First Lady Michelle Obama understands that fighting obesity requires a multi-faceted approach, which is why the Let's Move! initiative focuses on many ways to help children be healthy. How we shop at the grocery store can have a huge impact on our budget. That’s why one of the pillars of the Let’s Move! initiative is making sure that healthy foods are affordable and accessible. 

A commonly held belief is that eating healthy foods is more expensive than eating less healthy foods. But that depends on how you measure the cost of food, according to a new report published by USDA’s Economic Research Service. The researchers compared the price of food based on three different metrics: the price per calorie, the price per edible weight, and the price per average portion. They concluded that even though healthy foods, like fruits, vegetables, and certain grains and dairy products, are more expensive when priced per calorie, they are less expensive than most protein foods and foods high in saturated fat, added sugar and/or sodium when food is priced by either edible weight or average portion. What this means is that healthy foods are not more expensive than unhealthy foods when comparing prices using an alternative measure to price per calorie.

This week – May 7^th thru 9^th – the Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) hosts “Weight of the Nation,” a forum acknowledging the progress of policy changes and the role of environmental strategies in obesity control and prevention.

Focusing specifically on: early care and education, states, tribes and communities, medical care, schools and workplaces, this Washington-based conversation has sparked national attention. Startling statistics forecast that by 2030 42% of Americans will be obese. First Lady Michelle Obama, Let’s Move! and others work tirelessly to change those odds for America’s youth.

Ed. Note: This is cross-posted from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) blog.

As part of their 2012 annual 4-H National Conference approximately 300 high school student leaders from across the United States, U.S. territories, and Canada gathered in the greater Washington, DC area. 4-H seeks to promote positive youth development, facilitate learning, and engage young people in the efforts of the USDA to produce “real results for real people.” The conference aims to empower and mobilize the 4-H students to create positive, meaningful change in their communities.

Last week USDA released a new farm to school grant program designed to help give children a sense of where their food comes from and increase the availability of local foods in schools. Joined by students at Southern High School in Harwood, MD, as well as school and elected officials, Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan made the announcement in an on-campus greenhouse.

One of the first things she noticed when she walked into the greenhouse was the Abe Lincoln tomato seedlings. President Abraham Lincoln created the United States Department of Agriculture 150 years ago. At the time, there were farmers everywhere, but today that is no longer true. In fact, young children, increasingly removed from agriculture, are more likely to recognize corporate logos than carrot tops growing from the soil.