Remember those school lunches we used to hate?
Bland pizza bread. Beefaroni. Chicken nuggets.
It’s tough trying to make interesting, nutritional meals if the kids aren’t interested in eating anything beyond the basic mac ‘n cheese or hamburger.
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So why are kids not interested in eating?
Maybe if schools MADE SCHOOL LUNCHES MORE APPEALING, KIDS WOULD EAT MORE.
And we’re not even talking about switching up the food choices specifically, but using some behavioral changes to encourage kids to make their own choices about eating healthy.
Researchers found that making some small food presentation adjustments, kids were more likely to help themselves to more healthy alternatives in their school lunch choices.
- Placing fruit near the register in a fancy bowl led to more fruit being selected as an option.
- Renaming standard foods with more interesting names (“homemade spicy spaghetti” vs “spaghetti” is the example provided)
- Display milk with the sodas and other beverages
More telling is that when cafeterias banned chocolate milk, kids ended up drinking less milk overall and also wasted almost 30% more food. The lesson here? Give kids their chocolate milk, and they’re more likely to eat their lunches.
It’s a win-win!