The Key to Getting School Kids to Eat Fruits and Vegetables
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Dorling Kindersley RF/Thinkstock(ITHACA, N.Y.) — Although the goal of the National School Lunch Program is to get youngsters to eschew junk food for fruits and vegetables, it’s hasn’t always worked out that way, judging by how much produce gets tossed out after lunch.
However, researchers David Just of Cornell University and Joseph Price of Brigham Young University may have found a way reverse this trend. It involves rescheduling recess.
After making close to 23,000 observations of students at seven elementary schools, which included watching the amount of fruits and vegetable that were thrown away after lunch, Just and Price discovered that when recess was switched to before lunch, produce consumption increased by 54 percent, largely because physical activity made them hungrier.
They reasoned that when recess follows lunch, children are more apt to rush through their meals to get outside with the first casualty being healthy food choices.
Scheduling recess before lunch also resulted in a 45 percent increase in youngsters’ eating at least one serving of fruits and vegetables.
Best of all, say Just and Price, moving recess ahead of lunch involves no additional cost to the school.
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