Today was a momentous day.
President Obama signed an executive order creating a first-ever task force on childhood obesity and the First Lady Michelle Obama unveiled a new nationwide campaign to combat childhood obesity called Let’s Move. You can learn more by visiting the Let’s Move web site and watching this video of Mrs. Obama discussing her signature project.
I wish I could have been in the audience today, but I did catch Mrs. Obama’s interview this morning with Robin Roberts on Good Morning America. She made it clear that with Let’s Move, she’s not trying to tell America what to eat, and she has no intention of becoming “the food police.” In this video below of her announcement, she wisely says there’s a place for cookies, ice cream, burgers and fries. It’s about balance and small changes — like replacing soda with water or skim milk.
The goal of Let’s Move is to bring together families, schools, private industry and government to make healthy living easier. It’s about helping parents make healthy family choices. Mrs. Obama outlined four broad ways the Let’s Move initiative will achieve its bold goal of eliminating the childhood obesity epidemic within a generation.
- Healthier choices. Provide support to parents by offering tools and information they need to make healthier food choices for their families. The Let’s Move Web site contains a wealth of information about healthy eating, shopping and cooking — along with useful links.
- Healthier schools. Encourage healthier food in schools through the reauthorizing the Child Nutrition Act, which supports the National School Lunch Program, and other strategies to help create healthier school environments.
- Physical activity. Increase physical activity among our nation’s youth (60 minutes of active and vigorous play every day), which includes modernizing and increasing participation in the President’s Physical Fitness Challenge.
- Accessible & affordable healthy food. Make healthy food accessible and affordable in every part of the country by eliminating “food deserts” in rural and urban areas. Check out the amazing new Food Environment Atlas that gives a state-by-state look at the location of food deserts and other indicators of how communities are accessing healthy food.
Here’s what others had to say today about Let’s Move:
Obama Foodorama
Rudd Sound Bites
New York Times
New York Times The Caucus
Here’s how you can connect with Let’s Move:
Facebook
YouTube
Let’s Move Blog
I think it’s important to show support for an effort like this. It’s easy to be critical or cynical, but it’s going to take us all working together to make a difference. As Mrs. Obama said, “it won’t be easy, and it won’t be quick, but we know the answers….We can decide to solve this problem.”
I agree. So let’s move!
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Thanks for the post! It’s great to see childhood obesity on the forefront of government agenda. There are so many barries to proper nutrition that we have our work cut out for us, and initiatives that come from the top down really help to drive change. Challenges are too numerous and too complex to tackle in silos. While education is certainly important, every household needs access to affordable, quality food choices. I hope that “Let’s Move” prompts the government to reevaluate current food policy (i.e. subsidies) to fully address the issue of obesity.
Great post Janet. I’m excited about Let’s Move. With strong leadership at the top, I think our country may be able to tackle childhood obesity in a big way. What I’d also like to see is a greater emphasis on poor nutrition. There are lots of skinny kids out there who subsist on a diet of junk food who may be no better off than an overweight child who eats his fruits and vegetables. Better nutrition and greater physical activity for all kids is what it’s all about.
Definitely a move in the right direction.