Image Courtesy of New York Daily News
Happy Valentine’s Day! And what better way to celebrate than with a box of chocolates, or (if you were like me as a kid) a bag of candy conversation hearts. Children all across the country exchanged valentines and heart shaped goodies this past week, in anticipation of the big holiday. It is all well and good that children celebrate in spirit. However, it is the sweet treats and salty snacks kids are eating those 300+ non-holidays, non-birthdays and not-so-special events that worry First Lady Michelle Obama.
Since the president’s first day in office, First Lady Obama has been an outspoken advocate of children’s health. Last year she appeared on Sesame Street, hosted Iron Chef at the White House and spoke at the opening day of the White House farmers market, all to promote healthier eating. She even planted a vegetable garden on the White House lawn (the first since Eleanor Roosevelt’s WWII Victory Garden) with a group of local elementary school students to draw attention to the importance (and the pleasure) of eating fresh, healthy produce. Last week, she ramped up her efforts to fight childhood obesity by announcing her Let’s Move campaign. The Let’s Move website states the goal of the campaign is to “to solve the epidemic of childhood obesity within a generation.” It focuses on a multi-pronged approach that includes education about healthier food choices, healthier food in schools, increased physical activity and access to affordable, healthy food options.
As Alison Rose Levy points out in her Huffington Post opinion piece “Michelle Obama Steps Up As Health Champion” (thanks to the reader who referred me), the First Lady initiative focuses on a systemic approach to tackling childhood obesity. While the campaign does recognize that parents play an important role in their children’s food choices, it avoids the tired “blame the mother” and “personal responsibility” refrains so often associated with the issue of childhood obesity. It also focuses on education as key for parents and children to be able to make these healthy choices. Healthy eating may seem like it should be self explanatory, but as many authors have detailed (Dr. David Kessler, Michael Pollan, and Marion Nestle to name a few) the loss of cultural food traditions coupled with a food industry intent to sell and an ever changing FDA food pyramid have made many Americans unsure of what they should be eating. The “Smart Choices” labeling campaign is a good example of why. Nestle has written at length about the issue on her blog Food Politics.
Back to the original point, the Let’s Move campaign recognizes that the issue of a child’s weight is interconnected with every aspect of that child’s life, from the access that her parents have to fresh produce (both physical and financial), to whether she has safe spaces to play and be active in, to what foods she eats in school. The nutritional content of school food has become a huge topic in recent years and some districts have seen all out food fights (figuratively speaking) over what is being served in their school cafeterias (and to whom). Professor Janet Poppendieck’s book Free For All: Fixing School Food in America provides a comprehensive look at how school food became what it is today and what we need to do to fix it (as a disclaimer, I took a class with her last semester). It is a must-read for anyone interested in the school food issue. Another resource I would recommend is the blog Fed Up: School Lunch Project. A teacher in Illinois has committed to eating the school lunch every day and is chronicling each meal. It is a fascinating (and at times disturbing) look into what kids in America are eating for lunch.
The Let’s Move campaign will be tackling the behemoth of school food, and many other factors that have led to the recent rise in childhood obesity. The systemic nature of the problem is driven home in the Let’s Move Food Environment Atlas. This interactive map provides visual representations of all sorts of indicators related to food, from income to fast food expenditures per capita. From a planning perspective, I find this Atlas particularly interesting because it visually demonstrates the spacial component of the food issues that impact obesity and public health. Going back to a previous post I wrote on food deserts, it is no coincidence that low-income areas are fast-food chain rich but grocery store poor.
So bravo to First Lady Obama for putting together one of the first, comprehensive approaches to combating the systemic problem of food in the U.S. Although this initiative is aimed at curbing childhood obesity, its design engages parents, schools, and community members in a whole scale overhaul of food in America. Self-admittedly ambitious and no matter its success, Let’s Move represents an important first step in addressing the public health crisis related to food. For ongoing updates about the First Lady’s healthy food initiatives and other White House food goings-on, I recommend the blog Obama Foodorama. But for now, have a happy Valentine’s Day and enjoy your chocolate!
Obesity is really an epidemic these days. People have become very lazy and does not want to exercise anymore. I do a lot of jogging and brisk walking everyday just to be fit and healthy.
here in Philippines, obesity is also becoming a problem. More and more children are getting obese due to a lifestyle that is not fully of physical activities. most kids just wants to watch TV, play computer games and surf the net.
Obesity and diabetes are becoming more and more of a problem these days. Actually it is easy to avoid being overweight by just having the proper diet and exercise.
more people are becoming obese these days because of too much junk food and too much sugar in snacks and fast foods. `
Michelle Obama is such a wonderful woman. I believe that she would be an excellent first lady..`,