Michelle Obama obesity plan! Michelle Obama gave a preview of her obesity plan today, telling the nation’s mayors that the problem is not only one of the biggest threats to the economy, but that it is also impeding the health and well-being of at least a third of American children.
“Over the past year, I’ve been thinking, reading and speaking a lot about this issue, but the statistics never fail to take my breath away,” Michelle Obama said in a speech at the U.S. Conference of Mayors, “Right now, nearly one third of children in America are overweight or obese – one in three. And one third of all children today will eventually suffer from diabetes – in the African American and Latino communities, it goes up to almost half.”
One of the big things the First Lady hopes to do is reduce the number of obese Americans. She calls it an “epidemic and one of the greatest threats to America’s health and economy.” So how does Obama plan to fix it? Well she has several great ideas, and next month she will launch her plan. While speaking at the meeting of U.S. Conference of Mayors, she said she hopes,
“To put in place common-sense initiatives and solutions that empower families and communities to make healthy decisions for their kids.”
The plan includes providing more nutritious food in schools, and more opportunities for physical activity, including giving communities access to affordable healthy foods.
As a College of Education graduate, I had to do three internships within my school district, one of which was full time. I can tell you now the lunches are crap. One of the weekly choices for the “main meal” was nachos. Nachos people! That is a movie treat, not a healthy lunch. They also had things like cold left over pizza for breakfast, graham crackers, peanut butter and jelly, and potato wedges.
Then the kids only had Physical Education twice a week for 30 minutes. Any child who is getting two of their main meals at school, and eating that crap is not getting proper nutrients. I think changing the lunch menu alone will be a huge improvement, and will probably increase test scores because they will not feel hungry an hour later, after eating a bunch of crap.
Michelle Obama acknowledges the economy and the budget cuts in schools, which has reduced the recreation programs, but she hopes that over time we can change things.
“This isn’t the kind of problem that can be solved in one year, or even one administration. 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.”
I have to admit, things are expensive. We switched to an organic lifestyle implementing more fresh fruits and veggies into our diets. Our grocery bill went up about $70 a week. But I do feel a difference – I get less headaches, have lost weight, and my blood pressure has gone down. But not everyone has the option of eating organic and buying more fresh fruits and veggies. Processed foods are definitely cheaper.
