A new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gave teens failing grades when it comes to eating their fruits and vegetables. Only ONE teen out of ten in the United States is getting their recommended daily amount of fruits and veggies.
Looks like a lot of kids are going to have to stay after class… for a healthy snack.
The news is bad:
- Only 13% of high school students eat three servings of vegetables daily.
- Only 32% of high school students eat two servings of fruit daily.
- Less than one out of every ten kids eat the recommended daily amount of both on a daily basis.
Where does the data come from? The CDC did a national survey of high school students in 2007. Could things have changed since then? Sure. But bad habits have a tendency to stick around… and don’t change without a lot of effort and determination. So it’s likely that eating habits among teens are just as bad now as they were two years ago.
How can you encourage your teens to eat more fruits and vegetables?
- Find fruits and veggies your kids like. It’ll be far easier to get them to eat a food they like than a food they hate. Experiment with more exotic fruits!
- Find ways to add more fruits and veggies to existing meals. It’s sneaky, but it works. Puree vegetables and add them to spaghetti sauce. Add fresh fruit to frozen yogurt or ice cream smoothies.
- Encourage the kids to help with meal preparation. They might be more likely to eat a meal they helped make.
- Make healthy snacks easy to grab. Have veggie sticks already cut, or keep fresh fruit on the counter in plain view.
- Reduce the amount of unhealthy snacks in the house. If the only option is a healthy one, it’s better than nothing… I have to admit this trick works on me in my thirties just as well as it did on me in my teens.
The CDC is hoping that by next year, three-quarters of Americans will eat two servings of fruit every day and half of Americans will eat three servings of vegetables every day. Veggies seem like the hard sell — they have a bad reputation for being yucky.
Can you do it? Do you do it now — eat three servings of veggies and two servings of fruit every day? If you do, you’re a better eater than I am.