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UnitedHealthcare Ask the Expert Catherine Palmier Pediatrics Expert Hi, my next question
is from a Grandmother. She’s stating that her daughter, her grand daughter is seventeen
years old and eats only turkey, chicken, and seafood. Is this healthy for a 17 year old?
She’s been eating like this for about two years.
Well, certainly diet issues are ones to be concerned about in teenagers and so let me
just talk a little bit about what’s most important for a 17-year-old girl. The number
one nutrient for them is iron and actually, in the diet you’re describing, your granddaughter’s
probably not that deficient in iron.
The reason iron is such an important mineral is because of anemia. Young girls are getting
their period every month and losing a decent amount of blood and so since they’re continuously
losing blood with periods, it’s difficult to get enough iron in their bodies.
I don’t know from your description if she’s absolutely not eating anything else like a
salad or cereal in the morning or something like that. She definitely needs some fiber,
but you know, she’s 17 years old and I will bet you going to college I’m assuming in
a year or so will definitely change her eating habits ‘cause I can tell you, most college
cafeterias are not plentiful in the seafood department.
But, you know, at that age education is a little bit better than getting overly concerned
about something because she’s definitely in control of her own eating habits, so good
luck to you but you know, don’t make this your problem. Just, you know, see if you can,
with her mother or your daughter or daughter-in-law’s help expose her to some other things, but,
I’d rather see a girl eating chicken, seafood, and those kinds of things than only living
on lettuce leaves or celery. You know, if you want to look at it that way, not such
a bad thing, so protein is probably better than just living on, you know, very few calories
and those kinds of things.
So, good luck to you and your granddaughter and thank you for asking the question. UnitedHealthcare