Iowa is getting healthy. Iowa is getting active. And, in March, a new statewide initiative was launched that aims to help all Iowans join in the fun.

If you’ve been following the First Lady’s Let’s Move! initiative, you know that eating healthy and getting active go hand-in-hand. Thanks to the National Parks Service’s new Healthy Foods Strategy, it will be easier than ever to enjoy healthy foods and exercise at America’s beautiful national parks.

On March 12th, I joined a group of families and members of Native American Lifelines, an urban Indian community center in Baltimore, for the Konica-Minolta Face-Off Classic at M&T Bank Stadium. Kerry Lessard, the Health and Cultural Consultant for the center, was inspired by Let’s Move! and wanted to get the youth active through the sport of lacrosse, which has cultural significance in many Indian communities.

“I pledge my Head to clearer thinking, my Heart to greater loyalty, my Hands to larger service and my Health to better living, for my club, my community, my country, and my world.” This is the pledge that 300 4-H youth and volunteers gave on Monday when the 2011 National 4-H Conference kicked off in Bethesda, Md. Youth and adults from 47 states and territories, as well a delegation from Canada, took part in an event that has happened in the Washington area since the 1920s, when 4-Hers slept in tents on the Washington Mall in front of the USDA headquarters. USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, or NIFA, is the parent organization to 4-H National Headquarters. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Education Secretary Arne Duncan spoke to 4-Hers about community service, valuing education, and embracing positive health and nutrition habits.