Teenagers go through so many changes, physically and mentally. Your body is changing drastically, and your emotions and feelings seem to spike and fall without a moment’s notice. That is why it is so important to eat right, giving your mind and body the proper nutrients it needs to grow strong and healthy. Practice the following top 7 nutrition tips for teens, and you will find your important teen years full of health and happiness.

1 – Eat Fiber and Protein at Breakfast

High-fiber foods make you feel fuller longer, and help regulate a healthy digestive system. This can keep your body at a healthy weight, and when combined with protein at breakfast every day, provides plenty of daily energy. Studies show that teenagers that eat protein every morning tend to have fewer problems with overweight and obesity. So not only do you have plenty of energy all day long, but you avoid packing on extra fat, and what teenager wants that?

2 – Sleep… A Lot

You have probably heard you need to sleep 8 hours a night to stay healthy. The truth is, your teen body is growing so rapidly that it needs from 8 to 10 hours of rest each and every night. Poor sleep patterns can lead to a host of illnesses and ailments, both physical and mental.

3 – Eat Lots of (Yuck) Fruits and Vegetables

Sure, you may not love all vegetables and fruits. But there are no doubt some that you enjoy eating. When your body grows properly, enjoying good nutrition, you look and feel great, always have plenty of energy, and cut down on the amount of time that you are sick and feeling poorly.

You also give your adult self a better chance at a long, healthy life. Eat lots of vegetables and fruits, whole grains and whole foods, and avoid processed foods as much as possible.

4 – Unplug And Get Moving

You knew this was coming. Proper nutrition is important for energy, healthy weight maintenance and keeping your bodily functions operating properly. That means you need to unplug from all of your electronics from time to time. Put down the MP3 player and smartphone, park your tablet and unpark your rear end. Get up, get outside, socialize with your friends, enjoying some physical activity, and you may find that your electronic addiction is not really that important after all.

5 – Get Out in the Sunshine

Today’s processed food diet is one that many teens unfortunately enjoy. That means you could be lacking in a lot of essential nutrients and minerals, like vitamin D. When you do not get enough vitamin D as a teenager, you run the risk of contracting cancer, many different heart diseases, multiple sclerosis and other ailments as an adult. Exposure to natural sunshine for just 10 to 15 minutes provides all of the vitamin D your young body needs to help you stay strong and healthy.

6 – Take a Walk in a Grassy Park

When you kick off your shoes and walk barefoot in a grassy field, park or meadow, a smile almost instantly appears on your face. Why is that? It is because as your feet stir up the natural elements that make up and surround green grass, you benefit from natural electrons which are conducted to your body.

Some studies have shown that just 15 to 30 minutes spent walking barefoot on grass can help lower elevated blood pressure levels, improve your eyesight and help relieve stress that so frequently accompanies your turbulent teen years.

7 – Eat, Don’t Avoid Meals

Your teen years are full of peer pressure. Add the fact that all the advertisements you see and hear expect you to be skinny and trim, and you may start missing meals intentionally in an attempt to keep your weight down. But that actually puts your body in starvation mode.

It begins to store fat, which is just the opposite of what you intend. Eat 5 or 6 times a day, spreading your daily caloric intake across all of those meals. Enjoy 3 main meals and 2 or 3 snacks. Each time that you chew and swallow, your metabolism rate actually increases, giving you a better chance of maintaining a healthy body weight and burning fat.