In an article titled
Let's Focus on Michelle Obama's Accomplishments, Not Just Her Style, a diarist on HuffPo said this:
If you type "Michelle Obama style" into Google, 209,000,000 results come up. If you type in "Michelle Obama education," 183,000,000 results come up. This says a lot about our cultural obsession with fashion and celebrity.
Well, whose fault is that? People who want to talk about style and fashion have been doing just that. That's their right after all. Why haven't we been talking about her initiatives? If you were to do a Google search of any of her projects, the first six or seven articles will be from naysayers. That's our failing. Let's face it, with the exception of getting angry at the buffoon, Rush Limbaugh, we haven't really been that supportive of our FLOTUS.
It's not too late to start. Consider this series our attempt to even the score.
Let's Move!
On February 9, 2010, Mrs Obama launched the
Let's Move campaign designed to fight childhood obesity. No, Mrs Obama didn't do this just to spite Rush Limbaugh. The way he's been squealing like a stuck pig you'd think that all her initiatives are designed to shame him in the public square. No, there really is a frightening threat to the health and well being of our children and somebody had to do something.
This from
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
Childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and tripled in adolescents in the past 30 years.
The percentage of children aged 6–11 years in the United States who were obese increased from 7% in 1980 to nearly 18% in 2010. Similarly, the percentage of adolescents aged 12–19 years who were obese increased from 5% to 18% over the same period.1, 2
In 2010, more than one third of children and adolescents were overweight or obese.
As bad as that is, in communities of color there is even more cause for alarm.
From the The Root:
One-third of young people in the United States are overweight or obese, and one-third will suffer from diabetes at some point in their lives. In the Latino and black American community, those numbers go up to almost 50 percent. According to a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, children today spend seven hours a day using some kind of media device. At the same time, school lunches are fattier, school gym classes are shorter or nonexistent...
To combat this life-threatening, soul-destroying, budget-breaking epidemic, the FLOTUS and her team have devised a program with its stated objective outlined below:
Let's Move! seeks to combat the epidemic of childhood obesity and encourage a healthy lifestyle through "a comprehensive, collaborative, and community-oriented initiative that addresses all of the various factors that lead to childhood obesity [. . .] engaging every sector of society that impacts the health of children to provide schools, families and communities the simple tools they need to help kids be more active, eat better, and get healthy...will give parents the support they need, provide healthier food in schools, help our kids to be more physically active, and make healthy, affordable food available in every part of our country.
Move Ya Body!
Healthier Foods
Chefs Move To School
Chefs Move to Schools was founded in May 2010 as part of First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move campaign.[21] The Chefs Move to Schools program is a nationwide effort to teach culinary skills to school children and to get them to try new, healthful food options.[21] Professional chefs volunteer a specified amount of their time to cook with students and/or to help train school workers in how to prepare and provide food in a healthier manner.[22] As of February 2, 2012 about 3,500 schools were partnered with professional chefs in an effort to educate students about a healthier diet in an entertaining and appealing way.
Drink Up!
"Drink just one more glass of water a day and you can make a real difference for your health, your energy and the way you feel. So 'drink up' and see for yourself,"
Cut the Fat, Salt and Sugar
Appeal to food manufacturers:
Michelle Obama is urging the nation's largest food companies to speed up efforts to make healthier foods and reduce marketing of unhealthy foods to children. "We need you not to just tweak around the edges but entirely rethink the products you are offering, the information that you provide about these products, and how you market those products to our children."
See more at:
http://www.cnsnews.com/...
Appeal to restaurant chains:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/..._
the first lady joined Darden Restaurants Inc. executives at one of their Olive Garden restaurants in Hyattsville, Md., near Washington to announce that the company's chains are pledging to cut calories and sodium in their meals by 20 percent over a decade. Fruit or vegetable side dishes and low-fat milk will become standard with kids' meals unless a substitution is requested.
Mrs. Obama said Darden's announcement is a "breakthrough moment" for the industry. The company owns 1,900 restaurants in 49 states, including Olive Garden, Red Lobster, LongHorn Steakhouse, The Capital Grille, Bahama Breeze and Seasons 52.
Enlist the aid of the President of the United States...aka her husband
February 9, 2010, the POTUS through a Presidential Memorandum, established
The Childhood Obesity Task Force.
“For the first time, the nation will have goals, benchmarks, and measureable outcomes that will help us tackle the childhood obesity epidemic one child, one family, and one community at a time,” Mrs. Obama said. “We want to marshal every resource – public and private sector, mayors and governors, parents and educators, business owners and health care providers, coaches and athletes – to ensure that we are providing each and every child the happy, healthy future they deserve.”
In conclusion
"Make no mistake about it, we are changing the conversation in this country. We are creating a cultural shift in how we live and eat. And our efforts are beginning to have a real impact on our children’s lives," Mrs. Obama said.
Yes We Can!
http://www.whitehouse.gov/...
http://www.letsmove.gov/
http://en.wikipedia.org/...!