Nutrition is one of the leading factors in overall wellness, particularly for adolescents and young adults. Young people tend to eat foods they enjoy, rather than making choices that are good for their growing minds and bodies. Not eating well leads to a range of issues, both mental and physical. Likewise, as your young person works to get life back on track after personal struggles, he or she needs nutritional therapy to understand the importance of healthy choices.

Venture Academy provides a nutritional therapy program, combined with a recreational therapy program in Alberta or Ontario. Your teen benefits from learning healthy eating habits and how these connect to overall wellness. Through nutritional support, dietary guidance and other aspects of nutritional therapy, your teen starts looking and feeling healthier. They make better lifestyle choices overall when they feel their best, forming a foundation for a lifetime of wellness.

Why Nutritional Therapy Is Key for Young Peopletherapist points out meal plans in a book to female patient in nutritional therapy

In pre-teen and teen years, we establish health habits that shape our futures. This includes eating habits that affect mental and physical wellness for years to come. Although it proves harder to get young people to eat fresh and healthy foods, they need to eat well for growth, development and mental stability. In fact, food plays a bigger role in behavioural health than most people realize.

According to the Regional Research Institute for Human Services of Portland State University, young people experience better mental health treatment outcomes when eating a diet high in fresh fruits and leafy green vegetables. Also reported by Portland State University is an Oslo, Norway study as part of which researchers found a strong connection between sugary soft drinks and mental health problems in 5,498 teens. In fact, researchers also discovered ties between teen suicidal behaviors and a diet of sugary soft drinks and sweet foods.

To the contrary, healthy foods like fish, vegetables, and fruits prove to positively impact youth mental health. The same is true when a healthy diet includes over-the-counter vitamins and minerals. The young brain needs Omega-3 fatty acids, such as those found in fish and fish oil, for optimal neural functioning. Fish oil is reportedly tied to prevention of psychosis progression in high-risk youth.

Taking in enough vitamin D affects mental wellness, too. Studies show that not getting enough vitamin D connects to impaired thinking, depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia in young people and adults, alike.

How Nutritional Therapy Helps Your Loved One

Nutritional therapy provides one-on-one and group guidance for better nutrition and health. This includes personalized dietary and lifestyle support tailored to individual health and needs. Your young person’s nutritional therapist helps them understand their own physical condition and how food influences their wellness and goals for the future.

In their nutritional therapy program, your teen learns how to make smart dietary choices. They also learn how to form a well-balanced diet and moderate their sugar, caffeine and fat intake. They also learn warning signs of eating disorders and how to have a healthy relationship with food.

Overall, a nutritional therapy program plays a big role in your loved one’s behavioural improvement, development, health and fitness in treatment at Venture Academy and beyond. There is no time like the present for your young person to establish healthy eating habits, particularly when they struggle with academic, behavioural or teen substance abuse problems.

Complete Programs for Overall Wellness at Venture Academy

Venture Academy helps teens and young adults turn their lives around after mental health and behavioural problems. This treatment is not complete without a nutritional therapy program, one designed to help them form healthy habits of wellness for their future. In addition to nutritional wellness, your loved one needs a mix of programs and therapies tailored to their unique needs.

At Venture Academy in Ontario or Alberta, these programs and therapies include:

Learn more about how nutritional therapy and other methods can help your loved one. They can create a healthier, happier future after behavioural issues and mental health problems. There is help available for your struggling teen or young adult in Red Deer and Barrie, with one call to Venture Academy at 866.762.2211.