teenagers

Dina Raisiya P
XI MIPA 5

Teenage age is a period in which the physical and psychological development of the body tends to change very quickly. Indirectly, this certainly requires adequate balanced nutritional intake for teenagers to support their growth and development. Teenagers' active and dynamic lifestyle often causes them to consume food based on social or emotional needs, while nutritional considerations are often ignored. Teenagers often experience a large increase in appetite. However, actually there is no food that should not be eaten, as long as the food is healthy.

Today's teenagers are exposed to a lot of social media, which means that there are many sources of information. However, the information obtained is not necessarily correct, especially when there are advertisements that offer instant beauty and health, such as losing or increasing body weight quickly and without exercise. If this continues and without education, it can create wrong nutrition and can result in nutritional problems in adulthood.

Sometimes we don't really care about the amount of nutrition that enters our body through food

We have several habits which can affect our body condition, such as skipping meals, eating fast food, smacking high-calorie food and extremes.

When teenagers cannot control food and do it continually during their growth and development, they will be very at risk of experiencing iron deficiency anemia, stunting, obesity, and diabetes mellitus at an early age. The problem of stunting in Indonesia is still a common concern. According to data from the Basic Health research (Rikesdas) in 2018,  the incidence of stunting in Indonesia reached 30,8 %.

If we don't have enough nutrition for our body, it will cause some effects like slow physical growth, difficulty in thinking, loss of ion due to menstruation, and even affect osteoporosis when we are old. So before it's too late, let's fix our way of eating.

We can start by eating healthy food like carbohydrates that contain some source of energy needed by our body to do some activities. Eating protein that is needed for nodus metabolism, like vitamins, sweet potatoes and minerals. In conclusion, balanced nutrition is very important for our physical and psychological growth. It has many positive effects that can help us do some activities.