Healthy eating for teens

As a teenager, your body is going through many physical changes – changes that need to be supported by a healthy, balanced diet.   

By eating a varied and balanced diet as shown in the eatwell plate, you should be able to get all the energy and nutrients you need from the food and drink you consume, allowing your body to grow and develop properly. Some important nutrients to be aware of are:

iron

vitamin D

calcium

Eating healthily doesn't have to mean giving up your favourite foods. It simply means eating a variety of foods and cutting down on food and drinks high in fat and sugar, such as sugary fizzy drinks, crisps, cakes and chocolate. These foods should be eaten less often and in smaller amounts.

If you're watching your weight, a healthy, balanced diet is the way to go. Dieting, skipping breakfast or starving yourself don't work.

Here are some tips to help you eat more healthily:

Don't skip breakfast

Skipping meals won't help you lose weight and is not good for you, because you can miss out on important nutrients. Having breakfast will help you get some of the vitamins and minerals you need for good health. Try our healthy breakfast ideas.

Get your 5 A DAY

Fruit and vegetables are good sources of many of the vitamins and minerals your body needs during your teenage years. Aim to eat at least five portions of a variety of fruit and veg a day. Find out what counts as 5 A DAY.

Healthier snack ideas

Cut down on food and drinks high in fat, sugar and salt, such as sweets, chocolate bars, cakes, biscuits, sugary fizzy drinks and crisps, which are high in calories (energy). Consuming too many calories can lead to weight gain and becoming overweight. Get tips on eating less sugar, fat and salt. 

Stay hydrated

Aim to drink six to eight glasses of fluids a day – water and lower-fat milk are all healthy choices. Even unsweetened fruit juice is sugary, so try to drink no more than one glass (about 150ml) of fruit juice or smoothie each day. 

Feeling tired?

If you often feel run down, you may be low on iron. Teenage girls are especially at risk because they lose iron during their period. Try to get your iron from a variety of foods. Some good sources are red meat, breakfast cereals fortified with iron, and bread. Find out more in iron deficiency.

Vitamin D

Vitamin D helps keep bones and teeth healthy. We get most of our vitamin D from the sun, but it is also available in some foods. Find out more about getting vitamin D.

Calcium

Calcium helps to build strong bones and teeth. Good sources of calcium include milk and other dairy products, and leafy green vegetables. Find out more about calcium.

Fad diets

Diets that promise quick weight loss are often not nutritionally balanced, meaning you could miss out on important vitamins and minerals. They also tend to focus on short-term results, so you end up putting the weight back on. Get tips on losing weight the healthy way.

Eating disorders

Does eating make you feel anxious, guilty or upset? An eating disorder is serious and is not something you should deal with on your own. Talk about it with someone you trust. Learn more in eating disorders explained.

source by : http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Goodfood/Pages/healthy-eating-teens.aspx

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9 Smart Ways to Keep Your Marriage Healthy at Any Age

Each decade will have its own drama, be it child rearing, layoffs, second careers, and middle-aged angst, along with a big helping of the in-sickness-and-in-health stuff. Here’s how to have a healthy relationship every step of the way.

First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes decades of time together strewn with a minefield of potential relationship wreckers. Its a wonder that anyone ends up walking off into the sunset, hand-in-wrinkled-hand, with a silver-haired mate. What do those geriatric lovebirds know that you dont?

Well, the truth is that even in so-called happy marriages, both partners probably fantasize some of the time—or even much of the time—about throwing in the towel. A new Womans Day and AOL Living poll found that a shocking 72% of women surveyed have considered leaving their husbands at some point. But despite the occasional rocky patch, 71% expected to be with their husbands for the rest of their lives. So how do you make it to the finish line with your relationship intact?

Each decade will have its own drama, be it child-rearing, layoffs, second careers, and middle-aged angst, along with a big helping of the in-sickness-and-in-health stuff. Heres how to have a healthy relationship every step of the way.

1. Watch your waistline

Now that youre married, you can finally relax and skip the gym, right? Wrong. Wedded couples tend to have fatter waistlines, which can spell trouble in terms of sexual attraction and general health. A 2007 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that your chances of becoming obese increase by 37% if your spouse becomes obese. So unless you want “till death do us part” to include chronic health issues like heart disease and diabetes, its important to establish healthy eating habits early on. But warding off weight gain isnt as simple as whipping up a healthy meal together. Eating with anyone—from your spouse to coworker—can cause you to consume 33% more than you would solo.

Being aware of the potential fatty pitfalls of marital bliss may be enough to keep your portion sizes in check. Spend couple time checking out local farmers' markets on the weekends in an effort to consumer fresher, low-calorie fare. Or schedule an exercise date to work off some of your hearty, homemade dinners.

2. Have a financial plan

Nearly 40% of married people admit to lying to their spouse about a purchase, according to a 2004 poll, and money woes can quickly send your marriage south. In fact, money is the number-one reason couples fight, and relationships tend to suffer during poor economies. You should discuss and agree upon some hard financial ground rules, preferably before you tie the knot.

Dont fret if youre a spendthrift and your partner pinches pennies. “Its probably not a good thing to have the exact same philosophy about money, “ says Ken Robbins, MD, a clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. “But financial issues are best to resolve early on. You want to decide who is going to pay the bills, how much discretionary spending is reasonable, and how youre going to keep track of it all.”

source by : http://www.health.com/health/article/0,,20411836,00.html

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1 in 3 Young U.S. Women Uses 'Withdrawal' for Birth Control

But new study confirms that it's not good for preventing pregnancy

Please note: This article was published more than one year ago. The facts and conclusions presented may have since changed and may no longer be accurate. And "More information" links may no longer work. Questions about personal health should always be referred to a physician or other health care professional.

TUESDAY, Aug. 6, 2013 (HealthDay News) -- Withdrawal is an old-fashioned, unreliable form of birth control, but one-third of young women still use it anyway, new research indicates.

"Our study showed that use of withdrawal for contraception is very common, but it doesn't work as well as other methods," said study author Dr. Annie Dude, a resident in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Duke University Medical Center, in Durham, N.C.

Dude and her colleagues analyzed 2006-2008 data from a national survey of U.S. women, focusing on 2,220 participants between the ages of 15 and 24. Their aim was to see how commonplace it was for young, sexually active women to use withdrawal as a way to avoid pregnancy.

The findings will be published in the September issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology.

The investigators found that 31 percent of the women used withdrawal as a form of birth control at least once. Of those who used it, about 21 percent became pregnant unintentionally compared with only 13 percent of women who used other types of contraceptives.

Withdrawal users were also 7.5 percent more likely to have used emergency contraception (such as Plan B or Next Choice).

Women who relied on the withdrawal method, which depends upon a man "pulling out" (hopefully) before ejaculating, as their only form of birth control, tended to be less likely to get pregnant than women who used withdrawal along with other forms of birth control over the course of the study, but Dude said this finding was not statistically significant.

She said the research shows that health care providers who care for sexually active young women need to recognize that one reason couples may use withdrawal as a method of birth control is that they haven't planned ahead, and that providers need to take the time to discuss more effective birth control methods with their patients.

"My overall take is that doctors think this is such an antiquated method of birth control that they don't really think to address it with their patients," Dude said.

One expert who wasn't involved with the study said the reasons that might lead a woman to choose the withdrawal method over something more reliable are complicated.

"Many contraceptives are short-acting and require a lot of action on the part of a woman. Using a condom, having a condom, going to the store or pharmacy to get one. Refilling the pill, taking it every day, getting a prescription refilled. Travel and moving. So many issues make these contraceptive methods difficult to use or to be consistent about," said Dr. Kari Braaten, an obstetrician-gynecologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital, in Boston.

Another expert called the study "nicely done" and said it had important findings.

Dr. Angela Chen, an associate clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at University of California, Los Angeles, and the family planning division chief at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, said it's not at all surprising that people who are using this method have more unintended pregnancies. For the withdrawal method to work successfully, she said both partners need to be highly motivated.

"You need couples who've been together a long time and can communicate well," Chen said. "The woman really needs to understand her menstrual cycles -- when she is most fertile -- and most women do not. Their perceptions are all over the place. An app for fertility tracking can be a good start. Bring your menstrual calendar to your provider to learn more."

She added that the results also suggest that practitioners need to talk about Plan B with their patients more openly. "We should be able to recommend it to anybody on a short-acting contraceptive; anyone who might have a method failure should be offered Plan B."

Study author Dude said the most effective contraception for this age group is a long-acting, reversible method such as an intrauterine device (IUD), or a contraceptive insert in the arm.

But obtaining more effective contraception options -- from long-acting methods to Plan B -- can be difficult for younger women, said Braaten at Brigham and Women's.

"There are certainly issues of access for the age group in this study -- young women ages 15 to 24," Braaten said. "I'd like to stress that one of the things we need to do is improve access to long-acting methods like IUDs and implants, so we minimize these experiences and encounters where women find themselves needing to rely on an 'emergency' form of contraception like withdrawal or Plan B when they're otherwise unprepared."

More information

The U.S. Office on Women's Health has more about birth control.

SOURCES: Annie Dude, M.D., Ph.D., resident, department of obstetrics and gynecology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C.; Kari Braaten, M.D., M.P.H., ob-gyn, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and instructor in obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston; Angela Chen, M.D., M.P.H., associate clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology, University of California, Los Angeles, and family planning division chief, Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center; September 2013, Obstetrics & Gynecology

source by : http://consumer.healthday.com/women-s-health-information-34/abortion-news-2/1-in-3-young-u-s-women-uses-withdrawal-for-birth-control-678960.html

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Sex May Boost Female Immune System to Aid Fertility

Effect appears to work regardless of when in a woman's cycle sex occurs, study finds

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 7, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Sex at any time in a woman's monthly cycle may trigger immune system changes that boost the likelihood of getting pregnant, a new study suggests.

The findings could eventually prove useful for couples trying to conceive, researchers from Indiana University at Bloomington said.

"It's a common recommendation that partners trying to have a baby should engage in regular intercourse to increase the woman's changes of getting pregnant -- even during so-called 'nonfertile' periods -- although it's unclear how this works," said lead investigator Tierney Lorenz, from the university's Kinsey Institute.

"This research is the first to show that the sexual activity may cause the body to promote types of immunity that support conception," she said in a university news release. "It's a new answer to an old riddle: How does sex that doesn't happen during the fertile window still improve fertility?"

The findings are based on information from 30 women who participated in the Kinsey Institute's Women, Immunity and Sexual Health Study. Half of the women were sexually active, half were abstinent.

Previous studies found that immune system changes occur during pregnancy, after childbirth and across the menstrual cycle, but this is the first research to show that sexual activity affects immune function, the researchers said.

"The female body needs to navigate a tricky dilemma," Lorenz said. "In order to protect itself, the body needs to defend against foreign invaders. But if it applies that logic to sperm or a fetus, then pregnancy can't occur. The shifts in immunity that women experience may be a response to this problem."

The researchers found clear differences in immune system regulation between women who are sexually active and those who are not.

"We're actually seeing the immune system responding to a social behavior: sexual activity," Lorenz said. "The sexually active women's immune systems were preparing in advance to the mere possibility of pregnancy."

The researchers also said these findings could potentially have an impact on treatments for autoimmune disorders in the future.

The findings were published recently in the journals Fertility and Sterility and Physiology and Behavior.

source by : http://consumer.healthday.com/sexual-health-information-32/sex-health-news-603/women-s-immune-response-changes-based-on-sexual-activity-703915.html

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