Recent research looked at how much time students had to eat lunch at school and how the time allowed affected what and how much they ate. The researchers found that when students had less than 20 minutes to eat, they rarely selected fruit, which is more time consuming to eat and they also ate less of their entrée, vegetable and milk. The researchers came to the conclusion that students need at least 25 minutes of seat time to socialize and eat their entire lunch. A 30 minute lunch period should accomplish this for most kids. Too much time getting to the cafeteria or standing in line waiting to be served resulted in more food waste, poorer food selections, and less food eaten.
How much time do your children get to eat their lunch? Eating a good lunch contributes to learning and good health. It is an important time of the day. Advocate for adequate time to eat a good lunch at school.
