Good to work up that appetite

Trying to get your child to eat a healthy school lunch? A new study shows that children eat 54% more vegetables at school if they spend time playing before eating lunch.

Researchers from Brigham Young and Cornell universities in the US had three Utah schools have their pupils spend time playing before eating lunch and four schools play afterwards.

Researchers stood at dustbins and measured each serving of fruit or vegetables that pupils threw away.

One reason given for food being discarded was that children who had to eat first were in a hurry to go and play, so they chucked away food.

Scoop to Lose dietician Melissa Kelly said parents should ensure there was always something fresh, such as carrot sticks or fruit, in their child's school lunchbox.

She said children preferred fruit salad or chopped fruit to whole pieces, which can seem overwhelming.

"Don't get extreme and cut out carbohydrates," she warned

Kelly said for lunch children need something for energy, such as bread, Provita or dried fruit, and then something for building their bodies, such as milk, cheese, nuts or fish fingers.