Teenagers often have very busy schedules. They go to school for seven hours and participate in extracurricular activities or jobs that take up their afternoons for one to three hours. A busy schedule may not allow kids to have time to make a well cooked meal.

Before school, many kids rarely eat breakfast. They either wake up late and therefore do not have time to eat. Not eating breakfast is sometimes unhealthy for a young, growing body. Eating breakfast is known to allow people to start their mornings off the right way. Breakfast fuels the body and awakens the mind. This allows teenagers to wake up and also gives them energy, and most teenagers need that when they have such a busy schedule. There is also more to skipping breakfast than just the lack of energy.  Contrary to popular belief, according to healthychildren.org, skipping breakfast actually causes weight gain. When teens don’t get enough food to start off the day, that is going to cause a night full of snacking to make up for that absence of nutrition in the morning. 

For lunch, many teenagers are not eating adequate meals. Many parents are not home to cook a real meal for students, and many teenagers do not have time for a full meal, so this leads to snacking, skipping, or fast food eating. Snacks, such as chips, granola bars, and fruit snacks, are not sufficient for teenagers. Teenagers tend to get more tired after lunch, which means that they need a meal that will help get them through the rest of the day. Many teenagers also have extracurricular activities or jobs after schools. When a teenager has such a busy schedule they do not have time to eat before these extra activities. A teenager needs to have a nutritious meal in order to be fueled for the rest of their busy day. 

There are many simple meals that teenagers can eat for breakfast and lunch that will keep them satisfied for the whole day. Fruit, yogurt, juice, or toast are great options in the morning for a simple breakfast that will help teenagers start off their day. There are also easy to make breakfast meals that can be found at the local grocery store in the freezer section. These are just a few of the simple breakfast meals that will help teenagers in the morning. 

For lunch, there are many good meals that any teenager can make in a quick amount of time. Meat and cheese sandwiches, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, quesadillas, meat, fruit, and veggies can all be essential to help teenagers during the day. There are also healthy lunchables that can be found at grocery stores. 

If teenagers give more thought to what they are eating, it will help them stay awake and motivated throughout the day. Little do they know, if they put extra effort into their meals, it will pay off. Many teenagers will begin to live each day feeling more productive and lively as long as they are given the right, nutritious meals.