Nutrition is going to be a weird issue
for you. Because of all of your physical issues, hunger will be a
constant companion. Your body is using the protein and carbs in your
food to build your body, especially if you are physically active.
This is where you need to start listening to your body, and grab what
it tells you to grab. However...
First off, pay attention to what your
nutrition teacher taught you, and keep to the pyramid. Sure, you can
argue about the amount of vegetables and bread, but you're going to
need all of those vitamins and carbs. If you are a normal boy, you're
going to want protein; it's a cheap source of energy, and it's
readily available in the form of delicious sweet meat. However, you
need more than protein, so keep to a well-rounded diet.
Second, you can do better than energy
drinks and soda. I'm a big fan of my soft drinks, so I understand the
reasons for wanting to drink these all of the time. However, the soda
can cause health risks as well as dental ones, and the high off
energy drinks is a cheap one; you can get a better high of doing some
exercise. It does not help that your system is already amped up.
We'll be dealing with sleep issues momentarily, but for now if you
need an energy boost, take the hint and go take a nap.
Third, calories are your friend. I know
you've heard nothing but bad when it comes to calories, but they just
became your friend. For now, and until you hit eighteen or so, I'd
advise eating a few more calories than normal. This is not to fatten
you up, but to make sure that you have something to build a body
with; if you find yourself getting fat, then just re-do the math. So,
let's mathematical: Take 13. Add 1 if you are actually sedentary (if
you are online a lot, for example), 3 if you do a lot of sports, and
2 if you are about average (video game players should apply here).
Now, multiply by (in pounds) your current weight or the weight you
have been told to aim for. This is how many calories you should be
eating a day. So...an average 150-pound kid who goes to gym and plays
video games should be eating (13+2=15; 15x150=) 2250 calories a day.
Fourth, eat healthy snacks. Not energy
bars, or candy cars, but carrots and celery. It gets annoying, but
they are better for you on a number of levels.
Insomnia
Okay, one of the changes is that you
are wanting to go to sleep later and sleep in later as well. You will
also want to sleep for fewer hours on weekdays and more on weekends.
If this is not the case, you may want to discuss this issue with a
doctor. However, you may have problems going to sleep in the first
place, or find yourself tired a lot, and by tired I mean actually
sleeping. If this is the case more than a few nights a month, you are
either dealing with more stress than you can deal with, or its time
to talk with a counselor. If you figure it's the stress, either
decrease whatever is causing the stress or find a way to deal with
it, such as just sitting the park for an hour. Too much stress is not
good for you, and may actually be causing problems, especially with
whatever is causing the stress. As such, you need to find an
effective way of dealing with the stress or you're going to suffer in
a lot of not-nice ways. So deal with it or run from it, but decrease
it somehow.
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