If your teen is constantly tired, moody, or living on snacks and ultra-processed foods, you're not alone!
As a mum who had an energetic teenager (who’s now an energetic young man!) I know firsthand how important a balanced diet is for our teen’s health. When they hit the teen years, feeding them becomes all about fueling their rapid growth and supporting their mental and physical development.
Meeting Nutritional Requirements and Overcoming Nutritional Deficiencies in Teenagers - Quality is As Important as Quantity
The teenage years are a period of rapid growth, physically, mentally, and hormonally. And while teens often eat enough, modern diets can miss key nutrients found in whole foods, namely animal based nutrients their bodies need during this critical stage of development..
Traditional cultures were far more focused on nourishing their children at every stage to meet their ever changing nutritional requirements, than we are today.
Confusion with teen nutrition quite often starts with recommendations from public health organizations and is then compounded by clever marketing from greedy food corporations who don’t care about our health at all.
Despite this being a time of high nutritional needs, many Canadian teens miss getting all the nutrients they need. Over half of the daily “food” consumed in modern Canadian teens’ diets come from highly processed “fake” foods. The teenage years are a whirlwind of growth (bone and muscle mass), and changes in development—not just in height but in their brains (cognitive abilities) and hormones too.
Not consuming adequate micro- and macronutrients is a huge issue for teenagers, who often do not get enough protein, vitamins A, D, B6, B12, folate, and minerals like magnesium, zinc, and iron, which can affect everything from their energy, immune health and bone development to their ability to focus. Traditional “real” foods are much more diverse and nutrient dense, than the foods most Canadians typically eat.
The Lure of “Politically Correct” Diets
For some teenagers, the anti-saturated fat dogma may dovetail rather conveniently with pro-vegetarian arguments, particularly because the search for “meaningful moral standards, values and belief systems” is a critical developmental task during the adolescence years. Recent studies for teen protein indicate that the actual requirement for children aged 6–18 could be as high as 1.55 grams per kilogram per day, making the need for protein-rich choices all that more important.
Did you know?
Protein boosts muscle growth and supports hormonal balance and mental sharpness, while heme iron is key for healthy blood and oxygen flow. Zinc powers the immune system and energy levels, and vitamin B12 is critical for producing red blood cells and maintaining energy. Including beef and beef organs in your teen’s diet can be a practical way to supply these vital nutrients, ensuring your kids get what they need to thrive during these transformative and foundational years.
Reference: Dietary Protein Requirements in Children: Methods for Consideration
Beef Organs as a Nutrient-Rich Solution
This is where real, whole-food nourishment can make a crucial meaningful difference in your teenager’s development.
Compared with other meats such as poultry, pork, and seafood, or other protein sources such as nuts, beans, and soy, red meat (beef and organs) offers superior quality protein, and is rich in heme iron, zinc, choline, vitamin B12, vitamin A, and vitamin B6 (to name just a few) essential for physical growth and cognitive development.
Including beef (and beef organs) in your teen’s diet can help meet their nutritional needs effectively. Beef is a popular food and key ingredient for many of the foods teens enjoy eating, making it an ‘easy sell’ for family meals. Six to eight ounces of red meat ** (or four to six ounces of organ meat), per meal, will meet heme iron and protein requirements for healthy teenagers. It is not just about the meat itself; including meat in meals helps boost the absorption of vitamins and minerals from plant-based foods..This is particularly important for teenage girls, who often face even higher risks of nutritional gaps. Note: We suggest sourcing and consuming your organs/ red meat from grass-fed, grass-finished, and pasture raised cows.**
In addition, studies have found that teens who regularly include beef organs in their diet not only get more of the nutrients found from red meat, but also tend to have higher overall intake of other important nutrients such as calcium, compared to their peers who ate no beef organs This suggests that teens eating beef organs are likely following a well-rounded diet that includes a variety of food groups, which is exactly what is necessary for a nutrient-dense diet.
References: Impact of Beef and Beef Product Intake on Cognition in Children and Young Adults: A Systematic Review
Making Beef Organs an Easy Add In to Your Teen’s Diet
Beef organs are incredibly versatile, and can be ground and added into a variety of tasty and nutritious dishes. From juicy burgers, stir frys, meatloaf, tacos, and a hearty chili (no pun intended!), there is so much you can do. Or even think of beef for breakfast! Kickstart your teen’s day with protein-packed breakfasts like beef burritos, or beef and egg muffin cups. Why not encourage your teens to help in the kitchen? Cooking together can transform meal prep from a chore into a fun, connecting activity. It is a chance to teach them about nutrition, develop food skills, and help them develop a lifelong passion for healthy eating.
Questions and Realistic Tips for Incorporating Beef Organs Into Meals
Q: “How can I get my teenager to eat beef organs if they can’t tolerate the taste or texture?
A: That is why our Higher Healths founder created beef organ capsules! Our capsules are easy to twist open. They can sprinkle and mix the powder into their food - yogurt or smoothies . To preserve the freeze dried nutrients we suggest room temperature, or cold foods, as heat will destroy the bioavailable nutrients.
Q: “Why Beef Organ Supplements?”
A: Beef organs are nutrient dense and are a convenient, affordable, and easy way to include bioavailable, nutrient dense organ meats into both you and your teenager’s diet everyday!
Q: “Which Beef Organ should my teenager eat?”
A: Beef liver (Nature’s multivitamin) and CORE3 (heart, liver, kidney) are our most popular supplements for teenagers, which contain the essential heme iron, zinc, choline, vitamin A, and vitamin B12 to support their rapid growth and vitality.
Q: “Okay, but how much should they consume?”
A: Start with the recommended serving size, 4 to 6 ounces, a day. For older or active teens, you can give a full 6 ounces.
Quality as well as Quantity
This is about providing a real food foundation during one of the most demanding phases of their life. Real nutrient-dense food to support the very real demands of the teenage years. Optimal growth and development requires providing the right nutrients, in the right foods, at the right time!
Our 100% grass-fed, grass-finished organ capsules provide bioavailable vitamins and minerals that support energy, focus, mood stability, and hormonal balance. No synthetic shortcuts. No empty promises. Just clean, real, nutrient-dense support!
~ From the Land, not the Lab!
Read more here:
https://www.higherhealths.ca/pages/health-information-faqs
Growing and Eating: What Teenage Boys Do Best - The Weston A. Price Foundation
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