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Scientists Discover How To Get Kids To Eat Their Vegetables

HughPickens.com writes: Roberto Ferdman writes in the Washington Post that researchers at Texas A&M University, looking for patterns in food consumption among elementary school children, found an interesting quirk about when and why kids choose to eat their vegetables. After analyzing plate waste data from nearly 8,500 students, it seems there's at least one variable that tends to affect whether kids eat their broccoli, spinach or green beans more than anything: what else is on the plate. Kids are much more likely to eat their vegetable portion when it's paired with a food that isn't so delicious that it gets all the attention. For example, when chicken nuggets and burgers, the most popular items among schoolchildren, are on the menu, vegetable waste tends to rise significantly. When other less-beloved foods, like deli sliders or baked potatoes, are served, the opposite seems to happen."Our research team looked at whether there is a relationship between consumption of certain entrees and vegetables that would lead to plate waste," says Dr. Oral Capps Jr. "We found that popular entrees such as burgers and chicken nuggets, contributed to greater waste of less popular vegetables."

Traci Man, who has been studying eating habits, self-control and dieting for more than 20 years, believes that food pairings are crucial in getting kids to eat vegetables. "Normally, vegetables will lose the competition that they're in — the competition with all the other delicious food on your plate. Vegetables might not lose that battle for everyone, but they do for most of us. This strategy puts vegetables in a competition they can win, by pitting vegetables against no food at all. To do that, you just eat your vegetable first, before any of the other food is there," says Mann. "We tested it with kids in school cafeterias, where it more than quadrupled the amount of vegetables eaten. It's just about making it a little harder to make the wrong choices, and a little easier to make the right ones."

257 comments

  1. Obvious. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Give the guys the igNobel price for the most obvious research results of the year.

    1. Re:Obvious. by penguinoid · · Score: 1

      If it's so obvious, how come it took them so long to figure it out? Not to mention, how much longer until the actual schools figure it out?

      --
      Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
    2. Re:Obvious. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They did, it went something like this:

      School: Okay, we're serving kids these foods on this day and making this much. And we're serving kids this food on this day and making HOLY SHITSNACKING ASSCRACKERS! SERVE THIS FOOD SERVE THIS FOOD FUCK THOSE FOODS SERVE THIS FOOD NOW!!!

      Nutritionist: But...that food is evil! It turns them into rotund sacks of lard with feet!

      School: FUCK NUTRITION! MAKE IT RAIN, BITCHES!

    3. Re:Obvious. by doccus · · Score: 1

      Moms have known for just YEARS how to get kids to eat their veggies. It's called melted CHEESE! I can't believe they actrually had a research project on this. Shortage of quarks to study, suddenly? sheesh...

    4. Re:Obvious. by ebvwfbw · · Score: 1

      If it's so obvious, how come it took them so long to figure it out? Not to mention, how much longer until the actual schools figure it out?

      What's old is new again. I knew a sup from the Boston school system. He said the same thing, this was 40 years ago.

      I remember we used to wonder why our burgers were like cardboard. Other stuff was so bad... to get us to eat the veggies. Resistance wasn't futile. We could also buy other things like oatmeal and chocolate cookies, even ice cream.

      Besides, cube carrots, peas made great projectiles to the other table via spoon.

  2. Thaty's the wat to do it ... by amalcolm · · Score: 4, Funny

    Eat you vegatables ... OR STARVE !!

    --
    Time for bed, said Zebedee - boing
    1. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by ananamouse · · Score: 3, Interesting

      My uncle had a dog that would eat turnip greens.

      Of course it took him three weeks to warm up to them.....

    2. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by AthanasiusKircher · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Eat you vegatables ... OR STARVE !!

      Yes, well -- the reality is that French people have known this for many years. They didn't need "scientists" to measure food pairings to figure it out.

      In many French schools, it is standard practice for primary school kids to eat a 3-course lunch which takes at least 30 minutes. The kids are required to sit at table and behave effectively like well-mannered adults.

      Almost all do. And almost all eat a large variety of foods.

      How is this possible?

      It's incredibly simple. The first course often will consist of something that kids may like a bit less, such as vegetables or a soup made with vegetables or whatever. But the kids are hungry. They generally don't have constant snacking as is common in the US.

      But that's the first course -- it's all the kids have. So they either eat it, or they sit there for 10 minutes or more watching other kids eat until they are served something else. (Since the meals are served to them at table, they simply learn to wait.) Under these circumstances, guess which most HUNGRY kids will choose? They eat their vegetables.

      It's not rocket science. And once kids get used to this routine, they learn to like more foods, and they'll observe older kids eating unfamiliar foods and they'll try those too. Pretty soon they just eat a wide variety of things.

      I don't mean to downplay this research too much, but it's a pretty obvious thing to do. American culture of eating has tended to focus much more on efficiency in the past half century or so -- eat fast, slap everything on the plate, and be done. French culture still values the idea of lingering at the table with multiple courses, so this "research" was simply obvious to them and has been standard practice for decades.

    3. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Is this the same wonderful French culture that leaves their sick and elderly die each summer to go take a month-long beach vacation all at once?

    4. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by jrumney · · Score: 5, Funny

      And before you know it, they start catching anything they can find in the schoolyard to supplement their diet of vegetable soup with some protein. Snails, frogs... do we really want the children of America to start eating like the French?

    5. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by Yetihehe · · Score: 1

      My parents have a dog, which LOVES cucumbers. It even looks like he likes them more than meat. When planted cucmbers are ripe, this dog looks under leaves and eats one every time he is near garden.

      --
      Extreme Programming - Redundant Array of Inexpensive Developers
    6. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 1

      Just wrap the broccoli in bacon, and top it off with barbecue sauce. Everything tastes better with bacon and barbecue sauce.

      Alternatively . . . leave out the bacon and barbecue sauce, and just give them ketchup. For those of you that are too young to remember or know this, the US government declared ketchup as a vegetable for school lunches, back in the 80's.

      --
      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    7. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by gstoddart · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Honestly, compared to Happy Meals, sodas, and the general crap North American kids eat ... they should be so lucky as to start eating like the French.

      There would be far less obese children, less diabetes, and a whole slew of benefits.

      I see so many young kids who are almost as big around as an overweight adult, if not bigger. And that should be scaring the crap out of people ... and then you look at their parents and realize these kids have no chance.

      Because the parents won't eat anything but chicken fingers and other garbage either, because they were whiny fussy kids who wouldn't eat vegetables.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    8. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by AthanasiusKircher · · Score: 4, Informative

      And before you know it, they start catching anything they can find in the schoolyard to supplement their diet of vegetable soup with some protein. Snails, frogs... do we really want the children of America to start eating like the French?

      My guess is that you're trying to be funny here, but just to clarify my previous comment -- the kids get other ("main") courses that include protein. It's just that to get there they either have to eat their veggies or spend 10+ minutes being hungry and watching other kids eat their veggies. (Older kids will be used the routine, so they'll just start eating.) Peer pressure and hunger combined do wonders here.

    9. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My mom had that rule when i was young for a while, I would get nothing else till it was eaten.... I went to bed many times without eating anything.

      So this plan may work on some, but is going to harm others.

    10. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And they also have a sommelier assigned to each school to pair the selections with appropriate table wine. This leaves French kids drunk for the day and unable to concentrate in class. Won't someone think of the children? Do we want our children to be drunk all day???

    11. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have one that will not eat noodles of any kind, another that will eat almost any vegetable, especially raw. How about just giving decent food with decent choice? Not a hard concept. But antithetical to statists.

    12. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      For those of you that are too young to remember or know this, the US government declared ketchup as a vegetable for school lunches, back in the 80's.

      Such a shame pizza doesn't count as a vegetable..

    13. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Germans have a good meal plan too, Frenchie.

      Besides, we do give the kids French Fries!

    14. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You seem like you managed to survive.

    15. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 1

      Exactly. That or melted cheese. :-)

      * Broccoli + Cheddar
      * Cauliflower + Swiss
      * Spinach + Mozzarella
      * Asparagus + Parmesan

      Won't work if the kid is lactose intolerant obviously ,,, just like this "finding".

      Probably easier to give the kid natural consequences. "Eat your veggies and you get pie"

      Just need the right motivation ! :-)

    16. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by SomePoorSchmuck · · Score: 1

      My mom had that rule when i was young for a while, I would get nothing else till it was eaten.... I went to bed many times without eating anything.

      So this plan may work on some, but is going to harm others.

      But the question is, did your mom really plate the veggie course and only the veggies and bring those plates to the table, then everyone sat with them for 10 minutes before your mom went back into the kitchen and finished the next course? That is what AthanasiusKircher is describing. That is not the same as putting all of dinner on the table and then setting a mere verbal rule that kids have to eat some broccoli first even though the kids can see and smell the skillet of sausage links.

      --

      Hollywood, Television, has become the dream machine. We need to take that back; each of us is a Dream Machine
    17. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I'll take a wild guess here: the French chefs pay more attention to cooking their vegetables. I've been served broccoli in the US and Germany that had just been tossed into a vat of water, and boiled until it had the consistency of mushy peas. No seasoning at all. Then I once was served broccoli in France, where it had been steamed, but didn't fall apart, it had been very lightly seasoned, and served with some Hollandaise sauce, in a separate tiny tub, so that I could just use a wee bit of it.

      I'm guessing that French cooks take pride in what they do . . . even if they just work in a school cafeteria, they will cook vegetables that children and adults enjoy eating.

      --
      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    18. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh look, a chubby American kid trying to be funny.

    19. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The castle I live in doesn't prevent the smell of sausages to flow from the kitchen to the dining room we use in autumn.
      But as gentlefolks don't eat vegetables (only peasants do), we have the opposite problem and we solve it with simple measures: our butler Edward is entitled to whip my kids whenever they attempt to eat a piece of vegetable.

    20. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by godrik · · Score: 1

      Unfortunately, I do not think French schools have cooks anymore. They have microwaves... Even if I never ate at school (I was living on the next block), still makes me sad.

    21. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

      Honestly, compared to Happy Meals, sodas, and the general crap North American kids eat ... they should be so lucky as to start eating like the French.

      France is McDonald's 2nd biggest market, and the French eat at McDonald's about as often as Americans do.

    22. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...vegetables have plenty of protein.

      Did you know that the Shao-lin monks, the most powerful atheletes in the world, eat a strictly vegan diet? This begins when they start training at 5 years old!

    23. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But how MUCH do they eat? Something tells me the caloric intake of the average McDonalds customer in France is significantly lower than in the US.

    24. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by random+coward · · Score: 2

      Are you suggesting that the way children eat in school in France is what causes them to take month long vacations?

    25. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by Archtech · · Score: 0

      "I have one that will not eat noodles of any kind..."

      Smart kid. That's to be encouraged: refined carbohydrates will shorten life, and make (at least) the last couple of decades much worse than they should be.

      --
      I am sure that there are many other solipsists out there.
    26. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by gstoddart · · Score: 1

      Sure, but this tells me they're not eating the same stuff:

      Menu: They have a different menu in McDo than in the US and itâ(TM)s far more French. You can buy beer in McDonalds in France, order a McBaguette with French cheese â" a McCamembert! The ingredients are from France. Unlike most other countries where McDonalds operates, when they opened in France it was on the grounds that only French ingredients would be used.

      Which makes me wonder what the nutritional value of the French offerings are vs the North American ones ... or if France is just eventually going to catch up with us and have the same problems.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    27. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by Archtech · · Score: 1

      Or slather the vegetables with butter. Remember butter? That delicious, creamy, tasty, treat that's just stuffed with nutritional goodness?

      (If you think that's funny or wrong, pick up a book on nutrition written by someone competent in the past five years).

      --
      I am sure that there are many other solipsists out there.
    28. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by random+coward · · Score: 1

      The government required so many vegetable servings be given at meals to kids or the school lost its meal funding so to prevent the poor schools who weren't able to get enough vegetables from losing their funding they declared ketchup a vegetable. I suppose you'd rather the poor have gone hungry because the democratic congress wouldn't change the law?

    29. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by SvnLyrBrto · · Score: 1

      I've seen TV shows... I think one of Anthony Bourdain's actually... that show what kids in France eat for their school lunch. And yeah... the meals looked like food I'd still be happy to eat as an adult.

      The meals served in the schools here? Not so much. How about this for a way to get kids to eat their vegetables: Cook and season them in a way such as they are palatable. You don't need to stack them up against bad-tasting food or keep the kids hungry enough that they'd eat anything. Just prepare them well enough to stand on their own merit. When I was in public schools un the US; unless they were the toppings on a hamburger or taco salad, the vegetable portion of the meals were pretty much always boiled or steamed into a tasteless, nearly-indifferentiated, mush. Who *would* want to eat that garbage? But once I was out of school and had to learn how to cook... basically the only vegetable I don't like now is okra. (I'm sorry, but "food" that has the consistency of mucus is an abomination before god and man.)

      I guess I could also suggest using higher-quality produce in the first place. But I suspect that since that would require actually spending more money on the students, the schools would be completely unwilling to do so under any circumstance. But changing the recipes & preparation ought to be doable.

      --
      Imagine all the people...
    30. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by jedidiah · · Score: 1

      The number of McD's and KFC's in France shocked me. So did the number of people wandering around Paris with McD bags.

      Wasn't about to try that stuff though. It would have kind of defeated the whole point of being in France.

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
    31. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by jedidiah · · Score: 1

      > ...vegetables have plenty of protein.

      You are an idiot and would probably get slapped by a monk. Certainly by any Sifu.

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
    32. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by jedidiah · · Score: 1

      This is one aspect of this whole thing that gets overlooked.

      It's not hard to cook vegetables properly but you have to care about what you are doing and pay attention. This is not something I would expect in any American institutional setting.

      If the vegetables aren't cooked right, children will rightly have an instinctive aversion too them as they have become bitter and nutritionally worthless.

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
    33. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You might not realize it, but you are loved, and help is available to you. You just have to reach out for it.

    34. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by jedidiah · · Score: 1

      ...or you could just find something the kid likes to eat and not botch it.

      It helps if you always set the expectation that the vegetable is not optional. By the time the kid goes off to school, it's already far too late to fix this. They will be like the hillbilly parents that object when do-gooers try to change the menu.

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
    35. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by swv3752 · · Score: 1

      It depends on the school. When I lived in the Midwest and Northeast, were the typical institutional meals- burgers and chicken nuggets, and pizza made from cardboard. In Louisiana, they had real southern cooking in schools. There can be good meals in public schools, but most places do not do it.

      There is also the issue that some people have a gene, that if expressed, makes broccoli taste bad. For me, eating broccoli is like eating moldy food. I am just not going to eat broccoli no matter how hungry I am.

      As far as Okra, try it fried or with stewed tomatoes.

      --
      Just a Tuna in the Sea of Life
    36. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by Agent0013 · · Score: 2

      Wasn't about to try that stuff though. It would have kind of defeated the whole point of being in France.

      You were there in France and you did not get a Royale with Chese? Man, you missed out.

      Also, how long were you there. When you are there long enough you start to get sick of trying to translate all the menu items to figure out what you want to eat. We ate at "MacDough" only once, but it was still a part of the French experience.

      --

      -- ssoorrrryy,, dduupplleexx sswwiittcchh oonn.. -Quote found on actual fortune cookie.
    37. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by sexconker · · Score: 2

      The number of McD's and KFC's in France shocked me. So did the number of people wandering around Paris with McD bags.

      Wasn't about to try that stuff though. It would have kind of defeated the whole point of being in France.

      What is the "point" of being in France?
      It seems to me that all the actual French citizens would know "the point" better than you. But you went to France based on some cliched, sappy ideal you held in your head, and you saw France with your own eyes and chose to struggle against reality in favor of your insipid "Eat, Pray, Love" fantasy.

      TL;DR: When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

    38. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by sexconker · · Score: 1

      > ...vegetables have plenty of protein.

      You are an idiot and would probably get slapped by a monk. Certainly by any Sifu.

      Master Shifu couldn't even defeat Tai Lung.
      Now Oogway, I believe he would be a vegetarian and an ass kicker. But he died, or turned into flower petals or something.

    39. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by Curunir_wolf · · Score: 1

      My parents have a dog, which LOVES cucumbers. It even looks like he likes them more than meat. When planted cucmbers are ripe, this dog looks under leaves and eats one every time he is near garden.

      My beagle loved sweet potatoes. She kept digging them up out of the garden way before they were big enough to harvest. When we did go to harvest them, we got like 2 potatoes.

      --
      "Somebody has to do something. It's just incredibly pathetic it has to be us."
      --- Jerry Garcia
    40. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by SvnLyrBrto · · Score: 1

      France is McDonald's 2nd biggest market, and the French eat at McDonald's about as often as Americans do.

      Well, at least it's the French eating there. The notion of traveling internationally, only to eat at an American fat-food chain, could drive me to faceplate myself into a concussion.

      --
      Imagine all the people...
    41. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm guessing that French cooks take pride in what they do . . . even if they just work in a school cafeteria, they will cook vegetables that children and adults enjoy eating.

      It varies wildly, like most things everywhere. 15-25 years ago, canteens/cafeterias generally had a relatively bad reputation (and I have some bad memories like most kids with vegetables, but also with almost everything else regularly... even noodles were pretty badly cooked... and that's in four different schools, and multiple summer camps...). I think it improved somewhat in many places since then though.

      Even at home, with a father from the South of France, who was an ok cook, with either vegetables from our garden or from a good market, I had some bad experiences...

      It's not that difficult to cook (good) vegetables properly (and various other things), but it's not known enough, even in France.

      I had to wait nearly 30 years to eat good spinach.

      Fresh small young leaves (you don't even have to remove the stems, and if the leaves are bigger, pinch them so easily pull the stems from the entire height of the leaves), 200g per person. Don't keep them more than a day or two in your fridge. Prepare only what you need, they keep even less once cooked. Clean them in water at the last minute, and leave them in a colander so most of the water is evacuated (they have to stay moist though, as this will be the only water used for cooking them). Heat 10g of butter per 200g of spinach in a big enough pot on high (not the highest setting), then put your spinach in, without any additional water, and without covering. Stir gently regularly. After a few minutes (watch it, when the leaves get hot enough, things go pretty fast), the leaves will have softened up enough (they must still maintain their consistency... if they're starting to tear up when stirring gently, it's too late...). Remove from fire, add a little bit of salt and pepper and stir again gently. Serve quickly with a bit of crème fraîche or butter. Eat with a thick slice of steamed salmon (10-15 minutes depending on thickness, without adding anything to it, not even salt).

      It's not just tasty, it's one of the tastiest thing I've ever eaten... It's really messed up :/ (of course, you can only make it during a few weeks per year, though... do keep a calendar for these things...).

      There are many other classical examples of vegetables completely wasted into a disgusting mess forced upon children, and which adults force themselves to eat too... Carrot ("carottes Vichy" recipe, not cooked too much), Brussels sprout, cauliflower, broccoli (all three should be steamed, possibly finished or later reheated in a frying pan with a bit of butter, then salt and pepper near the end), zucchini (cook thick slices in a frying pan with oil, turning them over a few times, and add salt and pepper near the end... or thin slices, stirring often, then add separately-browned onions, browned bell peppers if you want too, cooked mushrooms, and eggs to make scrambled eggs with all that)....

      And of course, like most things, don't cook the same vegetables the same way too often, or you'll generally quickly get sick of it for quite some time.

    42. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by Coren22 · · Score: 1

      Yeah, 20 years ago, it was common knowledge that milk fats were bad and margarine was good for you, but recently the thinking has reversed.

      --
      APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
    43. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by Junta · · Score: 1

      I think that McD gets a lot of heat and serves more as a symbol than the primary cause. As a symbol, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, people who don't care about healthy diet eat there. Those who do care avoid it like the plague. However those two sets of folks are also doing a whole lot more than deciding whether they eat at McD or not. In France that anti-McD stigma may not be as severe, and as such McD might not cause such health problems.

      Or we have incorrectly stereotyped one nation or the other in a good or poor light...

      --
      XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
    44. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by mrchaotica · · Score: 1

      That doesn't mean the French McDonald's sells the same shit the American McDonald's does.

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    45. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by cayenne8 · · Score: 1

      You were there in France and you did not get a Royale with Chese? Man, you missed out.

      That and the McWine!!!

      I was shocked many, many moons ago when I went to Paris, and saw my first French McD's....and they served wine there. Amazed...

      I'm really shocked that more US fast food (crap food) places don't also server some form of booze...it would sure help things go down easier....

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    46. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by Agent0013 · · Score: 2

      I'm really shocked that more US fast food (crap food) places don't also server some form of booze...it would sure help things go down easier....

      Well you're in luck then. Taco Bell has started serving beer, wine, and sangria at a couple of its stores. I expect they plan on expanding that to most of them. To me it seems like a copy off of Chipotle which already serves beer and margaritas at their stores.

      --

      -- ssoorrrryy,, dduupplleexx sswwiittcchh oonn.. -Quote found on actual fortune cookie.
    47. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by cayenne8 · · Score: 1

      Well you're in luck then. Taco Bell has started serving beer, wine, and sangria at a couple of its stores.

      LOL, Yeah, I'd actually heard they were experimenting with this in some places.

      TB is actualy one of the places I'd not think they'd need to serve alcohol (not that I object to it)...since most of their business I'd have to think was from drunks on the way home about 2am.

      :)

      At least..that's about the only time "I" ever swing by there...late night snacks on the way home.

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    48. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      Depends on the vegetables, beans, pea, lens etc. actually do have a lot of proteins, and there are plenty of vegetables that at least have a fair amount.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    49. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      I think ocra is only "good" if you fry it a very short moment in a pan with olive oil (or similar).

      If I have the choice at my greek restaurant I prefer the lamb with beans (green beans with hulls) over ocra any time.

      But if I have no choice I also eat the ocra.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    50. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      It is in so far wrong as I would not eat that. The smell alone would be stomach turning. And butter actually is in relation to other fats a rather unhealthy one. If you think that is wrong ;D read a recent book about nutrition, rofl.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    51. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      Get your dog a can of 'Old Roy' brand beef wet dog food (WalMart house brand).

      Feed it to him/her. Make sure you get a good smell.

      Go to TB, not the drive thru.

      You will never eat there again.

      There is nothing edible made by any Yum Foods brand. I'm fairly certain the owners and upper management only eat Japanese food.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    52. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      The point is so you can have a actual frog be rude to you. NYC is a decent approximation (wear 'Red Sox' gear to approximate Paris), but there is nothing like the real thing.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    53. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe that works for most children. Some will just starve themselves if faced with those choices.

      And in any schools that still have vending machines that haven't been raked over the coals by Michelle Obama, they'll just eat out of those.

    54. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by Blaskowicz · · Score: 1

      Never heard of McBaguette and McCamembert, although they universally server beer. It's mostly about Big Mac, cheeseburgers, the bacon burger, chicken nuggets, cardboard fries and so on.

    55. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      If you had told me the bussel sprouts were not optional, I would have demonstrated that ballistic brussel sprouts were an option.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    56. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by magarity · · Score: 1

      I vividly recall a horrifying scene from 4th grade. They wanted to expand the menu to include healthier food like vegetables. So they served us cauliflower that had been cooked until it was an off-white pudding. I avoided cauliflower for decades.

    57. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The final test of a King Fu master is the ability to commit suicide by metaphor.

    58. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by LunaticTippy · · Score: 1

      You're being stupid. Most people in France have jobs and do chores. Nobody pays thousands of Euros and uses up their vacation time to travel to France to do regular life stuff. They want to do vacation stuff that is only available in France.

      Visit the Louvre, see the Eiffel Tower, eat at a secretly corporate cafe, all that stupid tourist stuff. Once back home you can go to work, do chores, and eat at Mickey Dee's. No matter where on this planet you are unlucky enough to live!

      --
      Man, you really need that seminar!
    59. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      On my first visit to Mexico, my friends and I went to a fast food place called "Ricky's Tacos". Instead of having an option to supersize the "value meal", one could add a bottle of beer to the order for 7 pesos. The other surprise was that the spokesman for the chain looked a bit like Charles Barkley (see: http://www.facebook.com/rickys...)

    60. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I know someone who was an executive at TB and they said they will never eat at KFC. They have a little conveyor that takes the chicken, dunks it in some water, and then runs it through some flour to get it ready for the fryer. He said it doesn't take too long for the water to get really nasty with blood, bits of skin, fat, or anything else that might be loose on the chicken. So unless you happened to be the first customer of the day and got the first pieces of chicken run through the process, you have no idea how much crap the chicken you're eating was dunked into before it was cooked. That is even if the employees are changing the water on schedule like they're supposed to. They forget to do that a lot if the store is busy. :P

    61. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by Greyfox · · Score: 1

      Yeah, that's a good point. I've met a couple of people who were apparently traumatized by canned peas growing up, at least one of them so severely that I thought he should seek therapy to address his food hang-ups. I've also met several people who were apparently traumatized by fish growing up. Again, at least one of them probably needed therapy for it. Given that we've been screwing up our kids to the point where they need therapy, we'd probably be better off if we just gave them all a brick and let them fend for themselves.

      --

      I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?

    62. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by Burz · · Score: 1

      By implication, you make an excellent point -- American meat portions are too large.

    63. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      But the kids are hungry. They generally don't have constant snacking as is common in the US.

      Exactly. If you give kids the freedom to constantly snack, then they will. They need to be trained. Otherwise you get the current paradoxical situation of an increasing number of kids being obese, and yet poorly nourished, which is effectively child neglect.

      If parents can't or won't do something, then the State needs to intervene, as they would if the kids were being beaten up or not sent to school. Yeah, I know, Nanny State.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    64. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by tehcyder · · Score: 2

      "Well, you can walk into a movie theater in Amsterdam and buy a beer. And I don't mean just like in no paper cup, I'm talking about a glass of beer."

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    65. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by tehcyder · · Score: 1
      I've had a Big Mac and Fries in the US, Europe, Asia and the Middle East and they all taste exactly the same.

      I'm fairly confident that if there was a McDonalds in the Antarctic the same would be true.

      Whatever slight variations different countries have (e.g. mayonnaise with fries in Holland, or whatever) the basics are the same. It's kind of the whole point.

      As for the French, they have long had a fascination with the seedier side of Americn culture (gangsters, film noir, etc).

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    66. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      That doesn't mean the French McDonald's sells the same shit the American McDonald's does.

      Of course they do. You just can't get two litre "cups" of coke.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    67. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by mrchaotica · · Score: 2

      No, seriously -- I went to the McDonalds in Rome near the Spanish Steps once (note: I was just curious about it; I did NOT eat at McDonalds more than once during my trip). Although it did have burgers and fries, it also had a bunch of healthier stuff, and even a pretty nice salad bar. (And then it also had a gelateria out front to even it out...)

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    68. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by mrchaotica · · Score: 1

      Sorry, I forgot to make my point: the point is, McDonald's in other countries is actually different -- and sometimes, better -- than McDonald's here. I wouldn't be surprised if French McDonald's was relatively healthy (at least, optionally).

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    69. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by beastofburdon · · Score: 1

      Dogs also really like corn. We had a Norwegian elkhound named Sugar when I was growing up that would always go with us to the garden and dad would give her an ear of corn if there was any near ripe. She would hold it down with her paw and eat a couple lines of corn then roll it a little bit and eat more rows just like humans eat it. She also taught our dog Sassy to do it as well.

    70. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by CanadianMacFan · · Score: 1

      I've got a cat that likes lettuce.

    71. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Potatoes are toxic to dogs.

    72. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe fund the schools more for their lunch?

    73. Re:Thaty's the wat to do it ... by Curunir_wolf · · Score: 1

      Potatoes are toxic to dogs.

      Incorrect. The TOPS of the potato PLANT, yes. Potatoes are okay, and sweet potatoes are good for them. Check your local pet store, and you will find lots of dog food that includes sweet potatoes.

      --
      "Somebody has to do something. It's just incredibly pathetic it has to be us."
      --- Jerry Garcia
  3. Here's a start... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Don't bring them up on canned baby food filled with sugar.

    Really, try this stuff sometime. It's like eating custard or some similar desert.

  4. by pitting vegetables against no food at all by turkeydance · · Score: 1

    duh

  5. starvation, deception #1 killers on planet still by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    1000s dying daily mostly kids... so having any veggies or anything at all to eat seems to be an invisible block to liking veggies etc...?

  6. There could be reasons for skipping the broccoli.. by zazzel · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Well, why not just reduce the serving size of the "delicious" food on your plate? Three chicken wings + as much broccoli as you like...

    Or, maybe those kids' taste buds are actually signalling them to get the nutritious food first, and eat the unimportant remainder later (or never). What's the nutritious value of broccoli, anyways? There's a reason vegetable gardens used to be wayyyy smaller than the main crops.

    Maybe kids are fat because they are being served prepared foods with insane amounts of sugar (as in HFCS), while at the same time their parents are being told that their kids must not go out and play alone, for fear of the ubiquitous imagined child predator. Turn off the internet for their PS4s and put them out in the rain, they'll live (and lose weight, and eventually have fun).

  7. Are Vegetables Even Nutritious? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Seems as though they are just vitamins, water and fiber. Well, schools tend to boil the vitamins out, and fiber is arguable whether it's even necessary.

    1. Re:Are Vegetables Even Nutritious? by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      Seems as though they are just vitamins, water and fiber. Well, schools tend to boil the vitamins out, and fiber is arguable whether it's even necessary.

      I really hope this was an attempted troll and not a statement of what you actually believe is true.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
  8. Let me recycle my joke from Reddit by GoodNewsJimDotCom · · Score: 2

    > Kids are much more likely to eat their vegetable portion when it's paired with a food that isn't so delicious

    Here you go kid,"Spam, dirt and carrots."

    "Ewww, I'll eat the carrots"

    "Excellent, I thought you might choose that."

    1. Re:Let me recycle my joke from Reddit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hey, at the risk of going against the popular opinion, fried SPAM is actually pretty good. I'm just saying.

    2. Re:Let me recycle my joke from Reddit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Hey, at the risk of going against the popular opinion, fried SPAM is actually pretty good. I'm just saying.

      Well, only with spam, eggs, bacon and spam spam.

    3. Re:Let me recycle my joke from Reddit by godrik · · Score: 1

      It's funny because it's true !
      I don't understand how people eat spam...

    4. Re:Let me recycle my joke from Reddit by Lendrick · · Score: 1

      Found the Hawaiian. :)

      In all seriousness, I agree. I went to Molokai for my honeymoon and I tried spam fried rice with soy and tabasco sauce (which, by the way, goes together a lot better than you would think), and it was excellent.

      That being said, I would not be at all interested in eating a block of cold spam.

    5. Re:Let me recycle my joke from Reddit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Personally, I prefer the lobster thermidor aux crevettes, with a mornay sauce garnished with truffle paté, brandy and a fried egg on top and spam.

    6. Re:Let me recycle my joke from Reddit by nmb3000 · · Score: 1

      Hey, at the risk of going against the popular opinion, fried SPAM is actually pretty good. I'm just saying.

      "Spambled" eggs (scrambled eggs with diced fried spam) is fantastic. The salt in the spam seasons the eggs and the result is pretty delicious. Toss in some mushrooms, onion, pepper and whatever else you like in eggs and you have a meal.

      --
      "What do you despise? By this are you truly known." --Princess Irulan, Manual of Muad'Dib
      /)
    7. Re:Let me recycle my joke from Reddit by Greyfox · · Score: 1

      Yuh huh. Served in their school system there, it was a disgusting greenish hue, in an even more disgusting pineapple... "sauce". I may have only been 6 at the time, but I still count it as one of the more disgusting things I've ever put in my mouth. And I've had durian and natto.

      --

      I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?

    8. Re:Let me recycle my joke from Reddit by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      That being said, I would not be at all interested in eating a block of cold spam.

      The same could be said for a slab of cold gammon or corned beef, or indeed a block of cheese.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    9. Re:Let me recycle my joke from Reddit by vandamme · · Score: 1

      Compared to poi, yeah.

  9. You need a study for this? by palemantle · · Score: 2, Interesting

    A couple of months ago, my mom sees me struggling to shove (not literally) some veggies down my kid's throat and goes, "Stop trying to force-feed her. Leave the food there and when she's hungry, she'll grab it herself".

    Pretty obvious, no? A pity you need a team of researchers and a project to reach this momentous conclusion.

    1. Re:You need a study for this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I feel like this is "How to be a chef 101: remedial edition". Do people forget that children are people too, and even if their palates are not as well developed, they don't want to be fed like dogs?

      "In order to make a good meal, you must coordinate the foods that are consumed." -- News at 11!

    2. Re:You need a study for this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Indeed. Fed our kids vegetables from a very early age, any way they liked them. Oddly, they all love frozen peas, right out of the bag. Peas are very sweet, and we often used them as a snack treat because the kids wanted them all the time. Carrots, too. Edemame is wonderful for their tastes, and baby lima beans which are sweeter than regular limas. Of peas, they like the petite peas the most, which is no surprise. We don't eat a lot of deep fried stuff, so they rarely got chicken nuggets or that kind of crap. Now, they've done the same with the grandkids. Some of the grandkids seem pickier about what they eat than I remember our kids being, but they still all eat their vegetables. One grandson, age 2, will eat all the veggies first so we actually have to feed him his meat/protein first and use the veggies as a treat.

    3. Re:You need a study for this? by RobinH · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Many things we assume are obvious should still be verified by measurement. Common sense is often incorrect, and that's where interesting new information comes from. Plus, Moms are frequently wrong about, oh... a whole lot of what they told us growing up. Just like everyone else, they parrot the first thing someone told them that sounded like something they wanted to hear. I know we like to worship the cult of Mom in our society (and Moms certainly deserve our appreciation), but they're hardly infallible.

      --
      "I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." - Mark Twain
    4. Re:You need a study for this? by jrumney · · Score: 4, Interesting
      When my kids were toddlers, a lot of friends used to comment on how well they ate. Usually while fighting a battle to force feed their own kids. If you shove food down kids throats, the only thing they learn from that experience is how to reject food.

      A lot of it starts with the obsessive tracking of weight and height gain that doctors and midwives push onto parents these days, which makes parents unreasonably anxious about whether their child is eating enough. My eldest was tracking the lower 95th percentile for weight since he was born, and is still a skinny 10 year old despite eating adult sized portions. At first we were told we needed to feed him more, and almost ended up with social services assigned to the case, but after reviewing a food diary which showed him eating more quantity of more nutritious food than most toddlers his age, they finally left us alone.

    5. Re:You need a study for this? by Moridineas · · Score: 4, Interesting

      My eldest was tracking the lower 95th percentile for weight since he was born, and is still a skinny 10 year old despite eating adult sized portions. At first we were told we needed to feed him more, and almost ended up with social services assigned to the case, but after reviewing a food diary which showed him eating more quantity of more nutritious food than most toddlers his age, they finally left us alone.

      Ugh, I hate that kind of thing so much. With our oldest child (now 6), the pediatrician gave us such a hard time about him being *2 oz* below the targeted weight for this particular appointment (and the implicit threats of getting outside forces involved), that my wife started bawling in the office. I just said look, the kid just had a wet diaper five minutes ago, there's your 2 ounces, and we'll be finding a new pediatrician now.

    6. Re:You need a study for this? by thoromyr · · Score: 1

      And that kind of nonsense is why we don't have a pediatrician anymore. There was a good one, but she didn't toe the company line and the death of a different doctor's patient was pinned on her. No legal action, just the emotional and social weight. She ended up leaving the country. Our choices since then have been a pediatrician who abuses her own children and a "doctor" who is no better than consulting webmd [which he excuses himself to do] (worse, actually, because he subscribes to medical scams and tries to pawn them off on his patients). There aren't actually many options where we're at and a doctor who actually cares about his or her patients and doesn't hate children is hard to find.

    7. Re:You need a study for this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Kudos x 100 for mentioning this!

    8. Re:You need a study for this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I tried to follow advice like that with my kid.

      In six months, she lost fifteen pounds, going from healthy to dangerously skinny. She just wasn't interested in eating, even when she was hungry.

      So back to shoving it down her throat we went...

    9. Re:You need a study for this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Of course you need a study for this. Some deadbeat is making a living off the American taxpayer by doing these ridiculous studies that anyone with an ounce of common sense could answer without spending a dime. "Is gasoline flammable? This will require a ten year study and 100 million dollars."

    10. Re:You need a study for this? by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      A couple of months ago, my mom sees me struggling to shove (not literally) some veggies down my kid's throat and goes, "Stop trying to force-feed her. Leave the food there and when she's hungry, she'll grab it herself". Pretty obvious, no? A pity you need a team of researchers and a project to reach this momentous conclusion.

      In reality, you'll have to throw the veggies away and give them a piece of cake (or some other sort of snack) later. And the kids know that.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    11. Re:You need a study for this? by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      And that kind of nonsense is why we don't have a pediatrician anymore.

      Call me prejudiced if you like, but I've never let pedos anywhere near my kids.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    12. Re:You need a study for this? by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      Most, if not all, food I got force feed as a child, I don't eat (anymore).

      My father married again. I'm 48. I have two half brothers aged 9 and 11 ... he is no longer force feeding his kids.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
  10. Vegetables or starve by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Students are less likely to eat a non-delicious food than a delicious food.

    Students overall eat less of the non-delicious food.

    This leaves "space" for vegetables. In the end, it comes down to eat vegetables or don't eat.

    I like it.

  11. Too slow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Beat'em up. Smash their heads on the table. Teach the little shits a lesson. Eat veggies or eat cane.

    1. Re:Too slow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah Bro!

      -PCPrincipal

  12. broccoli? by umghhh · · Score: 1

    Why would anybody want kids to eat broccoli?

    1. Re:broccoli? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why would anybody want kids to eat broccoli?

      Why would anybody feed their kids nuggets and burgers?

    2. Re:broccoli? by CaptSlaq · · Score: 1

      Why would anybody want kids to eat broccoli?

      George, you're drunk posting again.

    3. Re:broccoli? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe because it is an excellent source of vitamins a, c, e, k, thiamin, raboflavin, b6, folate, and pantothentic acid? Not to mention the useful amounts of basically every mineral.

    4. Re:broccoli? by rwa2 · · Score: 1

      I always liked broccoli. They're like little trees, and I was a huge dinosaur, mowing down the forest with my insatiable appetite as the little woodland critters scurried off in fear, abandoning their nests and burrows with their precious little ones.

      I was kinda surprised to learn that most kids didn't enjoy that.

    5. Re:broccoli? by Venerable+Vegetable · · Score: 1

      My children like broccoli too. Actually they like all vegetables. I think it depends on the way they are prepared. A lot of people treat vegetables as a necessary evil which has to be boiled down to a mush and has to be eaten to be granted the reward of a big chunk of meat.

      Don't get me wrong, I love meat. But I love vegetables too. You just have to prepare them well. For example broccoli is easy to overcook and you cannot keep it fresh for more than a few days.

    6. Re:broccoli? by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      I always liked broccoli. They're like little trees, and I was a huge dinosaur, mowing down the forest with my insatiable appetite as the little woodland critters scurried off in fear, abandoning their nests and burrows with their precious little ones.

      I was kinda surprised to learn that most kids didn't enjoy that.

      Did your parents used to sprinkle LSD on your veg?

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    7. Re:broccoli? by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      Maybe because it is an excellent source of vitamins a, c, e, k, thiamin, raboflavin, b6, folate, and pantothentic acid? Not to mention the useful amounts of basically every mineral.

      Yeah, but apart from vitamins a, c, e, k, thiamin, raboflavin, b6, folate, and pantothentic acid, not to mention the useful amounts of basically every mineral, what has broccoli ever done for us?

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    8. Re:broccoli? by CanadianMacFan · · Score: 1

      Well, if they were processed I'd agree with you. I make my own burgers and would have no problems giving them to a child.

    9. Re:broccoli? by CanadianMacFan · · Score: 1

      It's an effective cheese delivery system.

    10. Re:broccoli? by CanadianMacFan · · Score: 1

      I think it's how you are brought up. If you are given a variety right from the time you start eating then you enjoy eating them later on. I only ate very few when growing up (it was a meat and potatoes family) and it's taken me a long time since leaving my parents to start appreciating other fruit and vegetables. But I'm glad that I'm trying new things because I recently found one of my favourite dishes. It's asparagus fried (well, the water from it steams it as you put the cover on the pan) with a glaze of maple syrup that you put on halfway through. It's real maple syrup and it takes away the sharpness from the taste of the asparagus.

  13. Burgers as entrees by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "We found that popular entrees such as burgers and chicken nuggets, contributed to greater waste of less popular vegetables."

    Why serve things like burgers and chicken as entrées in the first place? They lead to a quick sensation of satisfaction and reduce the appetite for the main course. Entrées consisting mainly of vegetables, as suggested by Dr Mann, is far more sensible.

    1. Re:Burgers as entrees by Dr_Barnowl · · Score: 1

      In America, "Entree" means the main course, it's not the proper French definition of the word, which would be understood in e.g. the UK but is typically called a "starter".

      Only the very nicest school canteens would serve three courses anyway, most will only serve a main and dessert.

    2. Re:Burgers as entrees by ukoda · · Score: 1

      That confused me the first time at a restaurant in the USA, a long list of entrees and no main courses. The confusion is amplified when you receive a meal that is twice the size you would normally expect. At one hotel I was stay I ended up ordering kids meals just to get a meal a normal size for a non-American adult. Don't get start me on drink sizes (having it explained in 'ounces' does not help or make the it less crazy).

    3. Re:Burgers as entrees by Blaskowicz · · Score: 1

      Really weird, it should have been obvious that "entrée" is the same word as "entry".

    4. Re:Burgers as entrees by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      In America, "Entree" means the main course

      So what do you call a starter then?

      Actually, I suppose that most American entrees/main courses are so huge it would be pointless having a starter course.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
  14. This Just In... From The Department Of No Shit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This just in... From the department of no shit, Sherlock.

    Kids choose broccoli when it's the best tasting food on the plate. Kids seem to choose pizza over broccoli. Further study is needed.

    Scientists aren't sure if adults also prefer better tasting food. Additional funding is needed to study this unanticipated hypothesis.

    Scientists also have a theory about water being wet.

  15. Vegetables are for kids. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Kids cry WAHHHH.WAHHHH.WAHHHH.WAHHH cry the kids.You crybaby kiddy slashdotters.

  16. Nothing Surprising Here by pubwvj · · Score: 1

    What is sad is that scientists got paid to "figure" this out. Parents have know this forever. First you eat your veggies, then you get your more appetitive foods. Desert is last.

    I apply this same thing to our pastured pigs. First they eat their greens (pasture is 80% of their diet) and any supplement gets fed after that.

    Very basic.

    1. Re:Nothing Surprising Here by Translation+Error · · Score: 4, Informative

      What is sad is that scientists got paid to "figure" this out. Parents have know this forever.

      There are lots of things that 'everybody knows' that are wrong. Actually studying these things, even though they're 'obvious' lets us weed out the ones that were just bad assumptions and often refine the ones that actually do have some basis in reality.

      --
      When someone says, "Any fool can see ..." they're usually exactly right.
    2. Re:Nothing Surprising Here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's a Texas university. What do you expect? This is the state that's proud to ban education on evolution and insists the creation myth is given top billing under science.

    3. Re:Nothing Surprising Here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Did you even read the summary?

      "For example, when chicken nuggets and burgers, the most popular items among schoolchildren, are on the menu, vegetable waste tends to rise significantly. When other less-beloved foods, like deli sliders or baked potatoes, are served, the opposite seems to happen."

      That would imply that the mere prospect of having a popular menu item is the issue. Telling your kids they can have the hamburger after eating their veggies doesn't work, as evidenced by this study. As a parent, the typical result is a hell of a lot of arguing and angry people all around the dinner table. Sometimes you win the fight, sometimes the kid wins. No, that's not giving in. That's "We started dinner at 6 pm and have been arguing over vegetables for 3 hours. It's 9 pm and we need you to go to bed, but you're too wired from yelling to make that successful, so dad will end up tired for work tomorrow."

      I'm rather happy to read this study because it has a rather novel idea. Don't serve the popular food at all, instead serve food that's a bit more bland but palatable and everything gets eaten without a fight. Might take dinner from being a multi-hour argument to something that resembles normalcy.

    4. Re:Nothing Surprising Here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's a Texas university. What do you expect? This is the state that's proud to ban education on evolution and insists the creation myth is given top billing under science.

      What are you going on about? Evolution is taught in public schools in Texas. The 7-day Jewish creation story is not given "top billing" in science classes.

      Step away from The Daily Show / NPR filter bubble and take a reality check.

      If we use your same standard, can we discount all research coming out of the University of California system because that state has more bizarre cult/commune whackos than anyone else? A state where 40 people committed suicide because they were convinced it would upload their souls to the alien Singularity computer on a comet 196,000,000 kilometers away....

    5. Re:Nothing Surprising Here by esonik · · Score: 1

      Scientists don't get paid to figure out a particular problem, at least not in academia. That happens only in commercial research. In the majority of cases scientists get to select the problem they want to solve themselves (the finding of a sufficiently interesting problem itself being a difficult task). Often in countries there are overseeing funding agencies, like NSF, DARPA, DOD who define broad areas of research focus, but they don't assign them to scientists in a top down manner.

      In fact, scientists very often try to explain very obvious things. It's very rare to discover something truly new and usually it is by accident: you find something new and remarkable when you were actually trying to understand the obvious.

  17. Framing is not a new tactic by sjbe · · Score: 2

    There is nothing new about this tactic. You can get almost anyone to make choices by framing the problem. Child whines that they want a cookie. You don't ask if they wouldn't want an apple instead. You ask do they want an apple or carrots? You frame the issue and give them choices but only the choices you want. The kid is happy because he got to make the choice (or thinks he did) and you are happy because he's eating something that is nutritious.

    Politicians do this all the time to (alleged) adults. They frame issues and present a limited menu of options out of which the most appealing option is the one they want you to go for. Works astonishingly effectively

    1. Re:Framing is not a new tactic by AthanasiusKircher · · Score: 1

      There is nothing new about this tactic. You can get almost anyone to make choices by framing the problem. Child whines that they want a cookie. You don't ask if they wouldn't want an apple instead. You ask do they want an apple or carrots? You frame the issue and give them choices but only the choices you want.

      This is absolutely true. More importantly, I think many parents will be surprised how often kids adjust to the "normal" choices they are given and stop whining for the cookie. You want to stop the whining for sweets? Just stop having them in your house. Or set up specific rules (that you NEVER diverge from) about when they are available.

      Often, the problem isn't the kid's diet -- it's also the adults who eat a lot of crap too.

      If you stop offering bad choices, eventually many kids will change their tastes and come to like choosing from the list of "good" options.

      Also, I don't think people realize how much food likes and dislikes can be tied up in cultural preferences and attitudes. I saw this in my son, who was perhaps offered sweets once or twice when he was a baby (e.g., ice cream). He had no interest. On his first birthday, he not only spit out his first piece of cake -- he actually scraped his tongue with his fingers to remove as much remnants as he could.

      I think it was a texture thing as much as anything, but the few times he was offered a cookie or cake or whatever after that, he had little interest. Similarly, ice cream was cold and weird too. We never fed him processed foods or foods that contained random sugar anyway, so he just seemed to reject them when they were offered. They were as unfamiliar and "weird" as broccoli or asparagus are to most kids -- at least partly because they just weren't a choice that was offered.

      It wasn't until he started regular pre-school when he was about 2.5 years old that he finally got interested in sweets. Why? Because the school had a tradition that they would provide cupcakes for kids birthdays at school. My son came to associate these sweet foods (which had previously been weird and unpalatable to him) with celebrations and joy... and suddenly he was asking for cupcakes at his 3rd birthday party.

      We just assume that all kids will love sweets and hot dogs and chicken nuggets and french fries -- partly because that's what the American diet assumes that we all should love. There's an argument that we are simply attracted to these foods more because they provide dense calories and our bodies are programmed to find calories -- and that's true. But I think we underestimate the amount that cultural familiarity plays too. Kids like these things at least partly because we introduce them to kids, because our culture tell us that kids will like them.

      Most organ meats, for example, are incredibly nutritious with lots of protein and often plenty of calories -- tongue, for example, is quite high in fat. (A lot of them are often prepared in ways that make them more caloric too -- sauted or fried with heavy sauces or whatever.) But Americans mostly hate them... because they are culturally less acceptable. In many "less developed" cultures around the world that slaughter and eat the "whole animal," these are often the most prized parts of the animal -- given to elders and to children for their extra nutrition.

      If our children's dietary likes are really only determined by caloric and nutritious value, why aren't toddlers storming the gates for some yummy rich sauted sweetbreads or some fried liver strips in rich gravy, instead of hot dogs and chicken nuggets? Part of the answer is certainly cultural. (Before the age of three, my son had tried a number of different organ meats, most of which he loved. But his mother dislikes them and is frankly somewhat disgusted by some of them, and he eventually picked up on that. So they became a "harder sell" -- not because of taste or unfamiliarity, but because of what his parent modeled for him and told him. On the other h

    2. Re:Framing is not a new tactic by Kjella · · Score: 1

      Politicians do this all the time to (alleged) adults. They frame issues and present a limited menu of options out of which the most appealing option is the one they want you to go for. Works astonishingly effectively

      And we're so innocent when a PHB needs to make a decision or stakeholders need to get involved in a process? Marketing is of course an expert at rigging our buying decisions. Contracts, license agreements and terms of service are lawyers rigging your legal choices. We pretty much all do this whenever we have to give someone else a choice and want it to swing a particular way. There's just more and less ethical ways to do it.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
  18. Re:There could be reasons for skipping the broccol by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Well, why not just reduce the serving size of the "delicious" food on your plate? Three chicken wings + as much broccoli as you like...

    ...

    Go home Michelle.

    We know what to feed our own kids.

  19. More that doesn't matter from Slim Pickings by xenoc_1 · · Score: 1

    What is with this spate of nonsensical "contributions" from this horrible HughPickens.com Doc Savage / Buckaroo Banzai wannabe?

  20. I have an easier way. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Me: Don't eat your vegetables.
    Son: Fuck you dad, I'm going to eat them all just to spite you.

  21. Re:There could be reasons for skipping the broccol by gbjbaanb · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The reason vegetable gardens were smaller was because either the main crop would bring more money in, or that there was limited space left over for a vegge garden. At least they used to have gardens!

    Its not often nutritious food that we crave, its the hard-for-cavemen-to-obtain food that we love. Fatty, sugary, salty food is not so good for us in the quantities we eat, and that the real problem - its too readily available If we only ate small amounts, we'd be fine (he said while eating a huge cookie).

    And yes, this has the same sense of igNobility about it as anecdotal studies show that if you give kids loads of sweets they won't have appetite left for dinner, no matter what it is.

  22. Where's the pudding? by AndyKron · · Score: 1

    How can you eat your pudding if you don't eat your vegetables?

    1. Re:Where's the pudding? by EmagGeek · · Score: 1

      I think your reference is lost on 99% of modern Slashdot.

    2. Re:Where's the pudding? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well considering I am younger then 35, that is an amazingly easy reference to get. They play the damn song on the radio ALL the time.

      My kids would probably get the reference and they aren't even teenagers yet.

      You're old, not special alright?

    3. Re:Where's the pudding? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What reference is that? The only reference I know of is "If you don't eat yer meat, you can't have any pudding."*

      * Pink Floyd.

    4. Re:Where's the pudding? by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      What reference is that? The only reference I know of is "If you don't eat yer meat, you can't have any pudding."*

      * Pink Floyd.

      Yeah, we don't need no education.

      Pink Floyd are the poster child for idiocracy.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    5. Re:Where's the pudding? by volmtech · · Score: 1

      At my church in the American South we had a Scottish street preacher visit. Being of Scots decent myself I was loving his accent. As he was making a point in his sermon in all seriousness he uttered that phrase. I am sure he did not listen to rock music and had no idea why some of us where holding back laughter.

  23. Re:There could be reasons for skipping the broccol by jedidiah · · Score: 1

    > Go home Michelle.
    >
    > We know what to feed our own kids.

    Sure. That's why they're lard butts that are going to be a burden on our medical system.

    If you give a kid a burger and fries, his body knows it's done already. He will be full by the time he gets to any vegetable.

    --
    A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
  24. Entrees??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Am I the only one have a problem with the sentense : "We found that popular entrees such as burgers and chicken nuggets, contributed to greater waste of less popular vegetables."

    Who eats burgers (plurar) as an entree? Is it a US thing?

    1. Re:Entrees??? by Translation+Error · · Score: 1

      It isn't meant to imply multiple burgers make up a single entree. It's just a food that is often referred to in the plural.
      'I like steak.'
      'I like burgers.'

      --
      When someone says, "Any fool can see ..." they're usually exactly right.
    2. Re:Entrees??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In the US entree is the main meal, it is not the starter.

    3. Re:Entrees??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Am I the only one have a problem with the sentense

      Yes.

  25. So... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    .. the formula is to serve anything with shit. The people drops the shit and eats the food, whatever it was.

  26. Re:There could be reasons for skipping the broccol by rmdingler · · Score: 2

    And yes, this has the same sense of igNobility about it as anecdotal studies show that if you give kids loads of sweets they won't have appetite left for dinner, no matter what it is.

    It sounds like a no-brainer, but sometimes you really smart fockers forget that a great percentage of the population actually engaged in child rearing is less intelligent than you.

    Hearing something like this, over and over if necessary, can only help what has become an epidemic of poor Western dietary trends.

    --
    Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

    Ernest Hemingway

  27. News at six... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    News at six: starving folks will eat anything!

  28. Give them what you eat by Alain+Williams · · Score: 1

    Kids are great imitators, if they see you eating a food they are likely to copy. I suppose that this might be a problem if the parent does not like vegetables, but learn for the sake of your kids and discover that cooked properly they are good to eat.

    1. Re:Give them what you eat by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      Kids are great imitators, if they see you eating a food they are likely to copy. I suppose that this might be a problem if the parent does not like vegetables, but learn for the sake of your kids and discover that cooked properly they are good to eat.

      I tell my kids that beer is a vegetable smoothie. I know I'm just storing up trouble for the future when they find out the truth.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
  29. Setting kids up for failure by sjbe · · Score: 1

    Well, why not just reduce the serving size of the "delicious" food on your plate? Three chicken wings + as much broccoli as you like...

    Because the result is three consumed chicken wings and a pile of untouched broccoli. If you want the kids to eat veggies it is a bad idea to pile it next to something much yummier. Give me a pile of veggies or a piece of chocolate cake, I know which one I'm going to want to eat first. Kids aren't any different and have less self control. If you give them an attractive bad choice, most of them are going to make that bad choice.

    Or, maybe those kids' taste buds are actually signalling them to get the nutritious food first, and eat the unimportant remainder later (or never).

    No the child's taste buds are telling them to eat the energy rich foods first. This happens because we evolved in a time when food was scarce and energy rich foods like meat were a prize to be treasured.

    What's the nutritious value of broccoli, anyways

    20 Seconds on google will answer that question for you. It's quite good for you actually.

    Maybe kids are fat because they are being served prepared foods with insane amounts of sugar (as in HFCS)

    You mean like chicken tenders? Kids today are fat because they are getting way too much food and way too little exercise. That is the fault of the adults and no one else.

    1. Re:Setting kids up for failure by AthanasiusKircher · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Give me a pile of veggies or a piece of chocolate cake, I know which one I'm going to want to eat first. Kids aren't any different and have less self control. If you give them an attractive bad choice, most of them are going to make that bad choice.

      This is a good example. If you give me a pile of veggies or a piece of chocolate cake, but I'm expected to eat both of them, I'll definitely choose the pile of veggies first.

      I didn't learn this particularly well as a child, but as an adult I'm often put in situations -- like eating at someone else's house -- where I'm served some food I don't particularly like. As an adult, my choice is generally to consume the undesirable food first, because (1) I'm hungrier, so any food will taste better, and (2) I'd prefer to end my meal with something I find pleasant.

      Kids often lack the self-discipline to make such a rational choice, AND they know that most parents aren't going to force-feed them. So, they eat the good stuff first and get full enough that they've satisfied their initial hunger pangs (because vegetables often are the low-calorie portion of the meal, even if high in nutrients) -- is it any wonder they aren't going to volunteer to eat all the veggies at the end??

      I also think that Americans have a particular propensity to worry too much about kids not eating regularly. We often give kids snacks a number of times each day. And at mealtimes if a kid doesn't eat much, the parents often fret at night -- "Is he okay? Did he get enough? Won't he be hungry?"

      In reality, the vast majority of kids obviously have excellent survival mechanisms that won't let them starve themselves. If they eat a bit less at one meal, they'll eat more at the next. If they don't have a lot of snacks, they'll be likely to eat better at meals in general. (And they'll also be less restless and better behaved, since they'll be focused on eating and satisfying hunger, rather than running around burning off the sugar from the cookie they had an hour ago.)

      Parents can easily use hunger to their advantage -- it won't get kids to eat everything, but presenting something unfamiliar to kids as a "first course" will generally make it more likely that they will eat more of it... simply because they're hungry.

    2. Re:Setting kids up for failure by ComputerGeek01 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Parents can easily use hunger to their advantage -- it won't get kids to eat everything, but presenting something unfamiliar to kids as a "first course" will generally make it more likely that they will eat more of it... simply because they're hungry.

      Of all the dumb ass psycho babble crap about parenting I've read, this has to be disconnected overly simplified load of shit ever. Do you actually know how long it takes to starve a kid into submission? It's not exactly a matter of sitting there for an hour or two to win an argument. If the kid doesn't want to eat it, they are not going to eat it. They figure out pretty early on that you aren't a lunatic and that you love them too much to actually shove a funnel down their throat and force feed them. A little later on they, hopefully, realise "Hey, my Mom and Dad aren't useless sacks of trash and I get fed multiple times a day, every day, on a pretty regular basis. I can afford to skip this meal if I want to.". After those two things happen, literally the only way to introduce new food that is in anyway different looking is through siege craft. You both sit at the table with a plate of food arranged somewhere between you and them. You as a parent try in vain to tell them how good it is and that they should just try it, "Just one bite.", "You can have ice cream after you finish.", "You can stay up and watch TV." but you know full well that you're just making noise to pass the time and that this is just the start of the battle. Eventually bedtime rolls around and you either tell them to go to their room or you tell them to sleep at the table if they have to but they are not getting up until they have eaten their food, either way the result is the same. You end up wrapping the meal up in a tupperware container in preparation for the next fight. Morning rolls around and your kid asks you about breakfast. You sit down with your plate of eggs and sausage and tell them that the only thing they are getting is the dinner that they didn't eat last night. They huff and puff as expected and the stand off starts all over again. You repeat this for the next meal if you have to until they finally break down and eat what you gave them.

      I literally just went through this with my kid. And do you know what the most fucked up part of it was? It was chicken alfredo, she loves chicken alfredo we just haven't had it in a while so she had forgotten. Four miserable meals later, at dinner the next day, she finally takes a bite and says "Hm, this is actually pretty good." and the plate was clean in less than five minutes. Yeah, I can tell you for a fact that anyone who has ever said "Oh, I have never thought about hurting my kids in anger!" is either a parental doormat or they are just plain lying to your face.

      I know exactly what you're thinking right now because it's the same thing every new parent and DINK thinks at this point. "I bet after you do that they learn to eat what you give them.". Hahahaha, no. This isn't like setting up a new server where it's a few hours of pain and then you are done with it. This is a regularly recurring theme.

    3. Re:Setting kids up for failure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Some kids are much worse than others about finicky eating.

      If you really insist on getting your child to eat different things, you CAN just let them go to bed hungry if they don't eat what you serve. It won't hurt them one bit. Most kids will cave before that moment comes.

      However, life is all about picking your battles, and that is up to each parent.

    4. Re:Setting kids up for failure by kaiser423 · · Score: 2

      Ah, the parental anecdote. It sounds like oyu have a tough time -- maybe try changing tact? I've found that parenting is an exercise in finding and leveraging soft power (versus hard power like them going to bed hungry, re-feeding them supper in the morning if they didn't eat it, etc). I'll match one.

      I sit my kids down to eat before everything is on the table, and bring out of the kitchen and plate for them what I want them to eat -- whether it's something new, veggies, etc. Then in the 5-10 minutes where we get drinks, bring out the rest of the food and serve it, they've typically eaten 50+% of whatever I first served. They're somewhat hungry and haven't snacked and will naturally graze at what's in front of them to pass that time. Then, as you mention, because they've tried it and not found it horrible they'll usually eat the rest of it along with the rest of the food. Soft power in action -- nothing forced, but guiding the activities such that you preferentially select for the outcome that you want.

      Not rocket science. Does it work every time? No. Did it work right away? No. But we formed a habit, and we're good now. It works the vast majority of the time, and they eat great elsewhere as a result. When we go out to eat or go to school, they're used to eating all of those things, so they do tend to eat a good chunk of their carrots, peas, etc. and if they don't then oh well -- they eat healthy at home, what's one meal? It's not worth fighting over in those instances since you've already won in the vast majority of the cases.

    5. Re:Setting kids up for failure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, it's not dangerous to go without food for a while, even for days. Fasting is a good way to expell waste, balance the body, focus the mind and get priorities clear. Generally, it's more healthy for the body and mind to eat a bit less than strictly dictated by hunger.

      In fact, the opposite is more true: It's dangerous to over-eat, no matter what how "healhy" the food might be.

      Now, taking your children hostage, I wouldn't recommend (but sadly have seen examples of this).
      However, there is a middle ground where childrens habits are formed by the adults, and not the other way around.

    6. Re:Setting kids up for failure by ComputerGeek01 · · Score: 1

      I don't think it's time to change tactics yet, things aren't as bad as I make them out to be, I just embellish my frustration for the sake of the reader's entertainment. The fact is my kid is still young and we are still in the habit forming stage. I know that in the next year or two she'll finally realise that I'm not in fact trying to poison her and she will be more willing to try new food; it's all just a matter of time. It used to be that she would always want to literally sit in my lap and eat whatever I had on my plate, so I kind of suspect\hope that she's just in a "picky eater phase". Things will level off and she'll land somewhere in the middle.

    7. Re:Setting kids up for failure by ComputerGeek01 · · Score: 1

      Making sure that your offspring are fed is an evolutionary imperative and it's one that is pretty difficult to ignore. It's like an alarm that goes off in your head that says "IT HAS BEEN 'X' HOURS, FEED THE KID" and it seems to be completely independent of any indication that your kid might be hungry or that they would even welcome the interruption of a meal. Personally, I don't bother worrying about my kid over eating. It's infinitely more fun for all parties involved to focus on the other side of the equation and just stay active. Swimming, biking, soccer or just wrestling in the living room is more than enough to keep you kid at a healthy weight. Sure she has a few more scrapes and bruises than most other kids in her class, but no one has ever called CPS on me so we must be doing it right.

    8. Re:Setting kids up for failure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Early on with my first kid I noticed if we had rice and peas and chicken she would eat all the rice, leave the other stuff untouched, and ask for more rice. So therefore now I serve my kids (2yo and 4yo) in courses as the article suggests. Veggies first, meat second, starch last, and then occasionally desert.

      At any given time they are free to stop eating if they are not hungry anymore or don't like what's on their plate. I don't pressure them one way or the other, they are in complete control of whether they eat or not, only at this age they are not in control of what is on their plates.

      If for whatever reason they are not hungry and stop midway through the veggies, they can ask to be excused. I pick up their plate and put it in the fridge. If they get hungry later, they can pick up where they left off. You don't have to starve them into submission sitting there at the table.

      We usually serve buffet style so the main downside to this is I wind up shuffling back and forth to the kitchen a lot whenever each kid is ready for the next course. I am surprised that more people don't do this but it does take effort and I guess some people consider sitting down for an uninterrupted dinner to be a sacrosanct entitlement.

    9. Re:Setting kids up for failure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This, exactly this. This a fight as old as ... well, not time, but as old as a strong food supply.

      The best tactic I've found is to mix new foods into well known foods. Add little pieces of asparagus and mushroom in with the pieces of chicken. They will try it eventually, and may find that they like it. That's how I got my kids to eat their vegetables. Also, you have to realize some kids just won't like certain things. One kid loves carrots, and the other will try them if they are hungry enough and then just spit them out every single time.

      Don't make it a battle. Make the food available and interesting, and don't keep shoveling the things they like on the plate. Give them a well balanced meal every single time and eventually it will take.

    10. Re:Setting kids up for failure by Agent0013 · · Score: 1

      I used to think my daughter was just getting into a picky eater phase. As a very young toddler she used to love lots of things. Olives, peas, potatoes, etc. She started getting picky and has only gotten worse. The new child eats almost everything we give her. I am ready to try the starving technique on the older one though or she may never eat anything but fruit, hot dogs, and McNuggets.

      --

      -- ssoorrrryy,, dduupplleexx sswwiittcchh oonn.. -Quote found on actual fortune cookie.
    11. Re:Setting kids up for failure by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      Bring some brain tacos home from the taquaria. They won't eat them, but it will give you a nuclear option for the future.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    12. Re:Setting kids up for failure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's faster if you just beat their ass for not doing what you told them to do in the first place. I had 6 siblings, so my parents didn't have time for the bullshit that you describe. If they had to tell you twice, the next time you'd get spanked. They didn't have to do it much, but you knew that they wouldn't fail to do it if it was needed. It doesn't hurt that if you didn't eat what you didn't like, an older brother would eat the stuff that you did like and you wouldn't get any of it.

    13. Re:Setting kids up for failure by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      Actually, it's not dangerous to go without food for a while, even for days.

      Not all of can sit at home in the lotus position sipping water and meditating. Try going to work (or school) after you've not eaten for a couple of days and see how well you get on.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    14. Re:Setting kids up for failure by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 2

      No the child's taste buds are telling them to eat the energy rich foods first. This happens because we evolved in a time when food was scarce and energy rich foods like meat were a prize to be treasured.
      No the taste buds don't tell you that. For starters: meat has not much energy. Hence the reason you have to eat so extreme amounts of it if you put your diet around it.

      You mean like chicken tenders? Kids today are fat because they are getting way too much food and way too little exercise. That is the fault of the adults and no one else.
      No they aren't. They are fat because they only eat food that makes fat. It is easy to eat more calories in a single meal than you can burn in a whole day running.

      People claiming lack of exercises is a reason to be fat should for god sake start to use google and figure how much energy the human body actually burns doing "insert your favorite exercises".

      It is completely impossible to lose weight by exercises.

      Every person ... regardless how dumb ... should know that. The only way is to change your diet.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    15. Re:Setting kids up for failure by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      Try going to work (or school) after you've not eaten for a couple of days and see how well you get on.
      That goes actually very well, you sound like one who never has tried it ;D

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    16. Re:Setting kids up for failure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My wife read a book that advocated putting the children on a healthy or nothing diet. The author indicated that children would cave within a day or two, and eat whatever you put in front of them.

  30. Is it a surprise? by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 2
    The fast food companies spend billions of dollars doing research on the taste and habits of young children to get them hooked to their product for a lifetime. What is surprising is the few that don't get hooked and the few that somehow develop healthy eating habits later in life.

    Thinking back about the things that I enjoyed as a child, it seems quite ridiculous one would even eat them. I grew up in rural South India, with tamarind trees (Tamarindus indica), a kind of wild tamarind (kodukkaapuli, Pithecellobium dulce), palm trees on public land and mango, jackfruit, coconut trees in private lands. We throw stones at the trees to knock down the fruit and eat it, usually without bothering to wash it! The tender tamarind fruit is barely edible, not sweet and has bitter overtones. Only goats eat the wild tamarind. Jackfruit and coconut cant be knocked down by thrown stones, nor can they be eaten by children without help from adults. Mango is good, but usually you would get chased by farmers and the trees would be guarded by their wives. But if you manage to get some mangoes stolen, you eat like a king, even if the actual fruit is underripe and tastes like bitter gourd. Palm fruit can't be knocked down. But if you beg the tappers who climb palm trees to tap the sap to make toddy they will throw down a few palm fruits. Delicious pulp inside, but don't tell Mom, the toddy tappers are low caste. Somehow we love them as children and grow to mistreat them as adults.

    Why did we like them so much? There were no alternatives. Most of the items you see in the dessert menu of Indian restaurants are made once a year, the rest three or four times a year.

    --
    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
  31. So gruel then? by NotDrWho · · Score: 1

    I wonder how teachers like having kids coming back to the classroom who couldn't get a decent meal.

    --
    SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
  32. "...food pairings are crucial" by willworkforbeer · · Score: 3, Funny

    The footnote explains that in order to get kids to eat Brussels Sprouts, they had to be paired with waterboarding.

    --
    Pretending this is my office full of bitter coworkers..
  33. Lots of parents don't understand by sjbe · · Score: 2

    What is sad is that scientists got paid to "figure" this out. Parents have know this forever.

    I coach kids in sports. I can assure you that a LOT of parents do not understand this and you can see the results in their kid's waistlines. Furthermore most of these same parents wouldn't deign to eat a vegetable themselves. Most of the parents of the parents of the kids I coach are fat, out of shape and eat like garbage cans. It's no surprise that the kids end up in the same boat.

    1. Re: Lots of parents don't understand by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah it is surprising that so many parents don't realize that hypocrisy is the quickest way to get your lessons disregarded ASAP. Kids imitate and take your cues. If you want your kids to eat their vegetables step one should be you eating them as well.

  34. Easy by Sideshow+Mark · · Score: 1

    Beat them with jumper cables. Wait, am I on the right site?

  35. Make the rest of the meal less appealing - Woe. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So my teenage daughter will be so happy that they decided to make the rest of the meal LESS appetizing.
    Michele will be so happy with this solution, nobody who has to eat the crap will be.

  36. Re:There could be reasons for skipping the broccol by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    >Well, why not just reduce the serving size of the "delicious" food on your plate? Three chicken wings + as much broccoli as you like...

    You don't have kids would be why.

    Most children (who are the stereotypical picky eater) will eat the three chicken wings and that's it. In fact, if you just serve the vegetables, they'll eat about 1 morsel and that's it. This will continue until they are physically ill due to starvation effects. Yeah, they're that poor at decision making. That's why we don't let 5 year olds drive, drink, or vote.

    >Maybe kids are fat because they are being served prepared foods with insane amounts of sugar (as in HFCS),

    You're not a nutritionist either if you believe the ingredient content of the food, rather than the calorie content is what makes the major difference.

    >Turn off the internet for their PS4s and put them out in the rain, they'll live (and lose weight, and eventually have fun).

    No, they'll be miserable as there's no other kids to play with. I homeschool so I know how annoying it can be for children to be told to go outside at 1 pm on a school day, and the situation you've imagined is the equivalent. Now, if you want to be a good parent and go outside WITH them in the rain, well, now they might actually enjoy it, because they'll have a playmate. Of course, you don't want to do that, do you? No. Nobody does. Off the high horse, please. The PS4 is perfectly fine for recreational time when it's raining, though kids who have close parents might prefer a board game. :)

  37. Re:starvation, deception #1 killers on planet stil by NotDrWho · · Score: 1

    Most of the kind of "veggies" they're probably talking about wouldn't help a starving kid. They need real protein and carbohydrates.

    --
    SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
  38. Great Science by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Did really take a researcher to find that out?

    But the real questions is not how to starve children, when they don't eat the veggie food. The questions is how to cook it, so that it becomes the most favorable one

  39. Vegetables are very nutritious by sjbe · · Score: 1

    Seems as though they are just vitamins, water and fiber.

    And protein and carbohydrates and sometimes even fat. Plus sodium, potassium and plenty of other stuff that is good for you. If veggies were just vitamins, water and fiber it would be impossible to live on a vegetable only diet. One serving of broccoli for instance has 4.2g of protein, 10g of carbs including 3.8g of fiber, 468mg of potassium, 220% of your RDA of vitamin C plus assorted other vitamins and it only has 50 calories so you can eat a lot of it.

    Well, schools tend to boil the vitamins out, and fiber is arguable whether it's even necessary.

    You can't boil the vitamins out (not all of them anyway) and there is no argument whatsoever about the necessity and benefits of fiber. Not by anyone who has a clue about dietary health.

  40. Re:There could be reasons for skipping the broccol by NotDrWho · · Score: 1

    Three chicken wings + as much broccoli as you like...

    aka 3 chicken wings

    --
    SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
  41. Another Brick in the wall by rossdee · · Score: 1

    "If you don't eat yer meat, you can't have any pudding. How can you
    have any pudding if you don't eat yer meat?"

  42. Why are we funding this? by Unclenefeesa · · Score: 0

    As a parent and as a previous child, the result of the research is known to me a long time ago. I actually use this technique at home with my children just like many other parents.

    This is like prooving that fire actually burns your skin if you touch it.

    --
    In this field no matter how much you know, You still don't know anything.
  43. Potatoe its own class of food now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "When other less-beloved foods, like deli sliders or baked potatoes, are served,.."
    Last I checked, "Baked potatoes" qualified as a vegetable...did I miss a memo?

    1. Re:Potatoe its own class of food now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      but they're not one of the "good vegetables" according to the Food Nazis.

  44. Easiest solution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Pour delicious melted cheese over everything. It makes nearly any vegetable palatable.

  45. Umm, so children are people too? by holophrastic · · Score: 1

    Yeah, food pairings, who'd have thunk it?! Oh wait, every chef since the middle ages.

    And no, veggies don't pair with fried foods. I'm betting that after fried chicken nuggets, and fried burgers, there's no nutrition left from the veggies that just slide right through.

    Oh, the sequence you say? Right, like the antipasti course, the salad course, the appetizer course.

    And, this is just my observation, tell me if you've heard this before, you don't want your burger to get cold, so you'll eat it while it's hot. Then you've got cold veggies, which are decidedly less appealing.

    So, let's summarize: children, aka hungry hungry humans, forced to eat an entire meal in a single plate, choose to eat the hot entree, aka the most nutrient-filled, food, first, and then may not remain hungry for something that should have been eaten long before.

    And we're surprised? We're surprised that a one-plate one-course meal isn't fully balanced? That's why the nuggets ought to have been served with a tangy marinara dipping sauce, wherein three servings of veggies could have been blitzed.

    1. Re:Umm, so children are people too? by Whorhay · · Score: 1

      "And no, veggies don't pair with fried foods."

      Nonsense! Fried okra is pretty good. Fried green tomatoes can be even better. Jalapeno poppers go well with hot wings, as does celery sticks. I'd eat fried pickles with just about anything, and don't even get me started thinking about fried wickles.

      We don't actually fry much of anything in my house, though I get fried chicken from the deli on occasion. But we do steamed veggies with just about every meal and the kids generally love it. We usually toss the vegetables with a thin pat of butter and a little salt and pepper. Sometimes my daughter will decide she doesn't like one of the vegetables in the mix for a week or so then she moves on to something else.

    2. Re:Umm, so children are people too? by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      I'd eat fried pickles with just about anything

      What? Why?

      don't even get me started thinking about fried wickles.

      You just made that word up.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    3. Re:Umm, so children are people too? by Whorhay · · Score: 1

      Because they're amazingly tasty.

      I suppose I should have capitalized it, but Wickles aren't my invention.
      http://www.amazon.com/Wickles-...

  46. It has a lot to do with what is fed at home by msobkow · · Score: 1

    My nieces and nephew from two of my sisters have had a variety of vegetables with every meal since they were infants, and they all love them (sometimes in preference to the main course.) My other nephew, on the other hand, was fed more starch and meat while young, and avoids vegetables like the plague.

    I firmly believe that whether a kid will eat their vegetables has a lot more to do with what kind of foods they eat in their very young days than it has to do with what is served in a school cafeteria. Many kids, especially those in poorer neighbourhoods, rarely see fresh vegetables. They're "foreign foods" to them, so they instinctively "hate" them.

    --
    I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
  47. Re:There could be reasons for skipping the broccol by Ken+D · · Score: 1

    .. or just maybe it's because you have to eat veggies when they are ripe, and they don't store that well, at least not until you understand how to can food without poisoning yourself. Whereas certain other crops can get you through the long cold winter even though by Spring you'll be sick of shriveled potatoes for dinner.
     

  48. So, eat in courses? by TheCarp · · Score: 2

    I never realized it was weird as a kid, but my grandparents were Italian and they always ate in courses, every single meal. When grammy makes soup, she removes the meat, has a bowl of soup, and then brings the meat out on a plate, then a salad.

    Pasta and meatballs? No, pasta, then meatballs, then a salad to finish it off; even if it was just an ordinary thursday night diner.

    Every night was 3 courses, and holidays were more like 6 or 7 separate courses.

    --
    "I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
    1. Re:So, eat in courses? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Haha. Sounds like grammy grew up in the depression, so she knew how to trick you into filling up on the cheap stuff before letting you eat the expensive stuff. ;)

      I bet grammy also filled expensive looking wine bottles with boxed wine for company.

    2. Re:So, eat in courses? by TheCarp · · Score: 1

      Nah they stopped drinking so long ago I don't think I ever saw her drink wine. Apparently they threw quite the shindig back in the day and grammy's drink was whiskey.

      Oh did I forget to mention she not only grew up during the depression, but was a bookie for the mob for a while? Apparently she hated it when people won because she had to travel to the north end to pick up the money for them.

      90 Years old and she still just smiles and says "I am not going to name any names"

      --
      "I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
  49. Re:There could be reasons for skipping the broccol by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Three chicken wings? Holy Jesus, I don't eat that much in two meals and I still weigh 200+ lbs., and I hike.

  50. Re:There could be reasons for skipping the broccol by internerdj · · Score: 4, Insightful

    My wife's cousin is has a PhD in health science, is in great shape, eats healthily, and is a middle school PE teacher. She won't touch what her students have to eat. It is not that the food is not healthy. It is that the combination of available ingredients, the time to prepare, and the skill level of those preparing don't often end up with things that taste on the majority good. It isn't any better to teach the "lard butts" that you've got to hate eating because you teach them that healthy food tastes like garbage.

  51. Counter-proposal by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    Why not dress those vegetables up with a little sauce instead of just steaming them to death and dropping them on the plate? Maybe kids would eat them if they tasted like food. You can even make it sweet if you use stevia, but sauce doesn't have to be sweet or starchy to be effective.

    When I eat broccoli beef, I don't just eat the beef, even if it's the part I was craving when I ordered it. There's sauce on the broccoli. It's delicious. When I cook broccoli, if it's a plain side, it's because it's for a juicy steak which is going to make it taste delicious. How hard is this?

    Remember, if it's done in Chinese restaurants, it doesn't cost anything, except maybe walnut shrimp.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  52. Re:There could be reasons for skipping the broccol by gstoddart · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Or, maybe those kids' taste buds are actually signalling them to get the nutritious food first

    Except that's not what is happening.

    Eating crap like chicken nuggets teaches kids to crave foods with crazy amounts of sugar and salt, and it skews their tastebuds to preferring crap. Chicken nuggets aren't more nutritious. They're full of more crap.

    What's the nutritious value of broccoli, anyways?

    Quite a lot, actually

    Broccoli is an excellent source of vitamin K, vitamin C, chromium, and folate. It is a very good source of dietary fiber, pantothenic acid, vitamin B6, vitamin E, manganese, phosphorus, choline, vitamin B1, vitamin A (in the form of carotenoids), potassium, and copper. Broccoli is also a good source of vitamin B1, magnesium, omega-3 fatty acids, protein, zinc, calcium, iron, niacin, and selenium.

    Broccoli is also concentrated in phytonutrients. In one particular phytonutrient categoryâ"glucosinolatesâ"broccoli is simply outstanding. The isothiocyanates (ITCs) made from broccoli's glucosinolates are the key to broccoli's cancer-preventive benefits.

    In other words, it's really really good for you.

    There's a reason vegetable gardens used to be wayyyy smaller than the main crops.

    Yes, because you were selling your main crop, you were surviving off your vegetable garden.

    The problem is we're now on second (or third) generations of kids who have only ever eaten crap food, have been conditioned to find that food tastier, and utterly refuse to eat good food.

    Look around, you can see entire families who eat like spoiled children. They won't eat vegetables. They don't cook. It's either fast food, or prepared food.

    What I see is a generation of kids who never learned to eat vegetables raising another generation of kids who never will learn to eat vegetables. And I routinely see young kids as fat as I am ... and it took me a lot of years to get here.

    Some of these kids are going to start keeling over in their 20s and 30s.

    --
    Lost at C:>. Found at C.
  53. Re:There could be reasons for skipping the broccol by bluefoxlucid · · Score: 1

    I ... don't eat a lot of vegetables. At all. The closest thing in my diet to a vegetable is edamame, red beans, and whatever's in a whopper. Typically I'm eating stuff like McDonalds breakfast sandwiches (this morning I ate a thin cinnamon raisin bagel with bacon, gouda cheese, and an egg--430kcal, 27g fat, 26g protein), Popeye's chicken, or sushi.

    I'm pretty much fine. I gained an extra 20lb in fat somewhere, so straightened things out a bit; I was managing to get 3000kcal or more in, thanks to the vending machine. I hit the vending machine less now. Sometimes I have a 1000kcal Popeye's chicken lunch and a 780kcal bagel sandwich from McDonalds and I still have to get a large soda when I go to Burger King to get the extra calories so I don't come 1000kcal under, and that's with two 15-minute light walks during the day to clear my head (while others are smoking for 15 minutes). Usually I have to not eat 6 packs of tasty cakes and 4 liters Dr. Pepper.

    That's pretty much it for me, though. White bread, tea, meats, cheeses, lots of fat... I skip the huge starch portions, the 1200kcal of pancakes or 600kcal of fries, or the 800kcal of fried rice with chinese food. You get this nice meal with a big ass 40oz Sprite, and it comes with potato or grain that has more calories than the rest of the food and the soda combined, and people are like... soda is making you fat, eat your vegetables. Eating double portions is making you fat.

  54. Re:There could be reasons for skipping the broccol by bluefoxlucid · · Score: 1

    Works for me. This vegetable fetishism is bullshit.

  55. French cuisine by sjbe · · Score: 1

    Snails, frogs... do we really want the children of America to start eating like the French?

    Well since the French are renowned for having some of the best cuisine in the world that sounds like a very good idea.

    Plus if you think French cuisine is heavy on snails and frogs you really need learn something about French cooking. That's like saying that US cuisine is based on Rocky Mountain oysters. Yeah, some people eat it but it's not exactly a diet staple.

    1. Re:French cuisine by jedidiah · · Score: 1

      Snails are part of "haute cuisine".

      Although they're not that bad really. They're just something that "sounds bad" and scare xenophobes.

      They take on the taste of whatever sauce they're served with. Since a big part of French cooking is sauces, it's a good indicator of whether or not you will like the rest of what a restaurant is serving.

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
    2. Re:French cuisine by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      Just like sea cucumber. Snails don't have the nasty texture though.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
  56. Re:There could be reasons for skipping the broccol by internerdj · · Score: 1

    This is an important point. Cafeterias are sometimes feeding 60 lb 7th grade girls side by side with 250 lb 12 grade male student athletes and everyone gets the opportunity for the same amount of food. A friend of mine had a son who was regularly near collapse after football practice because he wasn't allowed to take in a sufficient number of calories to fuel his body while at school.

  57. Burying the Lede by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

    What the fuck is a "deli slider"?

    Sounds like a South Asian bobsledder.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
    1. Re:Burying the Lede by LunaticTippy · · Score: 1

      Sliders are little round sandwiches, typically hamburger. Deli sliders have something such as lunchmeat, chicken salad, etc. Sliders were trendy in the 90s and 00s in the US, apparently they have trickled down into school cafeterias now.

      I wonder if polenta and goat cheese have made the transition as well?

      --
      Man, you really need that seminar!
    2. Re:Burying the Lede by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      Sliders are little round sandwiches, typically hamburger. Deli sliders have something such as lunchmeat, chicken salad, etc. Sliders were trendy in the 90s and 00s in the US, apparently they have trickled down into school cafeterias now.

      So they're small sandwiches. Where does the "slider" bit come from?

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    3. Re:Burying the Lede by LunaticTippy · · Score: 1

      I've no idea, even the internets aren't sure. My east coast friend says the term goes back to the 80s if not earlier. White Castle made these little nasty addictive burgers that were cooked on a grill without flipping, just put the onions and meat on the grill, top with the bun to seal in the damp grease, and slide them along until they are done. The world's saddest assembly line. They sold "sliders" 5 for a dollar or something like that.

      --
      Man, you really need that seminar!
  58. Here is better way I've found than staving by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    When the kid is young but not too young (to avoid allergy issues) use a mesh pacifier and fill it with a frozen vegetable like carrots, peas or broccoli. Being frozen it helps with teething and numbs the tongue so the taste is not so strong. This way the kid gets used to the taste of the vegetables. I remember when I was a kid the tastes of vegetables were too strong in my mouth and that's why I didn't like any of them. When older the kid can just eat the vegetables frozen right out of the bag. Now I have a teenager who loves his vegetables.

  59. So they came up with what my mother came up with by nitehawk214 · · Score: 1

    If you don't eat your veggies you go without dinner.

    Brilliant work there, guys, brilliant. Perhaps we should hire moms to do research instead of scientists.

    --
    I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
  60. Fry them and dip them in ranch dressing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Really, how hard is that?
    Hell, you could do that with pencil shavings and it'd be delicious.

  61. So the Answer is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...make sure every thing on the plate tastes bad and if the kids are hungry enough they'll eat.

  62. Dupe? by danbert8 · · Score: 1

    Are these the same scientists who determined mealworms will eat styrofoam if the aren't given any better options? Have they tried getting kids to eat styrofoam by giving them vegetables as alternatives?

    --
    Yes it's an anecdote! Were you expecting original research in a Slashdot comment?
  63. Re:yeah big news.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    my mother knew this since all along...

  64. so to summarize... by j2.718ff · · Score: 1

    Kids tend to eat the tastiest thing on their plate.

  65. Alternatively... by webdog314 · · Score: 1

    You could just slather it in ranch dressing or cheese. If they're debating whether to eat the chicken nuggets or the broccoli, the veggie is *not* going to win that one - *unless* it's covered in delicious CHEESE.

  66. I guess that's OK by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    if it keeps them from eating MY vegetables.

  67. Normal in France by Archtech · · Score: 1

    "To do that, you just eat your vegetable first, before any of the other food is there..."

    As the French (to name but one nation) have been doing for centuries. But God forbid Americans would ever admit they had something to learn from the French.

    --
    I am sure that there are many other solipsists out there.
    1. Re:Normal in France by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      kids have no problems eating burgers/chicken nuggets with French fries.

  68. Re:There could be reasons for skipping the broccol by Foobar+of+Borg · · Score: 1

    Some of these kids are going to start keeling over in their 20s and 30s.

    Great! More food for me!!! *NOMNOMNOMNOMNOM!*

  69. Scientists Discover Common Sense by wardrich86 · · Score: 1

    More at 11.

  70. Meals should reduce stress, not add to it by Archtech · · Score: 1

    Dr Malcolm Kendrick (see all his books) has a theory that the leisurely and cultured French attitude to meals may help to account for the "French paradox" - that they eat lots of meat and fats*, washed down with wine**, but have very low rates of heart and circulatory disease. What if the root cause isn't anything to do with WHAT you eat - but with HOW you eat it? Imagine a typical Western person's lunch - perhaps a sandwich or other snack, probably crammed down at a desk while trying to go on working under pressure. Now contrast that with a traditional French lunch: two or three courses, in a proper restaurant - if possible, out of doors and in pleasant surroundings - taking at least 45 minutes and perhaps as much as 90 minutes. Accompanied by a sensible amount of alcoholic drink - maybe an aperitif and a glass or two of wine - and interesting, relaxing conversation. After forty or fifty years, which is more likely to lead to a heart attack?

    * Yes, I know that eating plenty of healthy meat and natural animal fat is actually good for you. But the people who labelled it a paradox didn't.
    ** Likewise a reasonable amount of alcohol, especially wine.

    --
    I am sure that there are many other solipsists out there.
    1. Re:Meals should reduce stress, not add to it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Another theory is that there is no French paradox, and that eating fat does not cause heart and circulatory disease.

      The last studies on dietary saturated fats seem to indicate that this whole idea, based on a single badly controlled correlation study (the 7 Country Study, whose findings were never repeated in studies with better design), is completely false.

    2. Re:Meals should reduce stress, not add to it by Pope · · Score: 1

      When I grew up in Western Canada, we had like an hour to eat lunch at school. So we took our time and then ran around outside for 20-30 minutes.

      A year I moved to the Eastern US and we had 20 minutes to eat lunch, and then we had to go immediately back to class, with no chance of leaving the school.

      Either way I had a packed lunch from home, but I hated having to wolf it all down with no time to relax.

      --
      It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
    3. Re:Meals should reduce stress, not add to it by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      I knew it.

      I foiled their evil plan. Been eating ribs all along.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
  71. My technique by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1

    I found simple, direct threats to be a very effective technique.

    No fancy food parings, no cajoling, no tricky psychological stuff, just "Eat that broccoli or else", with the "else" left unsaid, but being any number of possible things.

    "...or else no iPod."
    "...or else no TV."
    "...or else no computer."
    "...or else no oxygen."

    --
    Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
    1. Re:My technique by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      I found simple, direct threats to be a very effective technique.

      No fancy food parings, no cajoling, no tricky psychological stuff, just "Eat that broccoli or else", with the "else" left unsaid, but being any number of possible things.

      "...or else no iPod."

      "...or else no TV."

      "...or else no computer."

      "...or else no oxygen."

      I think the last of those might be illegal in some places, so be sure to take legal advice.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
  72. Escargot by sjbe · · Score: 1

    Snails are part of "haute cuisine".

    Not everywhere. Believe it or not I had escargot in a Pizza Hut in Chengdu China about 10 years ago. We were stunned to see snails on the menu in a Pizza Hut and believe me, it wasn't haute cuisine.

    Although they're not that bad really. They're just something that "sounds bad" and scare xenophobes.

    This is true. It's a lot like eating clams or oysters. I think people mostly eat them for the butter or whatever else they get dipped into.

  73. I do something crazy.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    My wife and I teach our kids by example. We both eat our veggies frequently. Kids want to emulate their parents behavior. Pretty simple stuff.

  74. Re:There could be reasons for skipping the broccol by laurencetux · · Score: 1

    start with say a handful of carrot sticks and then consult the great Prophet Buffet and run with a

    CHEESEBURGER IN PARADISE!

    Barqs or Mug would be the best brand of beer to serve of course.

  75. Re:There could be reasons for skipping the broccol by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Or, maybe those kids' taste buds are actually signalling them to get the nutritious food first, and eat the unimportant remainder later (or never).

    Taste buds do not work that way.

    What's the nutritious value of broccoli, anyways? There's a reason vegetable gardens used to be wayyyy smaller than the main crops.

    Yes, grains and other such crops needed vaster areas to grow than most vegetables. It's a basic principle of agriculture.

    Meanwhile, broccoli:

    Broccoli is high in vitamin C and dietary fiber. It also contains multiple nutrients with potent anti-cancer properties, such as diindolylmethane (DIM) and small amounts of selenium.[9][unreliable medical source?] A single serving provides more than 30 mg of vitamin C and a half-cup provides 52 mg of vitamin C.[10] DIM is a potent modulator of the innate immune response system with anti-viral, anti-bacterial and anti-cancer activity.[11][unreliable source?][12][unreliable source?] Broccoli also contains the compound glucoraphanin, which can be processed into an anti-cancer compound sulforaphane, though the anti-cancer benefits of broccoli are greatly reduced if the vegetable is boiled.[13] Broccoli is also an excellent source of indole-3-carbinol, a chemical which boosts DNA repair in cells and appears to block the growth of cancer cells.[14][unreliable medical source?][15][unreliable medical source?] Sulforaphane, another compound in broccoli has been shown to stop over-rapid aging.[16][unreliable medical source?][17]

    Broccoli has the highest levels of carotenoids in the brassica family.[20] It is particularly rich in lutein and also provides a modest amount of beta-carotene.[20]

    I guess it's just waste food, eh?

  76. Re:There could be reasons for skipping the broccol by Daetrin · · Score: 1

    "It sounds like a no-brainer, but [...] Hearing something like this, over and over if necessary, can only help what has become an epidemic of poor Western dietary trends."

    Ever notice how a study comes out that says something people don't like, usually but not always about diet or psychology, and people here will try to pick it apart with "correlation does not equal causation" or argue there's some obvious factor that the people running the experiment forgot to account for.

    And does anyone else recall that report awhile back about how scientists rarely try to reproduce studies, and how outraged everyone was by it? Or the report that most psychological studies couldn't be reproduced?

    So if it's something the zeitgeist disagrees with it's "you didn't do it right, you need to do it again but differently and better". But in case like this where most people seem to agree with the conclusion it's "well that was obvious" or "they already did a study proving that", with the sometimes stated but usually implied closer "that was a waste of time and money."

    In essence, everyone wants scientists to keep rerolling their studies, under the guise of reproducibility and changing variables, until they get a result the current audience agrees with, and then dear gods stop while you're ahead! Don't even look at the subject again lest you change the conclusion by observing it!

    --
    This Space Intentionally Left Blank
  77. So stupid by RogueWarrior65 · · Score: 1

    Problem: kids won't eat veggies.
    Solution: make the other food so gross that they have no choice but to eat the veggies or go hungry.
    Yeah, that's effing brilliant. And people got research funding to come up with the obvious. Where do I go to get that kind of funding?
    IMHO, we need to start an award like the Razzies. Something like the No sh*t, Sherlock Prize.

  78. Alternatively by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You can't leave the table until you eat your vegetables.

    We need parenting, not psychology.

  79. Missing the forest for the trees by g01d4 · · Score: 1
    FTFA

    The most popular pairing â" hamburger and tater tots â" still results in about 26 percent waste on average, according to the study.

    And you can only imagine what the high-end or average must be.Multiply this by all the schools serving meals and the enormous amount of waste is still not enough to bury the "think of the [hungry] children" mantra recited by the usual suspects. LAUSD, the 2nd largest school district in the US is starting a program of free breakfasts for all served in the classroom - for kids up till middle school. Food pairings is fighting a forest fire with a garden hose.

  80. Chop it smaller like in Thai cooking.. by idji · · Score: 1

    so that the pieces are too small to separate - your just eat it all in one spoon/chopstick/forkfull.

  81. Which schools serve lunch? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Which schools serve lunch? We had to bring our own lunches from home. No cafeterias until high school.

  82. Taste by Oligonicella · · Score: 1

    I raised my daughter myself and we ate lots of veggies. Steamed or otherwise, you have to make them taste good. Learn to cook well, not just cook. If you put it in your own mouth and you don't close your eyes at the flavor the kid won't either. I never had problems with her eating vegetables.

  83. works on me by rewindustry · · Score: 1

    and i'm not even a kid.

  84. So what's the answer? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So the answer is to offer half-palatable food in the cafeteria? I guess that wouldn't change things that much, but make it vegan-only, and kids will just bring their own lunches (until the state decides to merit that an 'actionable offense').

  85. Coren22 CRUSHED & dominated (by facts) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    YOU say "hosts=bad" (but they add security, speed, & reliability) & bitch on admin privelege to UPDATE them vs. threats online:

    "So, have you figured out why privilege escalation is a bad thing yet?" - by Coren22 on Tuesday September 22, 2015 @05:15PM (#50577809)

    Hypocrite - You admit you use admin priv

    &

    How else could I programmatically update hosts minus it inside Windows?

    ---

    "Of course it requires elevation to write to the hosts file" - by Coren22 (1625475) on Wednesday September 23, 2015 @05:35PM (#50585879)

    FACT:

    Even MalwareBytes AntiMalware (best one) DEMANDS you use admin privelege (you saying it's "bad" too?) it can't do its job fully otherwise, like many security tools do!

    ---

    Aryeh Goretsky NOD32/ESET says hosts = good security -> http://it.slashdot.org/comment...

    Oliver Day (Symantec) does too -> http://www.securityfocus.com/c...

    MalwareBytes' hpHosts hosts & recommends my APK Hosts File Engine 9.0++ SR-2 32/64-bit -> http://hosts-file.net/?s=Downl...

    ---

    * HOW MANY SECURITY PROS MORE DO I NEED TO KNOCK THE CHOCOLATE OUTTA YOU?

    ---

    Those security pros INCLUDE me: I work w/ those guys from malwarebytes' hpHosts on a regular basis!

    I've professionally worked for decades as a combined domain-wide network admin & software engineer since 1994 (Even showing you HOW to migrate a hosts across an enterprise -> http://slashdot.org/comments.p... )

    I've also been securing computers + WRITING GUIDES using CIS Tool (who took fixes from me too - bonus) http://www.bing.com/search?q=%...

    You told me you learn from guides? I write 'em (good ones) that MILLIONS USE & was PAID FOR IT http://pcpitstop.com/news/winn...

    + WARES TO PROTECT USERS that're endorsed & hosted by security pros -> http://start64.com/index.php?o...

    You did all that? No & that's a small part of what I could put out.

    APK

    P.S.=> You're all TALK -> http://slashdot.org/comments.p... & a "ne'er-do-well" as far as security

    ...apk

  86. Another no brainer ... by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

    ... in nutrition research, took him 20 years to figure that? And then he comes to the dumbest solution ever? Pair it with less tasteful food?

    What about the easy solution: give them vegetables they actually like instead of forcing them to eat what they don't like?

    And even better: prepare the vegetables that they taste!!

    Making good tasting vegetables is super easy, when I see one cooking them into a tasteless goo I like to punish him/her.

    --
    Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
  87. Re:There could be reasons for skipping the broccol by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

    Or, maybe those kids' taste buds are actually signalling them to get the nutritious food first, and eat the unimportant remainder later (or never). What's the nutritious value of broccoli, anyways? There's a reason vegetable gardens used to be wayyyy smaller than the main crops.

    You americans have a strange idea about what nutritions actually are.
    Broccoli has stuff neither wheat nor meat has, and hint: I'm not talking about calories, fat, sugar or simple proteins.
    Nutrition is a "scientific term" for a reason ... perhaps you like to google it.

    --
    Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
  88. No mention... by Not-a-Neg · · Score: 1

    The article fails to mention if the vegetables that were being paired with the other food items were exactly the same as the vegetables being paired with the burgers and nuggets. It also failed to take into consideration whether or not the child felt full after eating burgers/nuggets vs sliders/baked potatoes.

    --
    -==- Buy a Mac and leave me alone!
  89. Re:There could be reasons for skipping the broccol by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

    Wait a second, you start off talking about psychology but end up talking about science.

    Make up your mind.

    --
    John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
  90. Parents by ajzimm3rman · · Score: 0

    Being Parents, is a great way to get them to .... oh why do I bother?

  91. Re:There could be reasons for skipping the broccol by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I homeschool

    You thereby disqualify yourself from offering advice to normal parents with normal children.

  92. TIL WTF is a "slider" and now I cannot unlearn it. by TheRealHocusLocus · · Score: 1

    [from the study, Investigating the Relationship between Food Pairings and Plate Waste from Elementary School Lunches]
    [...] Pre-implementation, deli sliders were the least popular entree, whereas the sunbutter sandwich was the least
    [...] the pairing of deli sliders with corn on the cob resulted in the highest combined plate waste (62.5%),"

    I suppose deep down I knew all along, but it only took a few minutes of research to discover my intuition had been correct... but it also has laid upon me a curse. Now with quivering quill I set down my humble experience in the hope that you, dear reader, will also be thus affected and we may all share this burden.

    Through modern history people had been concerned with furniture sliders, devices that allow household items to reconfigure themselves during earthquakes. But we are now seeing an alarming trend in the use of "slider" applied to food items. I will refer to this phenomenon as Gullet Fixation.

    The food industry recognizes that desire for food, even purchase and acceptance of it does not assure ultimate success. For them the actual moment of consumer commitment, if such could be said to exist in a single place and point in time, occurs when the food item is poised on the back of the tongue and the tongue folds gently, pushing the item back onto the lubricated slope leading down the throat. This is a handy paradigm, which does not rhyme with pigeon, with which we can dispense with the aesthetic trappings of presentation and digestion altogether, focusing on a that single moment of gullet-commitment.

    On the supply side food item manufacture has become a continuous model of liquefaction and compaction, forming and molding, where food is reduced to its constituent parts and rebuilt in familiar industrial shapes people identify as "food". With gullet fixation we can streamline this model visually by omitting people altogether --- and depict the final objective as the passage of the item through "the gullet" --- a soft pink tube several inches long.

    Use of "satisfied customer" stock photography in advertising and slide presentation has created a crisis of politically correctness diversity, where embattled presenters strive to sift through stock photography, often in vain, to find that 'perfect mix' of race, gender and age that is calculated to least offend. Transition to a standard 'pink gullet model' encompass the whole species and would eliminate this crisis.

    I also propose a gullet view that is lengthwise, seen as a tube, and not the end-wise representation currently used where tonsils are visible. For presentations these gullets could be stitched together and elongated, even folded into longer spans such as intestines are shown today, to clearly communicate statistics of consumption or consumer acceptance by their length.

    For years, the "food slider" was a term confined to the oyster. Now it has leaked into the mainstream to describe small food items that resemble traditionally larger food items, perfect in every detail, that are sized to fit within the gullet. Selling sliders can be profitable... for example, cheesburger sliders have the highest bread-to-product ratio.

    Oysters were the first "sliders", so-named because their slippery surface provided its own lubrication. Now that the term has gained popular acceptance there is no need for the manufacturer to provide it --- and this creates an exciting up-sell opportunity for retailers. Sliders can be pre-lubricated with our patented Spray-Oyster Systems (tm), by the use of a simple pump sprayer right up to bulk delivery conveyor solutions.

    Drive-thru speaker: Welcome to ___ may I take your order.
    Customer: I'd like a dozen pizza, dozen cheeseburger, dozen salad bar. All sliders.
    Drive-thru speaker: Sir... for $1.50 more we can pre-lubricate them, with a free drink.
    Custiomer [imagining the mortal terror of something stuck in throat]: Uh, yeah, sure.

    Cha-ching! Sliders mean business. This ain't your grandma's stick-in-the-throat soda cracker.

    --
    <blink>down the rabbit hole</blink>
  93. little humans by mr_mischief · · Score: 1

    It's almost as if these children are able to prioritize what they eat and adjust when the dishes offered change. /s

  94. Don't skimp on quality. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The frozen veggies my school gave us were horrible... And I love veggies. The texture, taste, and smell were very.... Very gross. Maybe if they didn't skimp on quality they'd have less waste. It'd break even and kids would eat them. Otherwise chocolate milk and crappy pizza is going to be the goto diet.