Michelle Obama's initiative to promote fresh produce & improve nutrition

March 26, 2010

March 25, 2010

EditorialFrom Mrs. Obama's Garden A year ago, Michelle Obama and pupils from a

Washington elementary school dug up a patch of the South Lawn to plant a White

House vegetable garden. Mrs. Obama's stated goal — apart from providing food for

her family's meals and for formal dinners — was to promote healthful, locally

grown fruit and vegetables and healthier eating by kids at a time of rising

rates of childhood obesity and diabetes.

Mrs. Obama has translated that into a serious national initiative to improve

childhood nutrition and health. In appearances around the country, she has been

talking about childhood obesity and engaging parents, schools, pediatricians,

celebrities, and public officials, including members of her husband's cabinet,

with the goal of solving the problem within a generation.

Last month, Mrs. Obama began her " Let's Move " campaign. Beyond encouraging

greater physical activity by children, the Food and Drug Administration is

trying to help parents make healthy food choices by making food labels more

customer-friendly. The campaign includes $400 million to bring grocery stores

offering fresh produce and other healthy food to underserved, often poor areas,

and a planned nutritional upgrade of school lunches when Congress reauthorizes

the Child Nutrition Act.

Recently, appearing before the Grocery Manufacturers Association, Mrs. Obama

spoke with humor about her own experience as a mother trying to encourage

healthy eating habits in her children, and praised food companies for some

positive steps. But she also chided the industry for not going fast or far

enough.

" We need you not just to tweak around the edges, but to entirely rethink the

products that you're offering, the information that you provide about these

products, and how you market those products to our children, " Mrs. Obama said.

" That starts with revamping, or ramping up, your efforts to reformulate your

products, particularly those aimed at kids, so that they have less fat, salt,

and sugar, and more of the nutrients that kids need. "

Mrs. Obama's campaign is just beginning, but she has already started a national

conversation on obesity.

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