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.
MORE: This State Is Making Sure No Child Is Ever Denied a School Lunch
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: recess
How Can Exercise Boost Student Achievement?
Children — especially young children — need to move. But with recess being cut back or even eliminated in elementary schools in favor of academics, kids are being forced to sit much more.
Too much sitting isn’t just bad for anyone’s health, but for youngsters, a lack of movement can negatively impact learning. TIME magazine reported children who exercised more tend to have better grades, higher test scores and performed better in math, English and reading.
That’s why several schools are finding ways to fit in exercise in the classroom. A school in Charleston County uses gym equipment in class; schools in Texas saw that standing desks improved student concentration; in Pennsylvania, a fifth-grade teacher ditched desks for yoga balls and found that it increased her students’ attention spans.
MORE: It’s Not a Stretch to See That This Yoga Teacher Makes a Difference to At-Risk Teens
And as Fast Company reports, Ward Elementary School in North Carolina has a Read and Ride program where students can hop onto exercise bikes while they read.
Incredibly, the bikes have not only helped burn excess energy, it has also boosted academic achievement. According to Fast Company, “students who had spent the most time in the program achieved an 83 percent proficiency in reading, while those who spent the least time in the program had failing scores — only 41 percent proficiency.”
The program was started five years ago by Ward Elementary counselor Scott Ertl and has expanded to 30 other schools. We previously reported that Ertl is an advocate of physical movement in the classroom and is also the inventor of Bouncy Bands that allows fidgety students to bounce their feet and stretch their legs while quietly working (and without distracting their classmates) at their desks.
“Riding exercise bikes makes reading fun for many kids who get frustrated when they read,” Ertl tells Fast Company. “They have a way to release that frustration they feel while they ride.”
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