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With children going back to school, parents are concerned that their youngsters are staying fit and eating right, especially those who dine in a school cafeteria. New research funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture finds that children who eat school lunches that are part of the federal government's National School Lunch Program are more likely to become overweight. The same research study found, however, that children who eat both the breakfast and lunch sponsored by the federal government are less heavy than children who don't participate in either, and than children who eat only the lunch, says economist Daniel...

Earlier this year, Michelle Obama announced she wanted to take on childhood obesity. There’s rarely been a more non-controversial topic touted in Washington, D.C. It’s like grade inflation for poll numbers.  So she rolled out this nationwide initiative, Let’s Move, earlier in 2010.   She said she learned when she and Barack were working that her children’s nutrition was suffering from not being able to cook meals for them. She said she started making changes and wanted to bring those lessons to the White House. Apparently, they were all lessons she forgot when trying to win over Iowa voters on the...

thought this might be one of those bills where someone has misread the language and interpreted what the legislation is supposed to do incorrectly.

A White House report warns, "The childhood obesity epidemic in America is a national health crisis." The review by the Task Force on Childhood Obesity says one out of every three children is overweight or obese. The task force is a key part of First Lady Michelle Obama's campaign to solve the problem of obesity within a generation. President Obama ordered the comprehensive review of the issue. The report includes familiar themes, emphasizing the importance of improved nutrition and physical activity. It also calls for some new and dramatic controls on the marketing of unhealthy foods.The task force wants junk...

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – A California county is stopping restaurants from using toys to lure children to high-calorie, salt-laden food such as popular "Happy Meals" hawked by fast-food giant McDonald's. Elected officials in the county of Santa Clara, in the heart of technology center Silicon Valley south of San Francisco, voted Tuesday to enact the ban to fight an "obesity epidemic" sweeping California and the United States. "This ordinance prevents restaurants from preying on children's love of toys to peddle high-calorie, high-fat, high-sodium kids meals," said Ken Yeager, the county supervisor behind the ban. "This ordinance breaks the link between...

Michelle Obama played soccer today in D.C. to promote her Let's Move campaign to fight childhood obesity. And she wore workout clothes! They included black boot-cut yoga pants, a black, ruched, relaxed, long-sleeved tunic top, and either a black tank top or sports bra underneath. See the full look in the Michelle Obama Look Book. In other First Lady news, the white one-shoulder Jason Wu gown she wore to the inaugural balls will go on display in the Smithsonian as part of the First Ladies Collection on Tuesday.

Michelle Obama Plays Football First lady Michelle Obama took to the pitch with a group of children to encourage them to exercise regularly. 05 Mar 2010 US first lady Michelle Obama kicks a ball as she attends a free soccer clinic Photo: REUTERS Mrs Obama's participation in a football clinic in Washington coincided with the announcement of a new partnership between the US Soccer Foundation and the National Alliance for Hispanic Health. The groups are launching a 25-city tour to provide children and their families with free health screenings and soccer clinics. The scheme is part of the first lady's...

First Lady to Governors: Address Child Obesity THE ASSOCIATED PRESS February 20, 2010 WASHINGTON (AP) -- First lady Michelle Obama appealed to governors on Saturday for help in reducing child obesity and said they had a moral and financial imperative to act. She praised states for their steps already and assured state leaders that the federal government had no interest in taking over their efforts. ''Let's stop wringing our hands and talking about it and citing statistics,'' she told governors at their winter meeting. ''Let's act. Let's move. Let's give our kids the future they deserve.'' The first lady found...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE!!! February 16, 2010 Contact: (323) 556-2623 REV. PETERSON: “IS THIS THE WHITE HOUSE, OR BIG MAMMA’S HOUSE?” LOS ANGELES—Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, Founder and President of BOND Action, is criticizing First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign targeting childhood obesity as one more attempt by the administration to control and encroach on the freedoms of the American people. The following is Rev. Peterson’s statement regarding this matter:

At a ceremony at the White House on Tuesday, First Lady Michelle Obama announced the launch of the ‘Let’s Move’ campaign to end childhood obesity in the United States, an epidemic she said is costly and a threat to national security. “A recent study put the health care cost of obesity-related diseases at $147 billion a year,” Mrs. Obama said. “This epidemic also impacts the nation’s security, as obesity is now one of the most common disqualifiers for military service.” The ceremony, attended by many officials of President Barack Obama’s cabinet, followed the signing earlier in the day of a...

So, Michelle Obama seems to be as delusional as her husband. Yesterday, she said that childhood obesity (a Crisis!) is a threat to national security. No, really. She actually said that: (CNSNews.com) – At a ceremony at the White House on Tuesday, First Lady Michelle Obama announced the launch of the ‘Let’s Move’ campaign to end childhood obesity in the United States, an epidemic she said is costly and a threat to national security. “A recent study put the health care cost of obesity-related diseases at $147 billion a year,” Mrs. Obama said. “This epidemic also impacts the nation’s security,...

CNSNews.com) – At a ceremony at the White House on Tuesday, First Lady Michelle Obama announced the launch of the ‘Let’s Move’ campaign to end childhood obesity in the United States, an epidemic she said is costly and a threat to national security. “A recent study put the health care cost of obesity-related diseases at $147 billion a year,” Mrs. Obama said. “This epidemic also impacts the nation’s security, as obesity is now one of the most common disqualifiers for military service.”

Yesterday, President Obama signed a presidential memorandum establishing a taskforce to work on first lady Michelle Obama's new issue: childhood obesity. The taskforce has 90 days to report back to the president on a suggested inter-agency strategy and action plan to help children be more active and eat better – because, of course, putting interior secretary Ken Salazar on the case will change children's eating habits. SNIP These days, though, it isn't just parents' budgets that are lean. President Obama himself called for an across-the-board spending freeze (outside of the military and entitlement programmes) in his state of the union...

Disney is getting involved in the White House's new "Let's Move" campaign. Their goal: Cure the childhood obesity epidemic within a generation. For their part, Disney is creating a series of public service announcements which will feature Disney characters encouraging kids to get active and eat healthy. The spots will air later this year on Disney’s library of kid and family-oriented media platforms, including Disney Channel, Disney XD, Radio Disney and Disney.com. According to Let's Move's stats, one third of American children are affected by obesity.

Michelle Obama is today launching a campaign to tackle childhood obesity in America – while admitting that she loves unhealthy food. The First Lady has urged children to become more active, but confesses to eating burgers, fries, ice-cream and cake. The Let’s Move initiative, outlined by President Barack Obama’s wife today, aims to teach youngsters how to increase their daily physical exercise. It also pushes for schools to offer more healthy meals and calls on food companies to label nutritional information more accurately. Some of her initiatives, such as tax breaks for grocery stores to move into poorly served communities,...

EXCERPT Now, some critics are questioning whether using her own daughters as examples is fair to them. "Was it hurtful to her girls?" asked one blogger who focuses on Mommy issues. Psychology Today even questioned the first lady for using the word "chubby" to describe her daughters. While her heart is in the right place, Michelle may not have considered or been familiar with the delicate balance between preventing obesity and triggering eating disorders. She mentioned that she put her children on a diet after her pediatrician and their father felt they were getting “chubby.” Words like “chubby” don’t cause...

Michelle Obama's Tips From The White House for Battling Childhood Obesity 1)Have your personal chef limit your child's consumption of fatty foods like Foie Gras and Wagyu Beef.2)Have your kids run, not walk, to the helicopter.3)Keep an eye on your kids to make sure they're not sneaking hors d'oeuvres during your weekly cocktail parties.4)Just because your kids take a SUV to school everyday doesn't mean they have to be dropped off at the door - have your personal security clear out a one block walking distance and drop them off there.5)A good swingset costs $4,000, but that should be...

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT AT SIGNING OF MEMORANDUM ON CHILDHOOD OBESITY Oval Office 9:16 A.M. EST THE PRESIDENT: Good morning, everybody. I am so proud of the work that the First Lady, along with the Cabinet Secretaries behind me, have done in trying to tackle one of the most urgent health issues that we face in this country, and that is the increase of childhood obesity. And because of the outstanding planning that they've done, they are going to be rolling out a terrific plan of action that involves the private sector as well as government agencies coordinating much more...

WASHINGTON (AP) - By now, it is abundantly clear that Michelle Obama loves french fries. The first lady talks about this "guilty pleasure" all the time, trying to ward off any notion that she is a nutrition nanny even as she cajoles Americans to eat better. Now, her conversation with the public about the nation's health and fitness is about to get a lot more pointed. After laying the groundwork for nearly a year, she launches a campaign on Tuesday against childhood obesity that she hopes will change the way millions of Americans eat, exercise, look and feel. < snip...

Experts from around the country meeting in San Antonio, say the problem of Latino childhood obesity is nothing less than a national security threat, and containing it will involve more than urging kids to eat fewer Twinkies, 1200 WOAI news reports. "We're not just looking at individual behavior change, but how to we set up systems to encourage these individual changes," says Kip Gallion of the group Salud America, a unit of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The conference brought together educators, health officials, neighborhood groups, and officials like a former U.S. Surgeon General to the Gunter Hotel. Gallion says...