How to be teen and lean

YOU are a teenager. You tend to skip breakfast, either because you get up too late to eat it or it just doesn't appeal to you. Or you think it will make you fat.

You don't like to eat lunch at the school cafeteria - it's what little kids do, and you don't like the food. You eat at McDonald's, Pizza Hut and other fast-food palaces.

A steady diet of sodas and junk food and not enough exercise can lead to ill-health. So here are a few tips from dieticians.

Eating breakfast has actually been linked to weight loss or weight control in studies. So don't skip it.

Eating a banana, a cheese sandwich, or a slice of leftover pizza for breakfast, lets you make better food choices at lunchtime because you're not starving.

Less fattening options for lunch at the fast-food shop would be a plain burger (fewer calories), a side salad with low-fat dressing or a baked potato (no melted cheese). Or you could try a salad.