WASHINGTON (AP) — By now, it is abundantly clear that Michelle Obama loves french fries. The first lady talks about this “guilty pleasure” all the time, trying to ward off any notion that she is a nutrition nanny even as she cajoles Americans to eat better.
Now, her conversation with the public about the nation’s health and fitness is about to get a lot more pointed.
First lady Michelle Obama launched a nationwide campaign Tuesday to fight childhood obesity, part of her effort to teach America’s children about better nutrition and exercise.
Mrs. Obama said the Let’s Move campaign will encourage more physical activity for children, healthier food in schools and more accurate food labeling. Some of her initiatives, such as tax breaks for grocery stores to move into poorly served communities, will require congressional action.
“I would move heaven and earth to give my kids all the chance in the world for them to be at the top of their game in every way, shape and form,” Mrs. Obama told USA Today. “Let’s Move operates under the principle that every family wants the same thing for their kid. So we’re going to figure out how to make it easier for them to get it.”
To succeed, she will have to take on powerful forces that have left one-third of children overweight:
• busy parents who hit the fast-food drive-through rather than cook a balanced dinner.
• schools where cafeteria meals compete with vending machines and a la carte lines stocked with soda and candy bars.
• food companies that spend billions hawking fatty snacks to children.
• poor neighborhoods where nary a banana nor a head of broccoli can be found on store shelves.
• the screens — computer, TV, video — that keep kids off their bikes.
In the Oval Office on Tuesday, President Barack Obama signed a memorandum creating a task force on childhood obesity. Its members, including the secretaries of health, agriculture, education and the interior, must report back within 90 days. He praised his wife, who attended the signing, for tackling one of “the most urgent health issues facing the country.”
“This has enormous promise in improving the health of our children, in giving support to parents to make the kinds of healthy choices that are often very difficult,” Obama said.
In an interview with ABC News, Mrs. Obama acknowledged her love of burgers and fries, and ice cream and cake, as do most kids. But she said she wants her daughters and the rest of the nation’s children to practice better nutrition and exercise, too.
“We’re not talking about a lifestyle that excludes all that,” she said. “The question is how do we help people balance that out so that they’re not facing life-threatening, preventable illnesses, but they’re enjoying their food, they’re eating their vegetables, they’re doing their running and walking and playing and still have time to get a good, fun meal in every once in a while.”
“There’s no expert on this planet that says the government telling people what to do really does any good on this issue,” Mrs. Obama said. “This is going to require an effort on everyone’s part.”
“It has to be a pretty aggressive bully pulpit,” says Jeff Levi, executive director of the Trust for America’s Health, a Washington-based public health research organization. “It has to be much more than cajoling, and how do we solve this problem together.”
Levi said the first lady, who speaks as a mother as well as a public figure, can have a huge impact by helping change parents’ and kids’ attitudes toward food and exercise. But an effective campaign against childhood obesity also will require more money to carry out programs to help families turn changed attitudes into action.
“We already have in place a constellation of programs that together can provide the opportunity to make the changes in schools and communities that would make a difference,” he said. “The problem is that they are not fully funded.”
Ideas abound for addressing the problem:
• increase federal money to make healthier school lunches for poor kids.
• improve nutrition standards for school lunches; get the chips and doughnuts out of school vending machines.
• expand time for school recess and physical education.
• use federal incentives to encourage low-income families to buy healthier foods.
• prod food makers to stop targeting children with ads for high-calorie treats on TV and in online video games.
• get more restaurants to print nutrition information on menus.
• do more medical screening for obesity in children.
• improve food labeling.
• provide more behavior counseling to overweight kids.
The school lunch program, which is up for an overhaul by Congress this year, is one sure area of focus, and the administration is working with legislators on how to revise it. There should be some extra money available: President Barack Obama’s proposed budget calls for an additional $1 billion a year for child nutrition programs. Last year’s economic stimulus package included $500 million for one-time grants to help states and communities tackle smoking, obesity and various preventable health problems.
A decade ago, the government’s “Healthy People” program set a 2010 target that just 5 percent of children would be overweight or obese. The latest government figures, released last month, weighed in at 32 percent for 2007-08. The childhood obesity rate has at least held steady in recent years, but at levels that still leave today’s children on track to die younger than their parents.
Mrs. Obama said she tries every day to instill the same values in her daughters, Malia, 11, and Sasha, 8. “My kids have to get up and move. They can’t sit in front of the TV,” she said. “I have them involved in sports ... to compete and to win and to run and to sweat. They have to understand.”
