Ep.3 Does it matter what snacks teens are eating?

Is the type of snack important for healthy eating? 

I present a research study that  was published in the Obesity Journal in 2022
 
"Association of weight status with the types of foods consumed
at snacking occasions among US adolescents"

If you are looking for healthy snack ideas for teens, grab my free guide at LIFESTYLEFORTEENS.COM/SNACKS 

Enjoy
Dr G. 

I’m Dr. Jenny Gourgari—pediatric endocrinologist, certified in obesity medicine and a health coach. 
After helping hundreds of teens struggling with insulin resistance, prediabetes and their hormones, I’ve created a whole new path by doing what most programs miss: balance puberty hormones naturally and create healthy habits that actually last.

Here's what makes this different:
✅ No dieting. No calorie counting. No shame.
✅ No more food fights between parents and teens.
✅ No weight obsession—just healthy habits
✅ Real science behind how puberty hormones affect weight
✅ A safe, supportive approach that prevents eating disorders

Because when teens understand their hormones and get the right support, they don’t just lose weight—they gain strength, energy, confidence, and freedom!

🎁 Grab my FREE resources below:

 
30 Healthy Recipes for Teens with Insulin Resistance and Prediabetes

A guide for parents of Teens with Insulin Restance or Prediabetes: what you need to know

20 High -Protein Snack Ideas for Teens with Insulin Resistance and Prediabetes

Transcript

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Speaker 1 0:04

Are you getting frustrated with what to feed a teenager who is always hungry ? Everybody knows that teenagers have a huge appetite . It seems like you need to feed them constantly to satisfy their hunger . It's even more difficult where teenagers who struggle with their weight truly want to make changes like cut down on junk food or stop ever eating , and they can't . There's frustration , isolation , stress , and that's why I decided to create a recipe collection of 30 easy and healthy meals for teenagers . They're all high in protein to satisfy your teenager's hunger and they can all be ready in less than 30 minutes . If you want to grab a free copy , go to lifestyleforteanscom for our last recipes .

Speaker 2 1:05

This is the Lifestyle and Weight Loss for Teens podcast . If you are a mom and want to help your child who is struggling to lose weight , you are in the right place . If you are looking for healthy lifestyle tips , dr Gorgary is here to help you understand the science around safe weight loss in teens and children , because what works for adult weight loss is not always the best for children . This podcast is for educational purposes only . Dr Gorgary does not provide medical , psychological or nutrition therapy advice . You should not use this information to diagnose or treat any health problems without consulting your own medical practitioner and now your host , dr Jenny Gorgary .

Speaker 1 1:51

Hello , welcome back for another episode of the Lifestyle and Weight Loss for Teenagers podcast . I hope you will enjoy today's episode because that's one question I get asked frequently by parents and teenagers . That is , does the type of snack play a role in the risk of being overweight in teenagers ? So a recent study was published in 2002 in the Journal of Obesity answered this question . The title of this manuscript is Association of Weight Status with the Types of Foods Consumed Snacking Occasions Among US Adolescents . It was a study that examined data that were collected from 2007 through 2018 using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Service , which is known as the Enhanced Study . So they actually collected dietary recalls from teenagers 24-hour dietary recalls from teenagers and the total number of teenagers that participated in this study was very high it was 5,264 . And teenagers that participated were between the ages of 12 and 19 years of age .

Speaker 1 3:20

The researchers , of course , examined the patients , the subjects and the collected data on the higher-highdown weight to calculate again the body mass index . If you don't know what the body mass index is , again , you can go to the first episode where I explain a little bit more about it . But to give you the one snapshot of this definition is really a tool that researchers use to calculate whether a specific teenager or child is at a normal weight , is overweight , is in or has obesity , so it's like different degrees of fatness , basically . So they classified all these 5,000-plus teenagers into three different categories the category that had a normal weight , or in other words , the body mass index was less than the 85th percentile . A group of teenagers that was overweight or their body mass index was between the 85th and the 95th percentile . And a group of teenagers that they were classified as having obesity and their body mass index was above the 95th percentile . So , then , what the researchers did is they compared the type of snacks and the quality of snacks and whether they were different between those three groups . They wanted to find out whether there was a difference in the snacking patterns between teenagers that had normal weight , were overweight or had a lot of extra weight . What they found was that other lessons that had obesity , they had greater total daily calories consumed from snacks . On average , they consumed 603 calories per day , compared to the overweight group of teenagers , who consumed an average of 527 calories from snack , and compared to the normal weight teenagers , which consumed a total of an average of 424 calories per day . So there is approximately , let's say , 100 calories difference between the three different groups 424 for the normal weight , 527 for the overweight and 603 for the group with the obesity .

Speaker 1 6:04

Now they went one step further and they looked what kind of snacks were those and whether they had more refined grains , dairy protein , oil , solid fat and things like that . Were there any differences in the amount of and in the quality of the of the snacks ? And in fact they did find that other lessons that they were overweight or had obesity . They consumed higher amounts of refined grains , dairy protein , oil , solid fat and added sugar from snacks than adolescents that had normal weight . Another thing the researchers found was that the total caloric intake from the snacking accounted approximately for 22% of the total daily energy intake . So approximately one fifth of the total daily intake comes from snacking , which is an important percentage . So if somebody can control the amount of snacks that they are having or pay more attention to this 22% of total calories , it can actually make a significant difference in their efforts when they're trying to create a healthier lifestyle and be in a healthy weight . Another important point from this project was the fact that mainly the difference in the calories from the snacks was coming because adolescents with overweight or obesity had higher amounts of refined grains and oil , solid fat and added sugars , and it was not really that they were eating more vegetables or more fruits or more legumes . So the type of snacking plays a role that is something to keep in mind when we are looking at what are the healthier snack options , and it's really trying to avoid refined sugars , refined grains , added sugar and solid fat . So the take-home measures from this study is that if you're looking to make healthier choices as a teenager or if you have , if you're a mom and you have a teenager who won and you want to help him make healthier choices , then one possible area where that you can target is the type of snacks , the total calorie of the snacks and the quality of the snack .

Speaker 1 9:07

Now , because I know this is an important topic , because I know oftentimes teenagers can go from school to extracurricular activities , to play sports , to do music and all other things , they may not have the time to have something healthy and they can reach and grab snacks that are not necessarily healthy for them . So in order to solve this problem , I created a list with 20 easy snacks that you can make at home in less than 15 minutes and they're hiring protein and can satisfy teenagers' hunger better than snacks that are just pure sugar and they are full of refined grains . So if you're interested to get that it's free . You can go to my website , lifestyle14scom , click on free resources and grab the 20 easy snacks for teenagers . Okay , so that was my topic for this week . I hope you enjoy it and I hope that you are now able to think about your snacks in a more wise way , and let me know if there's any other topics you want me to discuss . I'm looking forward to hearing back from you . Take care of you all . Bye .

Speaker 2 10:40

If you enjoyed listening to this podcast , I invite you to come check out the Lifts program . It's Dr Gorgary's 12-week coaching program for teens and their moms , where we take all this information , we apply it to your daily life and we work together so your teenager learns how to create a healthy lifestyle so they can feel happier , more confident , less stressed and love their body again . Visit the website at lifestyle14scom and click on the work with me and free resources to learn more about this program and get free help to start this journey right away . Thanks for tuning in and we'll catch you in the next episode of lifestyle and weight loss for teens .