Healthy food for all a tenet of Michelle Obama’s anti-obesity initiative
On Tuesday, sixth grader Tammy Nguyen brought down the White House with some choice words. Leading up to a much-anticipated announcement in the State Dining Room, Nguyen described how she helped grow a rainbow of vegetables in a kitchen garden on the “first lawn.”
“My friends and I have learned a lot about change, about eating healthy food, and making the right choices,” the former Bancroft Elementary School student explained. “My classmates and I plan to keep that color on the plate–and I don’t mean M&Ms,” she said.
Nguyen then introduced First Lady Michelle Obama, who summoned all hands on deck to bring the Bancroft students’ experience to every American child in the interest of better health. She outlined a detailed initiative, called Let’s Move, to curb the startling rate of childhood obesity (about one in three children is overweight or obese, she said), and save the nation’s kids from preventable diseases. Such an initiative can also create jobs and help fish the budget out of a deficit. That can only happen, Obama said, if many sectors work together and the action starts immediately.
“Instead of just talking bout this problem, instead of just worrying and wringing our hands about it, let’s do something about it,” said the first lady. “Let’s act…. let’s move.”
A new Task Force on Childhood Obesity will propel the initiative.
