I had a certain friend (who is on hubski but I won't name names) who lived an entire year of high school having a diet coke for breakfast every day. Sometimes he would also have a snickers. Other than a fun anecdote - I'm not sure I have a point. I'm glad you are teaching them about nutrition. I hope they are at least made aware of their choices and can start to make conscious ones. Don't beat yourself up if the Big Texas cinnamon rolls and sugar drinks still flow. Educated, grown adults (myself included) make terrible decisions every day regarding nutrition. I've heard that the adolescent brain is nearly incapable of actually internalizing long term consequences. I don't know how true that is. I might wager that the human brain of almost any age isn't good at it. anyway - good on ya for working it in there. It's super important - especially for athletes who want to perform. I hope at least one kid takes it to heart. Keep making a difference blackbootz. You're the friggin man.
teenage brains don't have fully developed executive process functioning in their brains. this is the limbic system and usually develops in late teens early 20's depending on gender. i know this because i learned about it high school health while grounded or otherwise in trouble and came home to my parents and said "you can't ground me because of a developmental issue". they laughed in my face but now whenever some teen makes the news for doing something dumb we can laugh about that damn limbic system.
Thanks steve, I'm trying :) And great point about the executive function impairment/undevelopedness that you and arguewithatree pointed out. Anecdatally, my experience completely supports that. I physically couldn't imagine acting in my best long-term interest when I was 17.