Michelle Obama’s “Lets Move” Program

On the heels of an extremely controversial and potentially $1,000,000,000,000.00 dollar health care bill, I think it is important that First Lady Michelle Obama’s pet project is taking on childhood obesity.

Solving this problem may well save our country billions of dollars in health care costs the next 40 years if it is solved. She has started a program called “Lets Move” - and the program is filled with useful information and neat tricks to help parents help kids live a healthy lifestyle.

Childhood obesity is a tragedy, and my heart bleeds for children who are stuffed with addicting unhealthy food as a way to quiet them when they are being noisy, reward them when they do well, or the most egregious of errors, sustain them long tem because their parents can’t be bothered to microwave a $2 bag of broccoli. My heart also bleeds for parents who trust in food industry self regulation and deceiving labeling which make junk food seem like an important part of a child’s diet, and a suitable replacement for healthy natural food. I wonder how much of childhood obesity really is a result of parental wilful ignorance and how much of it is adults being fed the lies of processed food so heavily for the past 30 years it is truly unfair to expect them to “know better”.

Obesity is a real and quickly growing problem.  The following images are from the CDC illustrating obesity rates in America over the past 18 years.

The statistics on childhood obesity are staggering: In minority groups the childhood obesity rate is 50%. Really think about that - one half of children in minority groups are not just heavy or chubby, but obese - roughly 30 or more pounds overweight. And this weight problem is only going to get worse given the fact that minority groups are the ones most likely to have diets heavily laden with cheap worthless food found in convenience stores and fast food “restaurants”.

Consider this: a pound is roughly 3500 calories. If you increase your calorie intake by 100 calories a day, you’ll likely gain 10 lbs (365 days x 100 calories) in a year. A fast food burger has about 900 calories in it, and that is without the soda, fries or milkshake. Given the average American child needs about 1,200 - 1,800 calories a day (depending on gender, lifestyle and age), it is pretty easy to see how someone who has fast food as a cornerstone of their diet will often be way over their daily allotment, and will quickly pile on the weight. Not to mention the total lack of proper nutrition and high intake of saturated fat that comes with a fast food diet.

Obesity can lead to many dangerous conditions like diabetes, hypertension and heart disease but it wasn’t until I watched Jamie Oliver’s “Food Revolution” (ABC 9 pm Friday) that I realized how dangerous obesity can be. The show profiled a family, all of whom were heavy, and focused on the 12 year old boy - easily 70 pounds overweight. The show accompanied him on a visit to a doctor who immediately saw physical signs of diabetes in the child. Diabetes, the doctor explained is dangerous not only because reduced quality of life but complications can cause loss of limbs and blindness and life expectancy is reduced by 30 to 40 years. Had this kid had diabetes (he did not, thankfully) he would have an expected life span of 40 years.

Hearing this story infuriated me. I’m not sure when the responsibility of one’s weight is shifted from the parent to the child, but certainly 12 is on the young side of that line. Furthermore, I’m not sure where the responsibility of healthy eating shifts from the food industry to the individual, but when I read Lucky Charm’s Boxes and Tostidos Chips boasting how much FDA recommended grain is in each serving, I think the line becomes increasingly difficult to draw.

Michelle Obama’s position is that this condition is killing our children, and it is so easily overcome, it is absurd we are struggling with it. I totally agree with our First Lady (and I have hired a landscaper to help me plant a vegetable garden in her honor). Obesity is a major contributor to diabetes, heart disease, hypertension and a whole host of other health problems that are expensive to the system and reduce the quality of life. The idea that half of the children in our minority population and 30% of the kids in our middle to upper class population will have these expensive problems should scare anybody paying attention much more than the added cost of our new health care system.

Here are some of the highlights of the Lets Move Program:

Healthy Choices - a support system for parents including extensive education and access to information about good quality foods. This includes a new food pyramid.

Healthy Schools - Better Food in schools, where children get most of their calories during the day

Physical Activity - Getting kids to get rigorous physical at least an hour a day, coupled with the NFL so kids can see some of their role models encouraging physical activity.

Healthy Food that is Affordable and Accessible - a government program helping to bring healthy affordable food to areas in the country without this access. Also, information on bringing Farmers Markets into neighborhoods. I am going to write more on this topic very soon!

Telling people the truth about their diets (hint: you aren’t eating nearly enough vegetables, and you don’t need to eat that bread) is a total uphill battle further complicated by the food industry’s advantage of billions of dollars in advertising, years of food industry propaganda, and tasty tasty sugar, fat and salt to combat you.

I wish First Lady Obama luck in her endeavors.
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Reading List:
The CDC Site
Lets Move Program
Jamie Oliver's Site
Burger King Nutrition Facts