There are times in a woman’s life when she needs to takecare of her diet. During adolescence, the rate of growth in a girl is secondonly to that infancy. Her growth spurt usually begins and ends earlier than inboys, but it is not possible to predict when it will happen.
The greatest influence on a teenager’s diet is her peergroup. It is more difficult to have control over an adolescent’s choice offoods the way parents can when children are younger. Eating also becomes partof a social activity and family meals assume less importance. Most teenagegirls are very concerned about their shape and weight and as many as one girlin ten may try to control her weight by some means. This usually involves excluding nutritious foods such asbread, cereal and protein and filling up on empty calories – junk food in theform of snacks and soft drinks.
In pregnancy, your body is providing nutrition for bothyou and your baby. There are foodstuffs that you may not be able to tolerate,particularly during the first four months. This is an important time for thebaby and you need to eat well when you feel like it. The best idea is to snackoften with healthy foods. That way you will not feel uncomfortable and you’llbe well fed. Your medical advisers will suggest supplements with folic acid, iron,and calcium if this is necessary. Do not take supplements unless your doctoradvises.
One of the major problems for post-menopausal women is osteoporosis,which is the loss of protein from bones. Research has shown that osteoporosiscan be halted (not cured) by having hormone therapy. This does not mean thatevery woman needs hormone therapy, but if you get aches and pains in your bonesand muscles, backache and pins and needles in your hands and feet, go to yourdoctor to ask for a diagnosis. If your bones are beginning to look thin on X-ray,your doctor should consider hormone therapy.
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