Since the beginning of time, children and their greens have never been the best of friends. Many parents can attest to the effort it takes to try and get their little ones to eat some fruit and vegetables.

A study done at Brigham Young University has the discovered the fix is relatively simple, let the kids play first.

"Recess is a pretty big deal for most kids. If you have kids choose between playing and eating their veggies, the time spent playing is going to win most of the time," said Joe Price, an economics professor at Brigham Young University, "You just don't want to set the opportunity cost of good behaviours too high."

The study was done in seven schools in the Utah district, having three schools allow recess before lunch while the remaining four were kept after lunch. The results showed an increase of 54% in consumption of fruit and vegetables. There was also a 45% increase in those eating at least one serving of fruit and vegetables.

The researchers note that, "increased fruit and vegetable consumption in young children can have positive long term health effects. Additionally, decreasing waste of fruits and vegetables is important for schools and districts that are faced with high costs of offering healthier food choices."

So what can we conclude from this? Kids will likely eat anything if they are hungry enough, so make them work up an appetite and stick healthy food in front of them.

It is surprising that these policy makers didn't think of such a simple solution first.