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March 2, 2010
Lindsay Huth
Being a kid is as easy as pie – or maybe salad instead. First lady Michelle Obama has launched her Let’s Move! campaign to promote healthy eating and eventually end childhood obesity.
“The physical and emotional health of an entire generation and the economic health and security of our nation is at stake,” Obama said according to the White House website. “This isn’t the kind of problem that can be solved overnight, but with everyone working together, it can be solved. So, let’s move.”
Her fight for a healthier lifestyle began when she invited students from Bancroft Elementary School in Washington, D.C. to work with her to begin the White House Kitchen Garden nearly a year ago.
President Obama initiated the campaign by creating Task Force on Childhood Obesity to review existing groups and policies related to childhood obesity and form a comprehensive plan to work towards ending of obesity.
Meanwhile, the campaign is working to end obesity through many different strategies. It seeks to educate parents about healthier choices for their kids and institute new standards for food in schools across the country. To promote a healthier lifestyle, the Presidential Active Lifestyle Award will be given to all those who participate in physical activity five days a week for six weeks, and the Healthy Food Financing Initiative will spend $400 million a year to give supermarkets with fresh produce to areas without any.
In support of the campaign, the most influential health foundations across the nation have united to form the Partnership for a Healthier America.
The effort is essential, according to the campaign’s website, because $150 trillion dollars are spent each year treating conditions related to obesity and the obesity rate has tripled during the past 30 years. Now, one in three kids is obese, and for the first time in American history, children may have a shorter lifespan than their parents.
“We want to eliminate this problem of childhood obesity in a generation. We want to get that done,” the first lady told Good Morning America. “We want our kids to face a different and more optimistic future in terms of their lifespan.”
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