There is SO MUCH information in the real and digital world about food and eating, but all the mixed messages make it impossible to figure out what we should actually be doing to fuel our bodies for growth and energy.

Across the globe, there are thousands of companies competing for our attention and money and they’re way more interested in selling a diet or product than looking out for our health or wellbeing. In fact, they often make more money when they make us feel bad about our body or convince us that we need to change it.

The thing is though, food is pretty incredible. It fuels our bodies for all the crazy growth happening during puberty – up to 8cm in height each year. Teens also double their body weight between the ages of 9 and 18, as adult bodies have more muscle mass and more fat stored than kids’ bodies. We are all unique, and your body has its own plan to grow into an adult body in terms of size, shape and composition. The thing it needs to get there? Food!

Human bodies are pretty clever, if you think about it. Through physical feeling and hormonal signals, our body can tell us when we’re hungry and when we’re full, what foods we feel like eating, and even remind us to eat a wide variety of different foods. Our bodies have got it all figured out!

If we threw out the rule book and forgot everything we have seen about diets or diets-in-disguise, it wouldn’t take long to realise that we can in fact trust ourselves to eat and move in ways that are good for us.

When we listen to our body’s signals, we actually end up eating enough food to fuel our body, eat more fruits and veggies, and get the mix of foods we need to provide us with nutrients. It has also been shown to improve our mental health and reduce stress.

By eating in this way, instead of getting hung up on rules about what we ‘should’ be eating, we have enough fuel to keep growing, do all the things we love, pay attention in class and even fight off sicknesses and heal injuries. See, we told you human bodies are clever!