Adolescence is a transitional period as teens become young adults. It’s also often a confusing time, especially when teens go back to school, filled with lots of emotional and physical changes.

Adolescence is also when we have the highest recommended energy intake per day, with an average of 2,800 calories for males and 2,200 calories for females.

To get teens through this period, parents must make sure their teens have a healthy, well-balanced diet, which is not always easy.

To help parents with adolescents traveling through this rocky period, Jill Carte, category manager of food safety at DayMark Safety Systems, offers the following thoughts and suggestions:

Make sure they eat breakfast. Not only is breakfast the most important meal of the day, but it’s also good training. It instills in their young minds the importance of a healthy diet.

Take them grocery shopping. This helps teens better understand how to select foods, especially fruits and vegetables.

Walk the talk. Adolescents copy their parents' habits. It is important that teens see that their parents practice what they preach by eating nutritious, healthy foods.

Make selecting and cooking food a bonding opportunity. It’s one of the best ways parents can teach family values, influence young minds, and get close to their fast-growing teens.

Teach them how to read labels. This is one of the most important things parents can do for their adolescents. In high school and college, they are going to be eating a lot of grab-and-go foods. Reading [food] labels will help them make the healthiest food choices.

Learn how to “disguise” food. Because teens can be very finicky, try adding vegetables they may not like in meatballs and other dishes they usually like.

“Food manufacturers and retailers can also help in this process,” adds Carte. “By using tools that offer fast and accurate recipe analysis, parents can rest assured they are teaching their teens how to make the most accurate food selections.”