In the fight against childhood obesity, First Lady Michelle Obama spearheaded the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act that requires schools to serve more fruits, vegetables and whole grains.
The idea is great. Its execution? Not so much. Reports found that despite federal law, many elementary school students (up to 70 percent) end up throwing most of this produce away to the tune of $3.8 million in wasted costs. The reason? Kids who are picky eaters would rather go hungry than eat broccoli.
However, a new study from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., found a solution to get kids to actually eat healthy, and it all comes down to scheduling.
The idea is that these youngsters will eat more — and more healthfully — if they work up an appetite first. And there’s a simple, cost-free way that schools can do this: switch up recess and lunch.
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As EcoWatch notes, most schools in America schedule lunch before recess thinking that the kids can use the free time to burn off their meals. But as it happens, since students so excited about getting to play, many just end up trashing their food.
“Recess is a pretty big deal to kids,” Joseph Price, BYU associate professor and the study’s lead author, tells the Salt Lake City Tribune. “So if you make them choose between recess and vegetables, recess is going to win.”
For the study, researchers observed seven elementary school cafeterias in Orem, Utah. Four schools had lunch first, and three schools experimented with recess first. “After analyzing a total of 22,939 observations the researchers concluded that in the schools that switched recess to before lunch children ate 54 percent more fruits and vegetables,” a news release says. “There was also a 45 percent increase in those eating at least one serving of fruits and vegetables. During the same time period consumption of fruits and vegetables actually decreased in the schools that didn’t switch.”
It makes a lot of sense. By making sure kids jump, swing and run around on the playground first, they’ll be hungry enough to eat anything. Even broccoli.
Tag: Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act
The District Where Healthy School Lunches Are Actually Succeeding
School lunches are healthier than ever under First Lady Michelle Obama’s Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act. Federal law now requires schools to serve more fruits, vegetables and whole grains, as well as cut down on food that’s high in calories, fat and sodium.
The new school lunch standard is wonderful in the fight against childhood obesity. However, its actual implementation has been fraught with controversy. School lunch companies are complaining that the tough nutritional guidelines are too rigid and claiming that they’re causing a steep loss in revenue. Picky eaters are also revolting about the taste of their foods, and many just end up going hungry when they throw whole trays of food away.
But there’s one school district where kids are actually eating — and even enjoying their meals.
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As the Atlantic reports, the Lincoln Public School System (LPS) in Lincoln, Nebraska “has gone above and beyond the legal requirements, dishing out a daily vegetable smorgasbord. On top of veggie burgers and black-bean chili, the school system serves up local yellow watermelons, black and green peppers, cherry tomatoes, blueberries, ripe plums and fresh cantaloupe.”
And according to the Journal Star, all of the district’s high schools, most of its middle schools and about one-third of the elementary school have a fruit and vegetable bar. Chicken nuggets are coated in whole wheat crumbs and lasagna made with low-sodium sauce and whole wheat noodles.
“Last year, we spent over $1.1 million dollars on produce. So we do serve a lot, and I’m really excited to see that children don’t waste it, that they eat it. That is really cool,” says Edith Zumwalt, the Director of Nutrition Services in LPS.
For its efforts, the district was recently given the “Golden Carrot Award” from the Physicians Committee (PCRM), a nonprofit medical organization of 12,000 physicians. The award came with $1,500 prize for the nutrition services program. Remarkably, LPS was the only public school to win; private schools in California and Arizona also shared the award.
Following the award, the school district even received praise from one Kourtney Kardashian, who’s apparently a big healthy food advocate and has teamed up with the PCRM. “As a mom who makes her healthy eating a priority, I’m so impressed to see that Lincoln’s lunch trays are filled with colorful, locally grown cherries, savory carrots, yellow watermelon, fresh blueberries, and plums,” the reality star writes in a letter to the school.
Clearly, healthy food doesn’t have to mean bland. Hopefully more schools can take up this philosophy too.
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