Page 206 - Nutrition Counseling and Education Skills: A Guide for Professionals

habits into their lifestyle, rather than mimic the unhealthy eating habits of their peers.15
Although almost all public schools participate in the school lunch programs, many high schools have

competitive vending machines on site that may sell low-nutrient-dense foods such as soft drinks, candy, chips,
and high-fat foods. Currently, initiatives are being made by local governments and school boards to ban or
reduce the number of unhealthy snacks and sodas available from school cafeterias and vending machines, yet
the fact remains that adolescents will continue to seek out these food items.24 Thus, effective dietary
interventions and counseling require that nutrition professionals explore the external factors influencing food
choices so that healthy changes can be made.

Adolescents are also eating out more with their families or consuming take-out foods within their own
home more than once a week. A recent study found an increased healthy eating index score if youth were
encouraged to learn how to prepare some of their own foods.25

One particular trend, dieting, is a common practice among teenagers. Dissatisfied with their weight and
body, many adolescents reduce their caloric and fat intake through intermittent elimination of food quantity
and quality. By cutting calories without thought to the nutritional value of foods, adolescents may eliminate
important nutrients from their diet, leading eventually to marginal nutritional status. This sustained practice
can evolve into eating disorders in both girls and boys.26

Adolescents are more prone to poor body image issues. Professionals have to be aware of how an
adolescent’s negative body image can affect his or her nutritional habits. For example, girls may go through
puberty and suddenly see their hips begin to widen and their breasts begin to develop. Uncomfortable with
these changing features, young girls may develop a poor body image because they do not realize that this
change is “natural” and will balance out as they get older.

The depiction of extremely slim actresses and models by the media tends to enforce unrealistic, idealized
standards of weight; yet many adolescents strive to look like them and resort to drastic dieting, refuse to eat
food, take diet pills, or overexercise. Nutrition professionals must realize that they cannot treat these serious
eating disorders alone. Although they must provide nutrition counseling, they must also provide a nutrition
intervention for the adolescents who are suffering from these disorders. Often, eating disorders occur because
of one’s dissatisfaction with his or her personal life or because weight appears to be the one area of life that he
or she can control. Thus, effective treatment requires an interdisciplinary team approach in which
psychologists and medical specialists collaborate to assess and treat patients across a continuum of care.26

Becoming a vegetarian or a vegan is another common trend among this age group. Those who become
vegetarians may be vulnerable to nutritional deficiencies if their food intake is not balanced properly. Vegan
practices are even more restrictive on protein sources. Adolescents who adopt these practices need to be
assessed for essential nutritional deficiencies as well as signs of potential eating disorders. Nutrition
professionals particularly need to watch their vegetarian and vegan clients and ensure that they are not abusing
their bodies or becoming preoccupied with weight loss or body image.15,26

In treating adolescents, nutrition counselors must be knowledgeable about the importance of exercise and
sports. Many teens are involved in competitive sports activities. Athletic participation can have both a positive
and a negative impact on healthy adolescents. Positively, in some sports, such as wrestling, adolescent boys
may be highly motivated to learn about nutrition to improve their athletic performance. On the other hand,
boys may be trying to lose weight by inappropriate means so that they may wrestle within a lower-weight

206