Healthy Families
First Lady and American Indian Kids Plant White House Kitchen Garden
Last Friday, just a week after the launch of Let’s Move! in Indian Country, First Lady Mrs. Obama and American Indian kids spent the afternoon in the White House kitchen garden planting the “three sisters” crops (corns, beans, and squash). The kids also helped Mrs. Obama harvest crops in the garden, including lettuces, rhubarb, chard, kohlrabi, sugar snap peas, turnips, broccoli and herbs – some of which will be used in Tuesday’s State Dinner in honor of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Tomorrow is National Trails Day! Let's Move Outside
On June 4, 2011, the American Hiking Society will hold its 19th annual National Trails Day® (NTD), a celebration of America's magnificent trails system and its countless supporters and volunteers. This year’s NTD theme is, “Made With All Natural Ingredients,” which supports Let’s Move! Outside (LMO), the outdoor activity component of the First Lady’s Let’s Move! initiative to end childhood obesity in a generation. Together, LMO and NTD have inspired land managers and other local and state organizations to host nearly two thousand events nationwide to help connect people, especially youth, with our nation’s extensive trail system.
Our Nation’s Warriors
On May 9th, 2011, I joined fellow members of the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition on the South Lawn of the White House. We had the opportunity to participate in and lead exercise stations with military families on a beautiful spring day in Washington. These military families, and the many others across the country, need as much support as possible as they sacrifice to protect our country. At the event, First Lady Michelle Obama announced that Council members had each committed to participating in at least two events this year as part of the Council’s support of Joining Forces, the national initiative launched by the First Lady and Dr. Jill Biden to honor and support service members and their families.
Kids Move Outside and Experience Fishing on Lake Bastrop
Last Saturday morning, the sun shone brightly over Lake Bastrop near Austin, Texas, where 28 kids and 14 boat captains joined hundreds of volunteers to experience the joys of fishing at the Bureau of Reclamation's 8th Annual Catch A Special Thrill event.
Get Outside and Be Active: National Physical Fitness and Sports Month
Warmer weather brings a greater opportunity to get outside and be active! To encourage all of us to incorporate physical activity into our daily lives, President Obama signed a proclamation declaring May National Physical Fitness and Sports Month, a tradition that started in 1983. In the proclamation, President Obama calls on the American people to make daily physical activity, sports participation, and good nutrition a priority in their lives.
Recipes for Healthy Kids Judging Teams Begin School Visits
We’re entering the home stretch in the First Lady’s Recipes for Healthy Kids competition. Judges will be fanning out to schools across the country to watch them prepare the delicious recipes that have made it to the semi-finals. My colleague, Audrey Rowe, recently lead a team of judges to Harold S. Winograd School in Greeley, Colo., to kick off this phase of the competition, which is part of the First Lady’s effort to partner chefs with schools through her Let’s Move! initiative.
“Moving” with Dominique Dawes and Boys & Girls Clubs
May is National Physical Fitness and Sports Month, and is the perfect time to celebrate how Let’s Move! and the Million PALA (Presidential Active Lifestyle Award) Challenge are helping Americans get healthy and fit. Through the Million PALA Challenge, an extension of the President’s Challenge, The President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition set a goal for 1 million Americans to earn a PALA by September 2011.
Colusa Indian Community Goes Hand-in-Hand with Healthy Lifestyles
At the Colusa Indian Community Council’s Hand-in-Hand Learning Center in northern California, the garden is the focal point of a curriculum that revolves around physical and mental health, fresh food, and local partnerships. The garden, which has been a work in progress for the last five years, is central to Hand-in-Hand’s efforts to educate children and families about healthy lifestyles and obesity prevention.
NFL Quarterback Sam Bradford, Secretary Vilsack Urge Native Children to Get Outside and Get Active
St. Louis Rams quarterback Sam Bradford joined Secretary Vilsack in the USDA People’s Garden yesterday to urge Native American youth to spend the summer pursuing healthy outdoor activities. About 30 Native youth from across the Nation, including Tuba City, Arizona and Southeast Alaska, planted a Native American Garden (part of the USDA People’s Garden) as Bradford, Vilsack and other dignitaries spoke.
Let's Move! Unites Federal Employees in San Francisco
The Let’s Move! movement has taken many shapes, sizes and forms. We’ve seen Mayors from towns and cities as far east as Phoenix and as far west as Kauai pledge their support to ending childhood obesity in the region. But there is also something going on a little closer to home. The places we work are our homes away from home. The Offices of the Regional Director and Regional Health Administrator thought no better place to promote the work we are actively engaged in than the place we live and work at everyday, the San Francisco Federal Building.
