USDA invests in making healthier foods more fun for kids

The USDA has just funded a 2 million dollar study to learn how to affect children's eating habits during school lunchtime.

The idea is for the research to fight childhood obesity through changing the way students think about their lunch choices.

• Changing the placement of food items to promote healthier foods by making them more visible.
• Putting healthier foods into attractive fun colorful settings to make them more desirable
• Naming healthy foods fun names
• Displaying healthy foods in different animal or other shapes

But this is not new, food manufacturers and restaurant industry have been using psychology to promote certain foods to kids for a long time.  So it is really about time that the government realizes that we need to fight FUN with FUN.  We are all attracted to products that are visually appealing.  That is what bright colors and characters and games do, they make foods more appealing in our minds.

If we want kids to make positive association with healthy foods we need to make healthy foods fun.  That is exactly what we do.  We use our characters, interactive games and nutrition tools to introduce healthy eating in a very fun venue.

There is quite a bit of study on the psychology of food.  Step one is to have healthier foods available for kids to choose.  But step two is to help guide them to make healthier choices.

Resources from our nutrition website

Healthy food games

Healthy fun food kids stories

Fun nutrition printable materials

Related Resources

Can marketing make school cafeterias healthier? Boston Children's Hospital

School Nutrition Association