Adolescence: A Stage of Growth and Change
Eating well and keeping clean
Learn why good food and keeping clean matter so much during adolescence.
Your body is growing fast, so good food matters more than ever. You need proteins and carbohydrates to grow and play well, plus enough fats, vitamins and minerals.
From the book's table (Activity 6.3):
| Food | Gives | Helps with |
|---|---|---|
| milk, millets, curd, cheese, paneer | calcium, proteins, fats | strong, growing bones |
| spinach, rajma, raisins, figs | iron | making blood |
| a balanced mix of foods | proteins and more | growth, strength, energy |
Calcium comes from good food, not from pani puri!
Some adolescents, especially girls, get blood problems from too little iron or vitamin B12. A common one is anaemia: you may feel tired or get breathless after one flight of stairs. Eating iron-rich food helps. Dorothy Hodgkin studied the structure of vitamin B12 and in 1964 became the third woman to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Our bodies cannot make B12; it has to come from food.
Keeping clean matters too. Bathe every day, and keep the armpits and pubic region clean, to avoid infections and body smell.
For girls, hygiene during periods matters for comfort and health. Use sanitary pads or reusable cloth pads made for this. Wrap a used pad in newspaper and put it in a dustbin; never flush it or leave it lying around. Biodegradable pads are kinder to the environment.
The government gives pads free or cheaply: the Menstrual Hygiene Scheme, Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK), the Suvidha pads at Jan Aushadhi Kendras, and state schemes like Karnataka's Shuchi, with free pads in Tamil Nadu and Odisha schools too.
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