You've heard it all before. For as long as you can remember, your parents, your teachers, perhaps even your doctor, have been telling you to eat your vegetables, limit sweets, drink your milk.

Now, in your teen years, this advice takes on new meaning for a lot of very different reasons: How can you gain weight to put on muscle instead of fat? What's a healthy weight for you? How can you squeeze in a good, quick meal after school and before you have to be at your part-time job? All good questions, and because of the enormous changes that are going on in your body, the way you decide to deal with your nutrition needs now can make a big difference not only in how you feel today, but also in your well-being in years to come.

If you are between 15 and 18, you're completing your final major growth spurt, and are in the process of putting on nature's finishing touches for adulthood. For girls, the finishing touch means adding some fat padding. For boys, it means adding muscle and increasing the volume of blood. These changes often encourage girls to diet unnecessarily to stay slim, while boys may overeat to satisfy their appetites. Both can lead to health problems down the road, and, incidentally, probably will not do the job you want right now.

For more information on nutrition, visit the following links:

All Kids

Kids Health - Nutrition

Pinellas Wellness

Food & Fitness

Vegetarian Nutrition for Teenagers

Project Lean

Body Mass Index Calculator (BMI)

E- Health For Teens