TheLoop21.com

By: Raechal Leone (Add to your loop)
Fri, 10/23/2009 - 14:10

Michelle Obama teaches kids about healthy food choices.

Some of my favorite days in elementary school involved a plate filled with greasy pizza, some sort of cake and a tiny square of corn. Now before you get all mad at my parents for feeding me this travesty of a lunch on a regular basis, you should know that this junk food lover's dream was sanctioned by no less than the United States government and its school lunch program.

A group called the Institute of Medicine has found not much has changed with school cafeteria food. Its members serve as advisers to Congress, and they've called for cutting the amount of sodium in school meals by more than half (half!) and limiting calories and trans-fats, which we should have been doing all along.

At the same time, Michelle Obama's taking her campaign for a healthy lifestyle up a notch, and some states and a certain other Obama are considering taxes for sugar-filled soft drinks.

I say it's about time, especially since school meals are the only real meals some children from poor families get and, in case anyone missed it, obesity and diabetes are monumental problems that are driving up health care costs exponentially. This is especially true in the Black community, where children are 1.3 times more likely to be obese than white children and four in five Black women are overweight or obese.

But some people don't like the changes on the way. By the time the first lady's policy adviser, Jocelyn Frye, talked to NPR's Michele Norris this week, she was asked to respond to this:

"Some in the food industry ... have a certain amount of trepidation about what the White House is doing. They worry that the White House is wagging a finger at Americans and telling them what they should and what they should not eat. The CEO of Coca-Cola, for instance, said I have never seen it work where a government tells people what to eat and what to drink."

Frye explained that Michelle Obama isn't trying to tell people what to eat, just to get them talking about children's health. But why shouldn't she and other leaders offer us advice about healthy foods and staying well?

Let's face it, most of us are craving solid information about good nutrition. Americans spend about $33 billion each year on products we think will help us lose weight, yet more and more of us are becoming obese. We're not eating balanced meals, and we're making sure our children won't either by giving them cheap but only sorta kinda healthy food at schools. Someone has to stop this cycle that can weigh unhealthy children down in medical costs before they've even reached adulthood. It's no coincidence health care spending is expected to double between 2007 and 2018.

The only drastic idea I hear coming from the White House so far is a potential tax for Coke and other drinks. While I haven't made up my mind on that one, I can't see how jacking up the cost of junk food is all that different from taxes on cigarettes and alcohol. Not everyone would cut them out of their diets, although we know that's why the food industry is worried.

Too bad for them, though. We need Michelle Obama and others to continue reaching out to children and families — particularly those that can't afford gourmet food and gym memberships — about taking care of themselves. If they don't, who will?

Besides, I wouldn't at all mind having arms like Michelle Obama. She can give me diet and exercise tips anytime.

Raechal Leone is TheLoop21.com's senior editor and content manager.

Is it inappropriate for Michelle Obama to wear shorts?

Yes, she should be professional

Maybe, depending on the type

No, that's ridiculous

Who cares?

I don't know