First Lady Michelle Obama Launches "Let's Move" Obesity Campaign

Courtesy USA Today

Today, the self-described "mom in chief" is launching Let's Move, a campaign to help other parents deal with a national health crisis she describes in epic terms. The goal: to eliminate childhood obesity in a generation.

"It's an ambitious goal, but we don't have time to wait," the first lady said in an interview with USA TODAY in her spacious office in the East Wing of the White House. "We've got to stop citing statistics and wringing our hands and feeling guilty, and get going on this issue." She says she intends to "sound the alarm" about the epidemic: About 32% of children and adolescents today — 25 million kids — are obese or overweight, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those extra pounds put kids at a greater risk of developing a host of debilitating and costly diseases, including type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

A 2005 study found that kids today may lead shorter lives by two to five years than their parents because of obesity. Meanwhile, the costs "take your breath away," Obama says. Obesity costs the country a staggering $147 billion a year in weight-related medical bills, according to government data. Obama says she will use all the power of her White House pulpit to promote a multifaceted campaign that will include more healthful food in schools, more accurate food labeling, better grocery stores in communities that don't have them, public service announcements and efforts to get children to be more active. Some of her plans, such as tax incentives for businesses, will need congressional approval.

Let's Move (letsmove.gov) aims to do for healthy eating and exercise what the government's anti-smoking campaign did in the 1960s: change how people think about their health. "The first lady having a huge microphone and a spotlight is really helpful," Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius says. "It's a big health crisis. We need to involve not only the kids but the families."

Ideas grew from a garden Obama, 46, is announcing the campaign a little more than a year after she and her daughters, Malia, 11, and Sasha, 8, moved into the White House on the day Barack Obama was sworn in as president. Obama said then that she would spend much of her first year in Washington making sure her kids adjusted to their new school and to life being shadowed by the Secret Service. But the seeds of the obesity campaign were planted months ago — in an organic White House garden she set up with the help of local elementary schoolchildren. And her passion for working on the problem grew. "The garden was an important first step — just sort of exploring the ideas around nutrition and children," Obama says. "I was curious to find out whether kids connected with this issue if we talked about it in terms of fun and gardening." And they did. "Kids from urban environments, from households (like) mine, who were raised on fried foods and good, tasty stuff, were fully engaged in the process of planting these vegetables and watching them grow and harvesting them and cleaning them and cooking them and eating them, and writing about how vegetables were their friends," she says. "So we thought we could be on to something here if we make this conversation a national conversation."

She is taking that conversation to schools around the country, mayors' organizations and the nation's governors. And her campaign has commitments from the nation's pediatricians, children's TV networks and websites such as Nickelodeon and sports teams such as the New York Yankees. Each will do whatever it can do best, she says, to spread the message that it matters what children eat and how much they move. Yankees centerfielder Curtis Granderson, who will be with Obama at today's announcement, says he wants to encourage kids to do what he did as a child: Put aside the video games and get outside and play. "We didn't realize the importance of it at the time," he says. "But we would be outside for hours at a time having fun."

Obama says her busy schedule in the next couple of years will reflect her commitment to the cause. Last week, she started by filming the campaign's first public service announcement, a direct message to parents. "I know from my own experience," Obama says. "I would move heaven and earth to give my kids all the chance in the world for them to be at the top of their game in every way, shape and form. Let's Move operates under the principle that every family wants the same thing for their kid. So we're going to figure out how to make it easier for them to get it."

That casual, down-to-earth approach as the mother of two girls has earned her higher approval ratings in the polls than her husband's since he took office. In an interview about the childhood obesity campaign, she wears gray slacks and a lavender sweater, the kind of everyday outfit that works for her whether she's hula-hooping with schoolchildren on the South Lawn or visiting federal agencies to thank employees for their hard work. The issues she's addressing are serious, but she says she will keep it conversational. "The tone, hopefully, that I approach this, is one that is inclusive, and not judgmental — and helpful."

Political observers say it's the right kind of campaign for a first lady who wants to make a difference but wants to be careful not to delve too far into policy the way Hillary Rodham Clinton did with health care when her husband held the presidency. "Childhood obesity is a no-downside issue," says Boston University journalism professor Elizabeth Mehren, who has written extensively about political spouses. "It's something that mothers can connect to, so it fits in with her 'first mom' agenda." At the same time, "it's a back-door connector to that very pressing issue for her husband: health care."

Others also applaud her choice, saying it goes beyond previous campaigns such as Nancy Reagan's anti-drug effort and Laura Bush's literacy push. "First ladies have taken on issues in the past, but this is different because childhood obesity is such a pressing public health concern," says Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer advocacy group. "Interest in nutrition is at an all-time high, and there is a lot of concern about the health and financial effects of obesity. "All the stars are aligned for her to make an impact."

Boston pediatric endocrinologist David Ludwig, one of the researchers who showed obesity may shorten kids' lives, says: "We can't just decry childhood obesity while continuing to condone junk food advertising aimed at young children and underfunding school lunch and physical education programs. What the first lady can do is help give momentum to that effort in a way few other people can."

The campaign will begin the way many government efforts do: with the appointment of a federal task force that will give government agencies 90 days to figure out what they plan to do to help. Obama's office already has lined up commitments from mayors, business leaders, grocery store owners, school lunch suppliers, non-profit groups, retailers and foundations. Other elements of the plan, several of which will need approval in Congress because they require new funding or offer tax breaks, include:

•The American Academy of Pediatrics will encourage its 60,000 members to check the body mass index (BMI), a number that takes into account height and weight, of all children at every checkup, and to give every child a kid-friendly prescription with suggestions for healthy, active living at those visits, says Judith Palfrey, president of the academy. The group had been working on the idea, and the campaign "was the magic moment to roll it out with the blessing of the first lady," she says.

•$400 million in tax credits and other incentives to get grocery stores to move into "food desert communities" where people don't have access to major grocery stores and have to rely on corner markets, convenience stores and hybrid gas stations that may charge more and have fewer healthful choices. It will also get fresh foods into smaller stores.

•A new foundation made up of existing foundations and groups to monitor the campaign.

•$25 million for schools to renovate their kitchens to replace deep fryers with equipment needed to store more produce and serve more nutritious food.

•$10 billion over 10 years for the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act. Some of the money would be used to provide free and reduced-priced school meals for a million more children a year and to help schools serve more nutritious foods. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says he's encouraging schools to "focus on community gardens and school gardens, which can provide additional supplies."

Healthful eating at school is important: About 31 million kids eat lunch at school every day, and 11 million eat breakfast. Overall, kids consume about 30% to 50% of their calories in school. Reports from the Institute of Medicine, which advises Congress on health and science, recommend booting junk foods out of schools and making dramatic changes in school meals. Many companies are on board with improving school food, Obama says, by reducing the amount of salt, fat and sugar in school lunches and increasing the amount of whole grains and fresh produce. There are also changes to be made in the snacks provided to students. "There is no reason why we can't have water, healthy juice drinks in vending machines, granola bars, trail mix, whole-grain sandwiches," she says.

Just as important as better food, Obama says, is physical activity. The government recommends that children get 60 minutes or more of physical activity daily. Education Secretary Arne Duncan says improving food and physical activity at schools is "the right investment" of resources.

Despite her lofty goals, Obama says, she wants to reassure fellow parents that they don't have to make huge changes or break the bank to have an influence on their kids' weight and health. The Obama family has a chef now, of course, and the first lady no longer has to worry about whether she has time to cook healthful meals. But before she got to the White House, she says, she made a set of small changes to her girls' diets that made a difference. She started cooking once or twice a week more often than she had been. Instead of giving them juice boxes at meals and in their lunches, she gave them low-fat milk or water. And she eliminated after-dinner desserts on weekdays. "The kids didn't even notice," she says. "You take stuff out, they complain about it for, like, two seconds, and then it's like, 'OK, I'll drink the water.' "

She also says she doesn't want parents to beat themselves up if they slip up from time to time or get a little relaxed about the food they serve or the time their kids spend in front of a screen. "We don't have to be 100% perfect," she says. "My kids eat dessert. My kids watch TV. ... I love burgers and fries, and I don't want to live a life where I can never have them again. And if we told families and children that that was the answer, we'd never get there. "The beauty is we don't need to be 100% of the way there. If we get 20% of the way there, we will change the health status of our kids for a generation."

First Lady USA Today Interview

Bonnie - obviously, I am a big fan of the First Lady's initiative and I wish her the best in her endeavor. Like always, I will do my best to spread the word. My one worry, however, is that she will rely too much on pediatricians who are not well versed in promoting nutrition and have said as much. She should also include nutritionists and dietitians in the initiative. Research has also shown that pediatricians would like to discuss nutrition more during patient visits, however, they are not often reimbursed through insurance. This is something that must change.