Teresa McCusker

Teresa McCusker, nutrition education coordinator at St. Mary's, said the plan was to take a lighthearted approach.

"The key thing was to make it fun.It doesn't have to be a drudgery or a chore to eat right and exercise," McCusker said.

"Any diet, if it's balanced and has a variety of foods, can provide you with the nutrition you need," said registered dietitian Teresa McCusker, nutrition education coordinator for St. Mary's Health System.
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Those who make meals of protein-rich foods such as peanut butter, beans and tofu can downsize their fat intake without sacrificing protein, McCusker said.

"Those are high-protein foods we encourage people to incorporate in their diets anyway, because they're lower in fat and they usually have more heart-healthy fats," she said.
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"If you're going to give up a whole food group, that's going to decrease the amount of calories you consume," McCusker said."There's a population that could fall prey to that."

The decision to be a vegetarian shouldn't be based on weight loss, she said.No teen should be obsessed with food.

"You just have to talk to the person and see where their mindset is," she said.

Dietician Teresa McCusker, with St. Mary's Health System gave Style a quiz recently to test our food know-how.
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For more information, contact Teresa McCusker, the Nutrition Education Coordinator with St. Mary's Health Systems.