Once school gets out, where do your kids get nutritious meals for breakfast and lunch? Many families have trouble getting meals on the table over the summer, but this week marked the start of summer food service at thousands of sites across the country where kids can get healthy meals and snacks.
Last year, First Lady Michelle Obama challenged child care providers across America to build a generation of healthy kids. For anyone taking care of little ones, Let’s Move! Child Care is an initiative to help achieve your goals to provide a healthier environment for the kids you serve. The challenges that the First Lady issued to all child care providers are great tips for any household:
With school out and summer just around the corner, there's no better time to take your family outdoors for some active adventures! June is Great Outdoors Month - a time to celebrate our country's magnificent landscapes, waterways and historical sites. From the Grand Canyon to Central Park, and from the Great Lakes to the California coast, America is full of spectacular sites that are open for all people to explore and enjoy. Of course, you don't have to visit a far-off destination to get moving outside. There are plenty of ways for your family to be active and take advantage of the outdoors in your own community.
Looking for ways to get your family moving? On June 10, Cartoon Network launched their national Move it Movement Tour, offering kids and families across the country an opportunity to try new activities and sports. Now in its third year, the Move it Movement Tour hosts expos in 17 locations where several national organizations introduce families to strategies for fighting childhood obesity through free, kid-focused physical activity and healthy eating.
The tour kicked off in Atlanta, GA and will wrap up in Houston, TX on August 12th. At each of the tour stops, kids and families will experience a range of sports and games – from basketball and soccer, to football and golf – that will help them get the 60 minutes of daily activity they need to stay healthy
As part of the Let's Move! Anniversary Tour earlier this year, First Lady Michelle Obama joined a town hall meeting of health experts hosted by WebMD. The panelists were all parents, and it was a lively discussion focused mainly on the best way to incorporate healthy habits into your family's routine. Mrs Obama also took some questions from the audience, and our friends at WebMD turned one of her answers into an animated video -- take a look!
Today, the First Lady joined the Walt Disney Company to announce a big win for America’s families: Disney has become the first major media company to introduce new standards for food advertising and programming targeting kids and families. All of foods marketed on Disney’s television and radio channels will be required to meet Disney’s nutrition guidelines – which align with federal standards to promote fruit and vegetables and limit calories, sugar, sodium, and saturated fat – by 2015.
This past March, students from Kate Mitchell Elementary, Stetser Elementary, Sumner Elementary, and Girl Scout Troop 60325 joined First Lady Michelle Obama to plant the White House Garden's fourth season of produce. Just last week, students from Bancroft Elementary and Harriet Tubman Elementary joined Sam Kass, Assistant Chef and Policy Advisor for Healthy Food Initiatives, in the White House Garden to harvest some of that crop.
The members of UrbanPromise in Camden, New Jersey have been motivating their community to be active for years through their annual Pedal for Promise bike ride. Pedal for Promise raises money for the UrbanPromise Academy, a private high school that helps teens who are two or three grades below average reach their academic potential. Pedal for Promise also involves youth in a healthy, fun cycling activity.
Posted by Ali Kelley, Deputy Associate Director for Let’s Move Outside! on June 4, 2012
This summer, children in Reston, Virginia will enjoy new opportunities to get moving outside, thanks to six new kid-sized tennis courts in their community.
The Reston Tennis Association recently celebrated the opening of these courts, which were made possible through a $17,000 grant from the U.S. Tennis Association (UTSA). In 2011, the USTA joined First Lady Michelle Obama’s fight against childhood obesity by committing to build or restore 3,000 tennis courts in communities across the country. USTA continues to support these new facilities through its “10 & Under” tennis program, which offers equipment and programming resources for beginner athletes.
Posted by Ken Salazar, U.S. Secretary of the Interior on June 2, 2012
This week, along with Director of the National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis, I announced that we’re designating 54 new water and land trails across the nation as National Recreation Trails. With this recognition, we’re adding almost 1,400 miles to the National Trails System that already travels more than 13,650 miles across our great country. Spanning 23 states, these new trails are making it easier to communities to get outside and get active.
Tomorrow, Let’s Move! is celebrating the first birthday of MyPlate, the new food icon that reminds us to build a healthy plate with vegetables, fruits, whole grains, lean proteins, and fat-free or low-fat dairy at every meal. It’s a helpful tool for making meals with healthy portions and a friendly image for parents and kids to talk about making half our plates fruits and vegetables.
First Lady Michelle Obama was thinking of Sam Shihadeh and Rose Fakhoury when she challenged faith-based and community organizations to appoint wellness ambassadors. Sam, a personal trainer and council member of the Saint George Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church in Washington DC, and Rose, the Director of St. George’s Sunday School, joined forces to lead, organize and take action to improve health and wellness in their community. St. George Church hosted a Let’s Move! event on May 5, 2012 to get their community members eating healthy foods, moving and working to combat childhood obesity.
As a congregation inspired to fight obesity, the church practices what it preaches. The event kicked off with children racing through an outdoor obstacle course. During the day attendees heard from a diverse group of panelists such as doctors, personal trainers, and a registered dietitian, on the importance of leading a healthy life. I joined Paul Monteiro of the White House Office of Public Engagement to share more about the First Lady’s Let’s Move! initiative.
Today at 1:30 PM EDT, the White House will host a panel discussion of leaders who have contributed to the progress of the First Lady’s Let’s Move! in Indian Country initiative and whose work can be expanded across Indian Country. The discussion will be streamed online at www.WhiteHouse.gov/live. As a key component of the First Lady’s Let’s Move! initiative, Let’s Move! in Indian Country focuses on four pillars that are essential to building a healthy future for American Indian and Alaska Native youth:
• Creating a Healthy start on Life,
• Creating Healthy Learning Communities,
• Fostering Healthy, Comprehensive Food Systems Policies, and
• Increasing Opportunities for Physical Activity
Posted by By Jessica Larson, Dietetic Intern, USDA Center for Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships on May 29, 2012
Sign up by visiting our registration site or emailing us at collaborate@usda.gov.
First Lady Michelle Obama is urging all faith and community leaders to learn more about ways to collaborate with Let’s Move! One way to do this is by joining USDA’s series of calls entitled Together We Can. Last week, USDA’s Center for Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships led the first of these calls, and shared opportunities to partner with USDA with local faith and community leaders to help those in need in their communities. Neighborhood and faith-based organizations are well positioned to initiate and coordinate activities that encourage healthy living and well-being, which is why Let’s Move Faith and Communities aims to help these organization solve the problems that lead to childhood obesity and address related issues of hunger. This series of calls aims to equip these organizations with introductory knowledge, best practices, and contact information to help community-based organizations understand and access USDA programs.
