UNICEF Nutritional needs of adolescents in India…….

From 10 to 19 years (as per WHO standards), a teen's body changes drastically. They enters into puberty and experiences many changes from physical as well as emotional. 

India is home to 243 million adolescents – children aged 10 to 19 years – the most adolescents of any country. Sadly, a large proportion of India’s adolescents are anaemic: 56 per cent of girls and 30 per cent of boys. Anaemia among adolescents adversely affects these young people’s growth, resistance to infections, cognitive development and work productivity.

In response to the problem, the national Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MHFW) launched a nationwide Weekly Iron and Folic Acid Supplementation (WIFS) programme in January 2013. WIFS builds on 13 years of evidence-generation through pilots and phased scale-ups by UNICEF on the use of weekly iron and folic acid supplementation to address anaemia in adolescent girls in different Indian states.

The WIFS programme targets 130 million adolescent boys and girls and is implemented jointly by three ministries, Health, Education and Women and Child Development.

The services delivered under the scheme include:

1) weekly iron and folic acid supplementation;

2) bi-annual deworming; and

3) nutrition counselling about how to improve diet, prevent anaemia and minimize the potential side-effects of IFA supplementation and deworming.

Partnerships have also been formed with civil society organizations to broaden the range of services for out-of-school adolescents and support state governments in providing nutrition education, life skills and vocational training services to adolescents. 

Nutritional Needs of adolescents

Adolescents are often influenced by what society considers attractive. Adolescence is a time of major body changes due to an increase in certain body chemicals called hormones. It is a time of pimples, cracked voices and changing body proportions. The adolescent who is self-conscious may find this “changed appearance” somewhat distressing or unattractive and resort to brief meetings, even avoiding contact, with adults who are critical of him. Awareness about one's body and its appearance becomes the top priority. It is important for adolescents to realise that they are going through growth spurt and poor nutrition can lead to deficiencies which may cause metabolic disorders in adulthood.

What is healthy eating for teenagers:-

Eating breakfast: Skipping breakfast does not help in losing weight, because essential nutrients might be missed out. A healthy breakfast is an important part of a balanced diet and provides some of the vitamins and minerals required for good health. Whole grain cereal with fruit sliced over the top is a tasty and healthy way to start the day.
Aim to eat fruits and vegetables a day: Fruits and vegetables are sources of most of the vitamins and minerals which is essential for the body. Fresh fruit juice and vegetables can help in balanced diet.
At snack time, substitute foods that are high in saturated fat or sugars for healthier choices: Foods high in saturated fat include pies, processed meats such as sausages and bacon, biscuits and crisps. Foods high in added sugars include cakes and pastries, sweets, and chocolate. Too much saturated fat can also cause high cholesterol.
Drink enough fluids: One should aim to drink at least six to eight glasses of fluids a day, water, unsweetened fruit juices (diluted with water) and milk are all healthy choices.
Eating healthy food: Foods such as  whole meal bread, beans, wholegrain breakfast cereals, fruit and vegetables. Such kind of foods are high in fibre are bulky and help us feel full for longer time.

Not eating a balanced diet or restricting food intake can lead to deficiency of important nutrients in the body. This can lead to weight loss. Being underweight can cause health problems, so if you're underweight it's important to gain weight but in a healthy way. Foods rich in fat and sugar are high in calories, or eating too many calories can lead to weight gain. Try to eat lesser foods that are high in fat and sugar, such as swapping to low or no sugar fizzy drinks. A healthy balanced diet will provide you with all the nutrients your body needs.

Period of storm and stress

Adolescence is a period of “storm and stress.” Psychologists have regarded it as a period of heightened emotionality. Continuous physical changes mainly give rise to emotional uncertainty and instability. Emotions of anger, fear, shame, disgust give rise to variation in moods, nervousness, sensitiveness, stubbornness, disobedience etc. One of the most important things that an adolescent wants is independence from the adult authority. It becomes important for the young persons to establish convictions about their identity. They develop faith in their own capability of doing things and demand self-respect from the elder members of the society. They want psychological freedom and do not like adult interference in their own personal business and they want to take decision themselves. A sense of dignity, honour and freedom prevails in their thought, attitude and behavior. Their ideas and views often appear contradictory with that of their parents and other members of the society. At many times, therefore, the adolescent suffer from emotional detachment from their parents and other members of the society. Thus emotional immaturity is a major problem of adolescence. All these changes often lead to confusion, feeling of inadequacy, insecurity and in some cases abnormal behavior. All these emotions must be properly guided and they should be provided knowledge to control their emotions at this stage.

 

“Stage of finding themselves”

During this period, many adolescents embrace change and identify a goal or a plan for the next stages of their lives. The young boys and girls want be independent at this stage. Adolescents struggle with finding a unique identity when they are among other siblings. One of the most important things that an adolescent wants is independence from the adult authority. It becomes important for the young persons to establish convictions about their identity. They develop faith in their own capability of doing things and demand self-respect from the elder members of the society. They want psychological freedom and do not like adult interference in their own personal business and they want to take decision themselves. A sense of dignity, honour and freedom prevails in their thought, attitude and behaviour. They love freedom regarding taking decisions related to their life.

First school for teenagers- family who needs to become their friends

Teenagers need love and support from family at a time when lots of other things in their lives are changing. Many people think that families become less important to children as they move into the teenage years. It’s true that family relationships change during adolescence. Family is the main place where the adolescent receives the moral training and which exerts influence on his attitudes and behaviour. As the child grows older his capacity for independent thinking develops. S/He can distinguish between right and wrong, true and false, virtue and vice and the desirable and the undesirable. Adolescents in general, cannot tolerate immoral or illegal activities. Interest in their own religion also develops. Most young people and their families have some ups and downs during these years, but things usually improve by late adolescence as children become more mature. Parents are the best guides who lead us to the path of enlightenment. Adolescents are given various developmental tasks. The child enters a new field of social responsibilities. The adolescents become socially conscious, self-assertive, and loyal towards their group they develop co-operation and friendship and become responsible. 

“We need Independence”

Independence is the ultimate goal of adolescent period. Achieving independence is an essential part of journey to adulthood. To make this journey successful, children need freedom to try new things.  Becoming a young adult is exciting, difficult, and scary for teens. It is a time of increasing independence and change, no matter what the situation. Teenagers are still working themselves out. They don’t know who they are. The young adolescents also need freedom in their life. They do not like to maintain a strict routine life. They do not like disciplined life which is imposed on them by their parents. They love freedom regarding taking decisions related to their life. Economic  independence. Money from parents for personal expense is a major problem for teens.

Unstable and Vague Stage of Life Cycle

Adolescence is a unique period in life cycle that presents special challenges and opportunities to the individuals. Most of these opportunities are what adolescents always wish to utilize to the best of their knowledge. Some teenagers are more mature than others, and their ability to act responsibly varies from situation to situation.  The adolescent is a problem-individual. There are many problems around them and they needs help and guidance for their solution at every step. As children become adults, the way children and parents relate needs to change. The goal is to respect each others as adults. And it can be a confusing time for parents, too. For one thing, they must contend with their children’s often paradoxical behavior How is it that your daughter can accuse you of treating her “like a baby,” then act wounded that you would expect her to clear the table after dinner? According to teens they are no more children. They should be recognized as young men and women in the school as well as in the home. So because of all these the teens feels uncomfortable.

The ladders of teens

Adolescence is not a sudden spurt of growth the new traits and tendencies which appear suddenly. No individual sleeps at night as a child to get up as an adolescent in the morning. Growth comes in continuity. The period of adolescence is considered as crucial and significant period of an individual’s life. Psychologically, adolescence is the age when the individual becomes integrated into the society of the adults. It is the stage when the child no longer feels that he is below the level of his elders but rather an equal with them, at least in rights. This integration into the adult society has many aspects, more or less linked with puberty. It also includes profound intellectual changes. These intellectual transformations, typical of an adolescent’s thinking, enable him to achieve his integration into the social relationships of the adults. This is the most general characteristic of this period of development. Early Adolescence 9-13, Mid Adolescence 14-15 and  Late Adolescence 16-19.  It emerges from later childhood stage and merges into adulthood. It is difficult to assign definite years to it because they differ from country to country and culture to culture. Chronologically, age ranges are from 12/13 years to 18/19 years in India. In case of girls it begins about 1 year earlier than the boys.

Accept it or not no choice…

Adolescence which is typically describes the years between ages 13 and 19 and can be considered the transitional stage from childhood to adulthood. Let's start with the very first problems of teenagers which they deal during this period is = *CHANGES* Changes which can be seen in many forms.

 It can be internal developments e.g. hormonal changes or it can be Physical or external changes that could be Height, weight, changes in skin glands etc. The most important changes occur in the glandular system which has great influence not only on the physical development but also in the behaviour and personality development of the adolescents. Both Boys and girls body performs and deals differently during this period. In the whole adolescence stage there is a constant development and drastic emotional mood swings happened to the teenager's mind, body and health.  All these changes often lead to confusion, feeling of inadequacy, insecurity and in some cases abnormal behavior. Due to these changes the adolescent feels ashamed and feels upset.

The age of newness or new problems

The age of newness or new problems

Anything that’s new, different or unusual is bound to catch our eye. From the moment we would born we continue moving towards new things. We all like novelty in one way or another. In fact, our brains are made to be attracted to novelty. And it could actually improve our memory and learning capacity. Similarly, a newness which is linked to our body is also affects us in so many ways. From our birth to our death body keeps changing constantly. Some changes affect us physically and which changes affect us mentally we can’t understand them easily and many times we understand and ignore. Adolescence refers to the period of human growth that occurs between childhood and adulthood. It begins at around age 12 and ends around age 19. It can be broken into three stages: early, middle, and late. Each stage has its own characteristics. This is a time of changes for how teenagers think, feel, and interact with others, and how their bodies grow. “14-year-old Sonu was coming home late from school almost every day. He also seemed moody and distracted at home. He grew his hair long, was doing poorly at school and ate little. then his mother found a cigarette in his school bag then she understand everything.”