Bread Making Machine

Crunch time: With teens making their own food choices, how can you steer them ...

It's a battle that's been going on for decades. "You need to eat your breakfast." "That's enough soda." "Please lose the junk food and eat some real food."

Being a teenager is tough enough. You'd think the last thing they need is parents nagging at them about what to eat and not to eat.

But "we don't do it because we like to get under their skin," said Sally Duran, an East Side mother of two teenagers. "We're just doing our jobs as parents. We want our children to eat properly so they'll develop properly and be healthy."

Eating well is often hard for teens. Hanging out with friends, frequenting fast-food joints and snacking on greasy chips can lead to too much fat, sugar and calories and not enough vitamins and minerals.

"When kids turn into teens, they are at a point where they are exploring and experimenting with lots of different things, and one of them is food," said Ellen Shanley, co-author of "Fueling the Teen Machine: What It Takes to Make Good Choices for Yourself Every Day," (Bull Publishing Company, 2010).

"We thought it was a good time to get kids engaged in healthy eating and to have a book of their own that really related to them individually."

Shanley wrote the book with Colleen Thompson. Both are registered dietitians who practice and teach at the University of Connecticut. They are also parents, and they're all too aware that teens' concerns about their bodies don't always mesh well with their day-to-day diets.

"A lot of kids don't know what's healthy to eat," Shanley said. "As parents, we need to plan ahead a little bit. One of the most important things -- and it may not sound too exciting -- is having a family meal together.

"I know that kids have after-school activities, or they may have a job, but it's important to sit down and eat together as often as possible. We know that when we sit down like that, we end up eating more fruits and vegetables."

As most parents of teenagers can attest, it's tough to compete against the fast-food giants when it comes to grabbing their children's culinary interest.

"It's unrealistic to think children are not going to be exposed to fast foods," Shanley said. "What we really want to do is get people to think about fast food and how they can make better choices."

Shanley said teenagers just have to know -- and act on --basic nutritional facts when they are ordering.

Panasonic SD-YD250 Bread Machine | russfairchild.com

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