Fueling Growth and Movement | S.17 Ep.6

We explore fueling growth and movement in the pre-teen and teenage years—how nutrition and activity support rapidly changing bodies and brains. Registered dietitian Jody Gatewood shares practical tips on breakfast, key nutrients, affordable fruits/veggies, 60-minute daily movement, and family routines that build healthy, stress-free habits.

Transcript

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Welcome back to The Science of Parenting podcast, where we connect you with research based information that fits your family. We'll talk about the realities of being a parent and how research can help guide parenting decisions. I'm Mackenzie Dejong-Schelling, podcast co-host and I'm a parenting educator. Our guest today is our colleague and health and human sciences educator, Jody Gatewood. Jody is a parent of two children and an expert in food and health with an educational background in dietetics. Welcome, Jody. We would love it if you would tell us even more about yourself. Hi Mackenzie, I'm glad to be here today to share a little bit more about myself. My husband, Justin and I have two children. Parker is 15. He's a sophomore at Ames High, and my daughter, Paige is a sixth grader. She's 11. And, in my free time, when I'm not carrying them to different activities or getting them to places I like to read and bake and go on walks, listening to podcast and audiobooks. Professionally, I'm a registered dietitian. I've been a dietitian for 18 years, and I work for Iowa State University Extension and Outreach for 15 years. In my role at Extension and Outreach, I help to provide nutrition education to individuals and families with limited income, and part of that includes creating content for Spend Smart. Eat Smart. We have a website, app and blog. Yes, and we are so excited to have you bring your expertise and background into our conversation. Our conversation today is going to be around nutrition and movement, specifically during adolescence, an age when bodies and brains are rapidly changing. So I'm so excited to chat with you about helping those middle school and high schoolers eat well and stay active. Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. Yeah, so because we love both research and reality, and listeners know we like to start with a definition. So according to the World Health Organization in 2019, adolescence lasts roughly from 18, no, from ten from 10 to 19, 18 isn't even on my notes at all. From eight, 10 to 19. And during this window, nutritional needs and activity patterns set the stage for lifelong health. So obviously, adolescence is a time of big changes socially, emotionally and we know physically, right? So, Jody, from your perspective as a parent and a dietitian, what have been the most significant challenges or successes in encouraging adolescents to fuel and move their bodies? Well, this is probably no surprise to anyone, but screens really are a big challenge, right? Physically, especially, there's endless things to watch and do online, play video games. And so, adolescents and adults, right? We can lose time on the screen and spend a lot of time there versus getting up and moving our bodies. So that can be a real challenge. And when we're watching those screens, right, there's all sorts of ads popping up, right? And unfortunately there's very few, if any, ads about eating more fruits and vegetables or your whole grains. Right? And those ads are for, you know, lots of foods that taste great, but, you know, maybe aren't the best for our bodies if we eat too much of them. So that can be really be a challenge for parents, kids wanting to eat these foods and asking for those foods and, you know, finding that balance between, you know, maybe once in a while, but not all the time. So that can be a big challenge. And also independence. You know, kids are really wanting independence. And so maybe not always wanting to do what we would like them to do. And so that can be a challenge. And again, just kind of that balancing act of giving them some choice, it's a normal part of growing up, but still within boundaries. Yeah, yeah. So let's start with that nutrition piece. So research tells us that adolescents need more nutrients than almost any other stage of life, but many teens actually skip meals, especially breakfast, and the CDC says that in 2019, almost one quarter of high school students reported skipping breakfast daily. Yeah, and that really is concerning. Like you said, you know, lots of activities, kids are, you know, then skipping the breakfast, right, to get out the door, get some more sleep. And we often think about what we eat affecting our physical health, but it really does impact our brain health, right? And our brain function. And we know that's so important for kids at school, right? Eating breakfast is directly linked to better concentration and memory and academic performance. So it's really important that we can get them to eat something. And we've all experienced it, right? A drop in blood sugar. We've probably been hangry before. Right? We haven't eaten that meal, and, and so that really does impact our day. And so, we do want kids to eat breakfast and, you know, just getting them something like peanut butter and toast or yogurt and fruit, it doesn't have to be fancy or a big meal, but it is important to encourage kids to get something in before they head out the door. Absolutely. I'm guilty of the,“I didn't eat a lot of breakfast when I was in high school,” and I do now, and I recognize that that's because I probably got hangry. It helps me perform better. So, we also want to keep in mind that teens brains are still under construction. I love this analogy. We've kind of painted this picture throughout the seasons of a brain being a construction, construction site. And, these brains are, especially our teen brains, need healthy fats like omega threes, iron, B vitamins, calcium, vitamin D, which all support brain growth, bone health, energy regulation. Like I said, they're the building blocks in that construction zone. They are the building blocks for our bodies. So, Jody, would you tell us just a little bit more about why those nutrients are so important? Absolutely, and you are correct, there is a lot of construction going on right during the adolescent stage. So many things happening. And as far as the brain is concerned, about 50 to 60% of our brain mass is fat. And that includes fatty acids, right? So those omega three fatty acids are important for brain health and brain function. Omega three fatty acids also help to reduce inflammation in our body. And that's an important because inflammation can lead to different diseases. So, you know, if we can try to lower that inflammation that is is really helpful. As far as calcium and vitamin D, we know that those are really important for bone health, right? And that is really critical during the adolescent years because that's when we're building bones, right? The teens are building their bones. I kind of think of that as a bank, right? They're really building their bank of bone, building it. And so we know later on in life then, that we start to lose bone, right? So if we don't have a lot to begin with that that can be really detrimental later on. And so that calcium and vitamin D is important for that. Iron, you know, is important for energy as far as, like, healthy red blood cells, helping to prevent anemia, which we know is a concern, especially in adolescent and teen girls. And then those b-vitamins, right? They help our bodies to use carbohydrates. And so carbohydrates are, again, a way that we get energy. And so those b vitamins can help the body do that. Excellent. You know, there's lots of things that are playing into it, and it just means that it's just so high stake, right? So how have you seen families actually hit those targets when, you know, morning rush after school activities all collide? How have you seen that, come into play? Yeah, I it is, it is, it can be a challenge, right? My son, again, he's in high school. He's, you know, in sports, and so heading out early for morning practice, and it is, you know, sometimes in the morning people just don't feel like eating, right? It, it can be hard to eat and so it can be difficult getting out in the afternoon or, you know, again, having practices or events after school. And so really it's, for my family, it's about what do we have in the fridge freezer and cupboard that we can grab quickly or maybe put in our bag and take with us. And so for my kids, you know, keeping frozen waffles or bagels on hand that they can eat quickly in the morning, maybe with some peanut butter for those healthy fats and protein, some yogurt, some fruits, you know, those quick, easy things. And maybe also thinking outside the box, right? A lot of kids like cheese and crackers. We might not think about it for breakfast, but, right, have that for breakfast or a cheese stick, take that with you. Yeah. Or an afternoon snack. So what do you, what can you keep in the cupboards, the freezers, that are quick and easy, but still providing some nutrition? And, you know, it's not about being perfect. It's not about having, you know, the perfect food. There isn't such a thing. It doesn't have to be an elaborate meal, but just getting in some food and getting into some nutrition. Absolutely. I, I'm a big advocate for waffles with peanut butter. That is one of my favorites. I also heard you mention fruit in there, right? So we also want to talk about fruits and veggies, but I know that fruits and veggies, these days can be really expensive, right? So do you have any ideas on what maybe we could do to incorporate those and not spend an arm and a leg? Yeah. Yeah, fruits and veggies are very important, and when we think about MyPlate, right, the, the guidance for nutrition, half our plate should be fruits and veggies, right? So we know that we need to get them in our meals and, you know, in some of our our snacks as well. And the cost is a concern for a lot of people these days. And so one thing to keep in mind is that canned and frozen are just as nutritious as fresh, right? We can include all of them in our eating patterns and include them in our meals, and in canned and frozen we don't have to be concerned about them going bad before we eat them. And they can be, less expensive as that fresh. And so don't forget about those some things that I keep on hand, right, canned pineapple my kids really like. Also a little containers of applesauce. Those are, you know, a quick, add to a quick breakfast or a quick after noon snack with some other things. And then frozen fruit is great for smoothies. And so just, yeah, thinking, beyond just the fresh, and, and ways to get them and make sure that you can use them before they go bad. Yeah. So what I'm hearing is maybe you have some recipes. This is the plug, right, for the Spend Smart. Eat Smart. website. Can you tell us about some of the recipes, the easy, low cost recipes, that maybe we can use from the Spend Smart. Eat Smart. website? Yeah, yeah, I'd love to do a plug about Spend Smart. Eat Smart, right, we have a lot of recipes on there. Quick and nutritious. They taste great. And, you know, we really do think about the cost and thinking about what recipes we put on there. And so it's a great website to get on. A couple recipes that come to mind are our chocolate chip oatmeal muffins, right? That oatmeal provides some whole grain, some fiber, but still have those tasty chocolate chips in there as well. You know, your teens could help you make them, great for a breakfast or afternoon snack. And thinking of smoothies, we have a berries and green smoothie, so it has yogurt, milk and that frozen fruit, but it also has some spinach or kale, so you can get a serving of vegetables as well. And, and you don't taste that spinach or kale if you're thinking, “oh, I don't know about that,” but, you know, those are a couple recipes that I'd encourage people checking out. And if they go and check out the website. The address is spendsmart.extension.iastate.edu. You can also just Google Spend Smart. Eat Smart, and it should pop up as well. Very easy to find and the recipes that, you know, it doesn't take an adult necessarily to prepare. You can, you can engage those teens and tweens even younger, you know, if you have a family affair to get involved and help create some of those, some of those meals. Yeah, and it's a great way, again, to help kids have some choice in what they’re, they're eating and helping, you know, helping them be involved and then they might be more likely to eat it. And again, just reiterating it doesn't have to be a perfect eating pattern. You know, we're not looking for perfection. But just thinking about a balanced intake, and you know, how we can get in those fruits and vegetables and grains, lean protein, you know, different ways of getting it in. But it's never about perfection. Right. We love that, that distinction that parents don't have to be perfect. We know that is kind of our whole thing is we aren't, we aren't looking for perfect parents. We are looking for learning, right, where we can understand those nutrients and why they matter. And how can we shift our conversations from, you know, “just eat this” or “you need to eat your vegetables” to, “hey, this helps feel your growth.”“This can help us build strong bones and build healthy brains” and,“hey, you might be able to focus better if you eat some breakfast in the morning.” Yeah, yeah, and, you know, I, I'm a dietitian and I will tell you, you know, like, I struggle to get my kids to eat fruits and vegetables just like everybody else, right? So, we're all in it together. Absolutely. So we talked about nutrition. Let's shift into movement. So the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommend that at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity per day for children and adolescents. However, we see that only about 24% of teens actually meet that recommendation. Yeah, you know, and that, that's concerning too, just like the breakfast. Right? We want to get kids up and moving. And I think it's important to remember that physical activity and movement isn't just about being fit, right. We got to think about how we frame it and what the benefits are. Movement, really plays a big role in our mental health, right? There's a direct link between regular movement and reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression. And we know that is concerning for teens right now. We hear a lot about, you know, that anxious generation and such. And so, movement is one way that we can help them to relieve some of that anxiety and help them feel better. Yes, absolutely. We want to take care of their mental health as much as we can. And, some other things, physical activity helps improve sleep, which can lead to better days, right, build self esteem, can even boost executive function which help us helps to support academic success. Yeah. And I think that, think about, when we think about physical activity, right, and movement, we don't have to get it to a gym. We don't have to be running endless laps doing a marathon, right? There's all sorts of ways to be active. You know, walking your dog, riding your bike, maybe it's playing a team sport, if that's what you're interested in, dancing. So there's lots of ways to be active and to get into some movement. And so really just find something that, you know, you can help your, teens and tweens enjoy. Something that they'll enjoy is something that they'll do consistently, which is important. Absolutely. I am not a runner. Never have enjoyed running, but I have folks in my life that do and, you know, I even look at my nieces and nephews that they all enjoy different things as well. So, just different things is a really great thing, different things is a great thing to think about. Wow, really insightful there. Anyway, what does it look, let's look at what it looks like at home. What are some ways, Jody, that you have, maybe you’ve, done incorporating this with your kids, with families you've worked with? Have you helped them to build healthy nutrition habits during the teen years? Yeah, I mean, I think one thing it comes down to is practicing what I preach, right? If I want my kids to do this, I've got to do it too, right? They can hear me all day long, but if I'm not doing what I'm asking them to do, why would they want to do it right? So, you know, they see me eating the fruits, the vegetables, the whole grains, the lean protein, the dairy, you know, getting all those things in, and really modeling what I'm doing. And also like we've talked about, you know, maybe getting them into the kitchen, helping us out. Right. That might encourage them to, you know, try some of these different foods that we want them to try and also giving them some choice, right? We've talked about they want independence, right? And so, you can give have, you know, boundaries within that choice. But you know, I, you know, sometimes they'll be like,“okay, here's some meal ideas.”“What do you want me to make this week,” right? And so, they're getting some choice and some say and, and what our meals might be, but, you know, within those boundaries of, you know, maybe what I would like them to have. Absolutely. And we know just from experience and talking about child development, that choice helps builds that confidence in later life to make those decisions as well. So, you know, keep offering them choices throughout their childhood, even through teens and, tweens and teens. Yeah. Okay, so nutrition how about incorporating movement? Yeah, I, again, we talked about, you know, right, trying to find helping them find something that they enjoy. And then doing it with them too, right, if, if that's possible. And so I think about in my life, my kids, you know, my daughter really enjoy dancing, that's been her way of movement and things like that, but now that she's going to be in middle school, she's talked about being in volleyball. And so she knows she wants to go out and hit the volleyball, right? And so that's something that I can do with her and be active. My son likes to do wrestling and football. Being in high school, they keep him pretty busy doing that. So we don't do that quite as much with him now. But we throw around the football. You know, me, my husband and I, but we can still support him going to his games or talking to him about practice. And just being excited for him as he's doing these things. So, yeah, and even just walks, you know, but again, if you, you know, finding something that you can enjoy and sometimes doing it with them, can go a long way to helping them find the enjoyment in that movement. Absolutely. We are big pool, and like, people in our family. So getting in the water with them, swimming and and doing that, but your thoughts there made me think of something. So, in the past, we've talked about a framework from the National Institute of Health and Human Development, and it, it looks at how can we move from, we say, the blaming and shaming game, right? So moving from “are we being a good parent or a bad parent” to, and if you're interested, we have podcasts on this one, I won’t go to in-depth, but moving to active, attentive, consistent or effective parenting. And what I'm hearing from you is you're saying that maybe in that middle school age, we're more active in playing ball, dancing along, swimming with them, but as they move to high school, maybe we have to shift from being quite as not quite as active, but maybe more attentive. So how did that, you know,“how did practice go?” Maybe going to a game, being there to support them. We might not be running down the sidelines with them at that point, but we're standing, we're standing and cheering from the bleachers. So just because you're not doing one thing, shifting and kind of moving towards a different stage in parenting, it really is a different stage of parenting, that it might look different and how we support them as well, so. What I heard from you also was that that family modeling matters. So a 2023 study from the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior found that when families eat together, so going back to nutrition, when they eat together at least three times a week, teens are actually more likely to eat fruits and vegetables and less likely to consume sugary drinks or fast food, excuse me, fast food. Yeah, yeah, meal time is really important, right? Just being together, you know, nutrition and physical activity, you know, important for our physical health. But that meal time also, you know, thinking about our social well-being as well and connecting emotionally, with our kids, checking in with them. And so it is really important. And again, it can be hard to find that time to sit down to a meal if different people are at different practices or events. But just be creative and then think about it, right? Maybe you're sitting down to breakfast together. Maybe it's not even evening meal. You know, there's maybe a different time or, you know, maybe it's sitting on a blanket after or before practice or, you know, occasionally in a restaurant after event. And so, you know, just spending time when you can, to sit down to a meal, and, you know, sharing and talking with your kids, and just try to make it positive, right? This isn't the time to talk about grades or homework. But just connecting with each other and spending time together around a meal. There's a lot of benefits to that. Absolutely, and I think the thing to highlight from that is three times a week, right? That's manageable. That's not you have to do it every single night for every single meal. It's just finding those times to connect, sit down for a meal, and like you said it, it might be breakfast, it might be supper, it might be, sometimes at my house when I was in high school, it was the snack after rehearsal, so we would sit and have a snack together and talk. So just having that time, time one on one with my parents. Yeah, I grew up on a farm. So I also remember meals in the field, right? If your, your parents are out, right? So we say that, the table, but your table can look different. Yeah, it can be a hay, hay bale, hay bale, it can be a hay bale, like that’s a perfectly adequate table in my books, but, just being together and having that meal together is the important part. So when it comes to movement, kind of going back and forth here, but playing both sides, when it comes to movement, the research from the Academy American Academy of Pediatrics suggests that teens are more likely to stay active when their parents are active, too. So I'm seeing, I'm seeing something consistent here, right? So when movement as part of that shared family routine, they're also more likely to be active. So we're going to move into, this is, we're getting kind of close to the end here. So I have a question for you. How can we encourage healthy habits in our teens without managing, micromanaging, creating those power struggles? How can we be encouraging without being like overstepping? Yeah, I think one thing, it comes to like building family routines, right? If we build a routine or a habit, you know, it's just everybody who does it, right? It's kind of an expectation. And so, like, in our household, we're thinking of family meals, right? It's the expectation if we're at home, we're going to eat, you know, a family meal, usually the supper together without screens, right? And so, I don't have to nag my kids to come to the table. It's just it's summertime and this is something we do. And so, you know, that's great to start when your kids are younger, but you can always start, you know, new routines when your kids, are an adolescent stage as well. We've talked about it practicing what you preach, right? Kids really do watch what you're doing. Even if we sometimes think they want to do the exact opposite, they are watching. And so, if they see you modeling it, you know, then they're going to be more likely to want to do it as well. And the last thing to give them that choice, right? The more choice we can give them, you know, it's not the nagging, but, you know, again, there can be boundaries around that choice. But they also are having some say, which is a great learning skill for when they will be making those choices on their own. And so I think if we think about those things that can help them build those habits, without all the nagging and micromanaging. Yes, so being supportive, giving them choices, empowering them to be involved, those sorts of things that can really kind of bolster that sense of independence for them, and the likelihood that they actually have movement and eat maybe make healthier choices. So absolutely, is there anything, kind of throwing this at you, but is there anything else that you'd like to add, or maybe that you're like,“oh, I didn't think about that” before we wrap things up here? Yeah, you know, one thing I want to mention about physical activity as well, you know, thinking about why we want to, you know, be active. We talked about, right, the mental health benefits. You talked about sleep and, self-esteem. And so really just thinking about movement in a positive light. A lot of times I think we think physical activity, movement, it's about shrinking our bodies or, you know, sometimes in a negative connotation of what when we say movement, and it doesn't have to be that way. It can be something that is enjoyable and we enjoy doing. And so, also thinking about how we talk about nutrition and physical activity to make our bodies strong, and capable of doing the things that we want to do. Absolutely. I love that insight that like, we tend to talk pretty positively, right, but there, there are those challenges in parenting, even when it comes to nutrition and movement. And the things that kids go through. So thank you so much for that thoughts. In conclusion, just a quick wrap up of everything that Jodi and I have talked about, adolescents have increased nutritional and physical needs that support their rapid development. Healthy eating and movement are linked to better moods, academic performance, sleep, and resilience. We love resilience, and parents can help by modeling healthy habits, providing structure without control, and creating opportunities for those shared meals and shared movements. Yeah, I think all of those things are great. And really, these years are about, right, laying the foundation for lifelong health, right, and so, small habits matter, right? Drinking more water, eating that healthy snack, going on a walk together, right? And so just thinking about, what we're doing now, really, is important for the foundation and the habits that our teens will have later on. Absolutely. So with that, thank you so much to Jodi for joining us today. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Yes. And thank you to our listeners for joining us. Make sure that you check out the Iowa State Extension and Outreach website, and especially check out that Spend Smart. Eat Smart. section at spendsmart.extension.iastate.edu. There are so many tools. I can say this is someone who's not actively involved in the creation of this, there are so many awesome things on that site, including those recipes that Jodi mentioned. But there's also things like meal planning tools and movement section. Tab focused on kids. So much to explore. So I would encourage everyone to just just take a peek, see what might pique your interest. And we have videos, you know, kids, you know, they are attracted to the video. So we do have, you know, some recipe videos, you know, physical activity videos. And so, yeah, lots of different, things on there to check out. So thanks for sharing that, McKenzie. Absolutely. Come along as we tackle the ups and downs, the ins and outs and the research and reality all around, the Science of Parenting. The Science of Parenting is a research-based education program hosted by Mackenzie DeJong-Schelling, produced and edited by Brock Beirman, with contributions from Barbara Dunn-Swanson, Dr. Connie Beecher, Hailey Walker, and Morgan Newell. Send in questions and comments to parenting@iastate.edu and connect with us on Facebook. This program is brought to you by Iowa State University Extension and Outreach.