Michelle Obama targets childhood obesity

The first lady is making the slimming of our kids a top priority.

Tue, Jan 26 2010 at 1:16 PM EST

Photo: yourdon/Flickr

Michelle Obama announced on Jan. 19, exactly one year from the day her husband took office, that she intends to make the fight against childhood obesity her legacy. This should come as no surprise to anyone who has followed her over the past year.

In her first year as first lady, Michelle Obama raised awareness about organic, healthy food. She talked about it consistently, got her hands dirty in the new White House kitchen garden often, began the White House Farmers Market, and even made an appearance on Sesame Street promoting a healthy lifestyle. Raising awareness about childhood obesity and coming up with solutions to the problem is the next logical step.

According to Obamafoodorama, in-depth details about the campaign to reduce childhood obesity will be released next month but will include:

“commonsense, innovative solutions that empower families and communities to make healthy decisions for their kids." Better school policies, including improving school lunch programs and encouraging phys ed, and fostering much-needed changes in community food access, so healthy foods are more affordable and more easily available, are among her goals.

Mrs. Obama announced her platform in a speech she gave at the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

"This isn't the kind of problem that can be solved in one year, or even one administration," she said. "But make no mistake about it, this problem can be solved.

"We don't need to wait for some new invention or discovery to make this happen. This doesn't require fancy tools or technologies. We have everything we need right now — we have the information, we have the ideas, and we have the desire to start solving America's childhood obesity problem.

"The only question is whether we have the will." (source USA Today)

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