Reducing the portion of pizza burgers and chicken nuggets on kids' lunch plates may be one way of getting them to eat their veggies, according to a report presented last week at the American Academy of Pediatrics' annual meeting.
Researchers tracked eating patterns among 410 children in grades 1 to 5 at a local elementary school during the school year. The researchers filmed more than 5,000 student meals and evaluated the percentage of plate waste. The investigators found that, on average, children ate 67% of their entire lunch.
However, if kids like their entree and eat more of it, they tended to eat less of their fruits and vegetables. So the researchers hypothesized that decreasing the size of the entree may be a way to subtly get kids to eat more fruits and vegetables.
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