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Ask Michelle Obama About Her Campaign Against Childhood Obesity

Posted on Jul 8th 2010 5:30PM by That's Fit Editors

Filed Under: Diet & Weight Loss

Olivier Douliery / Pool / Getty Images

First Lady Michelle Obama has taken on the ambitious goal of solving childhood obesity in America with the nationwide Let's Move campaign, which she unveiled this past February.

Let's Move aims to engage states, schools, parents and both for-profit and non-profit businesses to eliminate childhood obesity within a generation. Over the past three decades, childhood obesity rates in America have tripled. Today, nearly one in three American children are overweight or obese, and many will face chronic obesity-related health problems such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer and asthma.

Michelle Obama will relaunch the newly enhanced Let's Move Web site by hosting a morning Web chat facilitated by AOL Health where she will be answering viewers' questions live.

Her Web chat will be live streamed on www.LetsMove.gov and on AOL Health at 10 a.m. ET on Tuesday, July 13.

Some of the goals of the Let's Move program include helping parents and children make healthier choices, serving healthier food in schools, making healthy food affordable and increasing physical activity. As part of the Let's Move effort, an independent foundation called the Partnership for a Healthier America was formed to help accelerate existing childhood obesity efforts. The Partnership for a Healthier America is also charged with coming up with new methods of battling the disease.

Would you like to ask the first lady some questions about her program? Submit your questions to askmichelleobama@aol.com.

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Tags: aol health, lets move, Michelle Obama

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

penny cave 7-09-2010 @ 4:27PM

Michelle,
I want to first thank you, for your interest in this hugh problem in the USA. I live in Warrenton VA. and their is only 2 fitness center in this area that has a program for children. While this is great, these centers does not bill insurance. I have insurance that will allow her to attend but only if the facitly builds the insurance. I had my granddaughter attending one of these centers for 4 months but that is with me paying $320.00 a month. I had to take her out because I could not continue to pay. How can we get the facility to build the insurance? My granddaughter is eight years old and is weighting 118
pounds. Her mother was 400 pounds before she had the gastric bypass surgery, and her father is 6' and weight 260 pounds. I want to help my granddaughter before it is too late. Any advise that you can share with us is very appreciated. And please find a way to get the centers to build the insurance.
thank you
penny cave
540 349 2057
5170 Dovetail ln
Warrenton Va.

Granny 2-02-2011 @ 11:51PM

If someone wants to be involved in this, that is fine. I don't believe any Presidents wife has the right to say how OUR kids are fed in schools. That is done against the parents right to say I don't want to participate. My child is losing weight partly due to medicine she has to take everyday. She hates the way they have changed the lunches. Michelle Obama needs to feed her kids how she wants and leave all the others alone. I feel the Obama's have been taking toooo much freedom to say what we can or cannot do. let the parents be the parent. Now we have kids not wanting to eat school lunches. HMMMMMMM

Kathy Blankenship 7-10-2010 @ 5:24AM

Michelle,

You are a Godsend my dear. I have been concious of healthy foods since I first learned about the food pyramid in fourth grade (I'm 58 now). When my children were growing up I made sure they had their green vegetables, yellow vegetables, meat, whole grains and fruits every day. However, when they started to school, I lost control of that. The children had acquired a taste for and started eating lots of junk food by the time they were in middle school and I had a difficult time getting them to eat properly at home. Starting with the schools is the right way to go.

Additionally, I think a large portion of people would try to eat healthier if they could afford to do so. You can buy large amounts of store brand junk food for pennies on the dollar compared to fresh fruits and vegetables. Is it possible in any way to get the food industry to switch directions and supply fresh foods cheaper and processed foods more expensively? I do realize that I am talking about greed here as well as politics and the two together are a formidable enemy. However, I feel that if anyone I have known in my lifetime has any possibility of starting to change that, it is you. If there is anything I can do on a local level to help sound the alarm, please let me know.

Sincerely,

Kathy Blankenship
828-684-5535
21 Muirfield Drive
Arden, NC 28704

Harold McDowell 7-11-2010 @ 1:27PM

Dear First Lady, Michelle Obama...Thanks in advance for taking the time to read my question...

I am presently holding on to an idea for assisting in the fight for healthier living, especially amongst youngsters...My idea consists of physical fitness as a catalyst for healthier living...U R Y being the acronym to be used, and more details on this proposed venture is available upon request. I am a resident of Jackson, Mississippi the first stop in your fabulous venture to alleviate childhood obesity and is impressed with your commitment to see it through.

victoria Best 7-12-2010 @ 3:27PM

Mrs. Obama
Thank you for taking the time to raise bar concerning childhood obesity. Will your program include a commitee to ensure the doctors are more involved with this epidemic? So many excuse overweight as baby fat. The parents feed into this and keep providing unhealthy meals that are quick and easy.On a note, my sons relationship ended partly due to his dietary change and he wanted his children to have more friuts and veggies. That was just a part, he himself is a vegetarian, but he compromised and asked if they at least had more grains, fruits, veggies. Mom is great but does not enforce a healthy diet. This is a national problem , so many of our youth are overweight and it is worse every year. Thank you so much!