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Finding Positive Ways to Help Children Become Healthier

My job as U.S. Surgeon General is to provide Americans with the best information available on how to improve their health and reduce the risk of illness and injury. That's why I am proud to work with First Lady Michelle Obama's campaign to improve the health of our nation's children.

The Let's Move initiative will promote positive ways to give parents the support they need, provide healthier food in schools, help our kids to be more physically active, and make healthy, affordable food available in every part of our country.

As part of this movement, I want to change the national conversation from a negative one about obesity and illness to a positive one about being healthy and fit. My Vision for a Healthy and Fit Nation is a blueprint for action that outlines concrete ways that we can respond to this public health issue. While the conventional wisdom may be that people who are obese or overweight simply eat too much, that's not the whole story. This epidemic could be the result of families not having access to grocery stores with healthy, affordable foods or living in communities where there is no safe space to play. We need to use innovative solutions for change by creating communities and environments where the healthy choices are the easy choices.

The Let's Move initiative addresses the multiple factors that have an impact on childhood obesity. I want to find positive ways to help children and families become healthier. Those include making healthier food choices, finding affordable ways of eating better, and increasing physical activity.

I also want to focus on increasing access to healthy food and on creating safe spaces for children to play and get the exercise that will help to keep them healthy and fit for life.

Please join me in this effort! Get moving by joining our call to action at http://letsmove.obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/join/.