Thursday, July 26, 2012

Nutrition

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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