Battling the Childhood Obesity Epidemic

The First Lady Talks "Let's Move" with Newsweek

Following her cover story for Newsweek, the First Lady talked with Newsweek’s Editor Jon Meacham about her Let's Move campaign at the Newseum in Washington D.C. today. She discussed the magnitude of the problem of childhood obesity, especially during current times as a busier culture.

We’re also a culture and a society right now that snacks a lot more.  Just some of the statistics I talked about in my speech yesterday was that the average snack amount when I was growing up was one snack a day, if you were lucky.  And now it’s averaging two to three.  They say the average school-age kid is getting six snacks a day.  So we’re taking 200 more calories than we were 40 years ago, 30 years ago just from snacks alone.

She explained the importance of food manufacturing industries providing clear food labels so people can easily make decisions about what foods are healthy. “Parents have to understand what’s in the Twinkie; again, how does it fit into the overall diet.  So we don’t need a warning, we need information.  And we need information that’s easy to understand.”

The First Lady also talked about passing legislation that will set nutritional guidelines for school lunch programs and vending machines. President Obama signed an Executive Order creating the Council on Childhood Obesity that will review every program and policy regarding education and nutrition.

Visit LetsMove.gov to learn more about the initiative to address the growing health epidemic of childhood obesity.
 

Close Transcript