With the distraction of friends and homework plus some crazy-weird lunch period schedules (um, 10:30 lunch? Really?), it can be easy to skip a meal, especially if you aren’t starving. But the occasional small snack isn’t enough to tide your body over ‘til dinner.

Lunch should be the largest meal you eat because it comes in the middle of your daily calorie-burning activities. While a well-rounded breakfast and dinner are important, too, lunch is the time that your body craves healthy foods like fruits, veggies, good carbs and protein. The snacks you’re picking up, be they peanut butter crackers, chips or a banana, aren’t enough to fuel your bod all day long.

It doesn’t matter why you’re not eating lunch, babe. It’s just important that you start. Eating three solid meals a day is particularly essential during your teen years, when your body is growing and changing. Not eating lunch might seem easy and ineffectual, but it could be stunting your growth. Who wants that when the fix is so easy?

If you’re not big on a huge meal, pack a few snacks you can munch on throughout the day, like an apple, a turkey sandwich, cheese and crackers and raw veggies. Cafeteria food not appealing? Brown bag it, babe!

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