I recently wrote about nutrition for teens, focusing on the athletes in your family. In almost everything that I discovered, from general articles to academic studies, the authors discussed the caloric requirements for student-athletes. The numbers are staggering...stating that these kids need 3,000 to 5,000 calories...with some sports requiring double that amount! That's a … [Read more...]

It’s Fall sports season! Football, volleyball, soccer have all begun in earnest. School isn’t even in session but the teen athletes around here are prepping for the first contests in just a couple weeks. Before you know it Football Fridays will be a thing. And Volleyball Tuesdays/Thursdays. And Soccer Mondays. If you’re anything like me, you love to watch your kids compete. I … [Read more...]

Planning ahead just isn’t a thing for most teenagers. If they’re anything like the Hectic Kids, advance planning doesn’t start until very late in high school or in some cases after they get to college. And thinking about what they’re going to have for lunch the night before is a total non-starter. I mean, they’ve got fistfuls of snacks to eat before then, texts to reply to, and … [Read more...]

What’s for dinner tonight? It’s a question I’ve been asked almost every day for the past 25 years. Too often my standard answer was “I don’t know” or “What do you want?”. Neither answer was very satisfying to me, nor to the kids. You would’ve thought they’d stop asking…but that was the one constant throughout the years. Over the years, I’ve refined my meal planning process. … [Read more...]