1.  What’s the number one vegetable consumed by teens?

The answer: The number one vegetable consumed by teens is potatoes – or, in other words, French fries! 30% of middle school students eat three or more servings of fries per week.

2.  How many middle school students eat the recommended amount of vegetables?

The answer: Only 33% of middle school students eat the recommended amount of vegetables.

3.  How many middle school students eat the recommended amount of fruit?

The answer: No, it’s not as low as 15%, but only 45% of middle school students eat the recommended amount of fruit.

4.  Do you know how much fruit you need as a growing teen? (The amount varies depending on your body size and how many calories you need.)

The answer: Teenagers should eat 1½ cup of fruit each day.

5.  Do you know how many vegetables you need to eat daily? (The amount varies depending on your body size and how many calories you need.)

The answer: Teenagers should eat 2-3 cups of vegetables each day.

6.  What’s the best way to eat fruit and vegetables?

The answer: It doesn’t matter whether you picked fresh, frozen, or canned, they are all good ways to eat fruit and vegetables. Ask your mom, dad, or other adult you live with to buy vegetables in-season, at local farm stands or farmer’s markets, in cans or from the supermarket freezer.

7.  How much of your plate should be filled with fruit and vegetables?

The answer: during meals, a good way to make sure you get more fruits and vegetables is to fill half your plate with them!

8.  Do you know the best color for fruits and vegetables?

The answer: Fruit and vegetables come in different colors and the benefits that we get from them vary depending on their color. So eat them all – red, yellow, orange, green, blue, purple, even white!

9.  How do you know if the drinks, jello, cereal, pop tarts, snacks and more that have fruit in their name or a photo of fruit in their product actually contain fruit?

The answer: You can’t trust the packaging or taste to know if a product contains fruit. Lots of manufacturers put the name fruit in the product’s name or place a photo of it appealingly on the package. You also can’t always trust the taste – many times fruit or artificial flavoring is used instead. Always check the ingredients on the label. Ingredients are listed in order of the amount used, so if fruit’s at the bottom of the list, there really isn’t much there! And while you’re checking the ingredients, find out how much sugar and fat is being included.