"I think I eat well, but I'm not exercising much and my clothes aren't fitting right anymore. What's going on?"
Julia is a fifteen year-old living on the West Side of Buffalo, NY with her mom and seventeen year-old sister. The West Side is a bustling but poor neighborhood, with a diverse population including Hispanic, Black, Caucasian, Native American, and refugees resettled from conflict countries like Burma and Somali. Julia started high school this year, but unfortunately most of her friends go to a different one. Now instead of walking a mile to school with her neighbors, Julia takes the public bus that stops close to her house and drops her off directly across from the high school. Julia is finding high school to be stressful: she has so much homework, babysits after school five days a week, and helps out her grandmother on the weekends. Sometimes Julia snacks on energy drinks or granola bars to stay awake at night and a candy bar for a mid-day energy boost. She notices that she does not have as much energy as she used to, and she wishes that she still played basketball like she did in middle school.
Julia has noticed her clothes are getting tighter, but does not understand why because she believes she is eating mostly healthy foods. She has milk and cereal for breakfast, and buys lunch at school, usually a submarine sandwich with meat, cheese, and mayonnaise, a can of soda, chips, and some carrots because she knows they are good for her eyes. Julia's mom works late, so her older sister has taken over the cooking for dinner at night, although her mom tries to make it home in time to eat together. Her sister took a nutrition class last year in high school and includes at least one vegetable in with each meal. She usually cooks a pasta, spaghetti sauce, and meat dish, with a salad and lots of salad dressing, or a rice, meat, and veggie dish. Julia's sister is still getting used to adjusting her recipes for three people, as most of the recipes she has are for four or five people. The sisters grew up being told never leave food on their plates, however, so even though it looks like a lot of food, it all gets eaten.