If children had their way, they would devour ice cream or candy all day long instead of broccoli or brussels sprouts. During school lunchtime, kids tend to eat the tastiest items and dump the rest in the garbage. So, in search of a way to change all that, researchers with the Behavioral Economics in Child Nutrition Program at Cornell University set out to see if the timing of recess could make a difference.
The study looked at seven elementary schools. All schools held recess after lunch. For the study, three of the schools switched recess to before lunch, and the remaining four schools continued with recess after lunch. In the schools who switched recess to before lunch, the kids built such an appetite that they ate 54% more fruits and vegetables that they did before the switch. In the schools that kept recess after lunch, the kids actually ate fewer and fewer fruits and vegetables as the school year went on. Also, there was 40% less overall wasting of food when recess was scheduled before lunch.
