The teenage years are often characterized as the years in which we learn to make our own decisions while still receiving the guidance of our parents. This can also be applied to our lifestyle choices; for example, eating. What we eat says a lot about our willingness to stay healthy, and many teens are making the choice to start eating healthy rather than snacking on junk food all day. However, this choice isn’t always easy.
Many students bring lunch from home, and while there are always some teens who choose potato chips and a soda for lunch, a large portion of students bring lunch so they will be able to make their own healthy choices and choose what they put in to their body. Student-athletes in particular are fairly health-conscious and therefore bring their own lunches to make sure they are able to provide their body with what it needs to perform at its best. Even the cafeteria now provides more healthy lunch choices such as salads and wraps.
However, what happens when that lunch that was supposed to last the entire day is gone halfway through cougar time, or when cafeteria food just isn’t enough? Despite our efforts, those of us who are still hungry often turn to vending machines and other junk food sources when we are in search of a quick fix. The hands of our own hunger crush all of our work toward a healthier lifestyle.
What we choose to eat is also a matter of accessibility. At home, we can choose from anything in our kitchen, and even though it may be easier to grab a cookie than to make a salad, we have the option and leisure of choosing something healthy if we really want to. On the other hand, our options are narrow while we are at school. Unless we bring food from home, we can only choose between the lunch line and the vending machines, which severely limits the healthy options available to us. Furthermore, if we become hungry during any time other than our lunch period, we are stuck with snack food from the vending machines.
Due to this dilemma, which a considerable number of teens struggle with, teens have a reputation of eating too much and going crazy for junk food. Of course, we all indulge every once in a while, but it is unfair to make the generalization that all teens are like this, especially when our healthy efforts are taken into consideration. Not all of us are guilty of this, either; some of us are perfectly fine with a simple and healthy brown-bag lunch from home.
Eating well is difficult, and our raging appetites as well as the occasional search for a sugar rush to get us through class don’t help us much with regards to choosing healthy food. However, if we keep trying to eat right, we can form habits which will hopefully lead to a healthy lifestyle in the future.
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