Healthy Families
A Call to Action: Let's Move!
Ed note: Former WNBA player and four-time Olympic champion Lisa Leslie joined First Lady Michelle Obama and Samantha Cameron, wife of British Prime Minister David Cameron, and Washington, D.C., area children in a mini-Olympics competition to celebrate the 2012 London Summer Olympics and the “Let’s Move!” initiative. The First Lady will lead the Presidential Delegation to the Opening Ceremonies of the Games.
When I was contacted to participate in the First Lady’s Let's Move initiative, I was thrilled! It was just as much of an honor to have the opportunity to introduce Michelle Obama as it was to represent our country in the Olympics.
I also had the pleasure of meeting and introducing Samantha Cameron, the Prime Minister's wife of the United Kingdom. This summer, she will welcome people from all over the world to her country for the Summer Olympic Games.
New Hampshire Puts Let's Move into Practice
First Lady Michelle Obama last week visited New Hampshire where she applauded that state's great work in making healthier kids a priority and recognized their success at tailoring the Let’s Move! goals to meet community-specific needs.
Mrs. Obama stressed that programs encouraging kids to stay active before and after school and to take part in growing their own fruits and vegetables in a community center garden are demonstrate exactly how Let's Move! can and should work on the ground:
More than 80,000 Youth and Families Introduced to Winter Recreation in the Month of January
This January marked the fourth annual Learn to Ski and Snowboard Month (LSSM). The month-long effort aims to get children and adults of all experience levels on the slopes for an active start to the New Year. LSSM began in 2009 with a few select programs and has since grown to include more than 300 ski resorts in 33 states. Throughout the month of January, these resorts provided introductory ski and snowboard lessons to more than 80,000 children and adults across the country for free or at a reduced price.
Let’s Move!: Two Years of Healthy Changes For Our Nation’s Kids
First Lady Michelle Obama joins students for a "Let's Move!" Salad Bars to Schools launch event at Riverside Elementary School in Miami, Fla., Nov. 22, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)
Since launching Let’s Move! on February 9, 2010, significant progress has been made to solve the problem of childhood obesity. Parents, businesses, educators, elected officials, members of the military, chefs, physicians, athletes, childcare providers, community and faith leaders and kids themselves have made substantial commitments to improve the health of our nation’s children. Through working together with Let’s Move!, these groups have provided children with healthier food and greater opportunities for physical activity in schools and communities, helped get families the information they need to make healthier decisions, supported a healthy start in early childhood, and have worked to ensure more people have access to healthy, affordable food.
School Lunch at the White House - Veggie Pasta
Veggie pasta, apple dippers with honey and milk--it's a healthy and affordable lunch following the MyPlate guidelines that White House Executive Chef, who is a mom herself, demonstrated for Amy Boshnack from CafeMom's The Stir. Check out the video:
First Lady Michelle Obama Announces Major New Commitment to Mi Plato
First Lady Michelle Obama participates in a Let’s Move! Initiative event with Aimee Busquet and Goya Foods CEO Bob Unanue at National Supermarket in Tampa, Fla., Jan. 26, 2012. The event showcased the Mi Plato (My Plate) program, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s educational tool that assists families in making healthy meal choices. (Official White House Photo by Sonya N. Hebert)
New Commitments to Aid the Fight Against Childhood Obesity Announced at Summit
First Lady Michelle Obama meets with members of the board of Partnership for a Healthier America, an organization working to end childhood obesity, at the Omni Hotel in Washington, D.C., Nov. 30, 2011. Mrs. Obama later delivered the keynote address at the PHA’s inaugural Building a Healthier Future Summit. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)
The Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA), which works with the private sector and its honorary chairwoman First Lady Michelle Obama to solve the nation’s obesity crisis, hosted its first national summit this week on November 29 and 30, 2011. Roughly 800 business leaders, community leaders, academic experts, government officials, parents and others joined together at the Omni Shoreham Hotel for the Building a Healthier Future Summit to share their experiences, form partnerships and announce substantive commitments to aid the fight against childhood obesity.
The two honorary vice chairs of PHA, former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and Mayor Cory Booker, laid out the challenges the nation faces as a result of the impact of childhood obesity on the economic, the health care system and our military readiness. But the conference was not about reciting the problems. It was about taking action. Senator Frist told of the enormous changes that are taking place in the market place with companies that are selling good-for-you foods showing higher profits and enhanced competitiveness, which you can read more about in a Politico piece penned by Senator Frist and Mayor Booker. Mayor Booker described how his city of Newark and Let’s Move! Cities and Towns all over the country are finding ways to encourage healthy eating and sponsor physical activity.
Denver Kicks Off First Official "Ciclovia"
Approximately 7,500 people turned out for Denver's Viva Streets event in August
Healthy Recipes for Healthy Schools
Earlier this week, First Lady Michelle Obama welcomed schools that met the First Lady’s goal to double the number of participants in the HealthierUS School Challenge in a year to the White House to celebrate their achievement.
