Let’s Move! Takes Steps To Address Childhood Obesity

by Heidi Green
May 17, 2010

Let’s Move! is the rallying cry of the new nationwide campaign to address childhood obesity. Launched in February 2010 and spearheaded by first lady Michelle Obama, this campaign aims to “eliminate the problem of childhood obesity in a single generation.” It’s an ambitious goal, considering that over just the last few decades, childhood obesity rates have more than tripled, increasing from 5 percent in 1980 to 17 percent in 2008. Currently, almost one in three children is overweight or obese.

Although its name emphasizes activity, Mrs. Obama notes that the campaign relies on a multi-faceted approach where attention to food may even exceed that given to activity. The campaign is centered around four core goals:

• Offer parents the tools and information they need to make healthy choices for their kids.
• Get healthier food into schools.
• Ensure that all families have access to healthy, affordable food in their communities.
• Increase opportunities for kids to be physically active, both in and out of school.

Accomplishing these goals will require a great deal of help from federal government agencies, state and local leaders, private companies, and the public sector. Help shouldn’t be hard to find; a wide variety of entities—ranging from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) to the No Child Left Inside coalition to the National Parent Teacher Association (PTA) recognize the problem. One group has even called it “a threat to national security.”

What’s more, Let’s Move! has a ready-made collaborator in the Partnership for a Healthier America, a foundation launched for the purpose of “support[ing] the First Lady’s cause [of fighting childhood obesity] by encouraging, tracking, and communicating commitments to healthier lifestyles from partner organizations.”

Let’s Move! in action
In February, President Obama signed a memorandum creating a Task Force on Childhood Obesity to include representatives from the Department of Interior (DOI), Department of Agriculture (USDA), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Department of Education, Office of the First Lady, and other agencies. The Task Force conducted a review of all programs and policies related to child nutrition and physical activity to “develop a national action plan that maximizes federal resources and sets concrete benchmarks towards the First Lady’s national goal.”

Plans are already in place for each of the four goals, as detailed on the White House and Let’s Move! websites:

• Offering parents the tools and information they need to make healthy choices for their kids involves empowering consumers, having parents receive guidance from pediatric health care providers, launching a major new public health campaign, revamping the current food pyramid site, using the USDA’s new database to create change, and maintaining the LetsMove.gov website.

• Getting healthier food into schools means reauthorizing the Child Nutrition Act with an $10 billion budget increase, doubling the number of schools participating in the Healthier U.S. School Challenge, encouraging school food suppliers, the School Nutrition Association (SNA), and other national school organizations to meet Challenge standards.

• Ensuring that all families have access to healthy, affordable food in their communities means eliminating so-called “food deserts” (areas without grocery stores or access to healthy foods in convenience markets) and increasing farmers’ markets.

• Increasing opportunities for kids to be physically active, both in and out of school involves updating the Presidents’ Physical Fitness Challenge and Active Lifestyle Awards, creating a Safe and Healthy Schools fund, and involving professional athletes from twelve leagues (e.g., NFL, WNBA) in the Let’s Move! public awareness campaign.

To think, this is just a start! Imagine what we’ll see when the campaign really gets moving.

Concerns about Let’s Move!
Although everyone supports good health, some have voiced concerns about the program.

Most notably, the campaign has been criticized for its emphasis on obesity. Some critics say the campaign essentially places a target on fat kids. As Deb Burgard, one of the founders of the “Health at Every Size (HAES)” model for treating weight and eating concerns, writes on her blog, these critics feel that “the initiative is framed as a way to eliminate the fat kids.” Writing candidly in Newsweek about her lifelong struggles with weight, food, and physical activity, Lesley Kinzel agrees that the emphasis of the campaign ought to be on healthy eating and regular exercise which, together, “work to make a body—any body—feel good, even if they don’t result in weight loss.”  Similarly, CNN reporter Claudia Garza revealed obesity-related bullying she suffered from her own parents, and experts agree such incidents are not uncommon. These concerns seem to be supported by a recent article in the New York Times in which Gretchen Reynolds notes that the connection between exercise and weight loss is a complicated one, particularly for women. Furthermore, Dr. Regina Benjamin, Surgeon General of the United States, chooses to emphasize a positive approach to the topic. Her first paper in her role as U.S. Surgeon General is entitled not “The Surgeon General’s Vision for an America with No Childhood Obesity,” but rather “The Surgeon General’s Vision for a Healthy and Fit Nation.” Referring to childhood obesity at a recent health conference, she noted that she focuses on the “positives” of “health and fitness” rather than the “negatives” of “illness and obesity.”

Finally, Megan McConville, urban planner and blogger on TheCityFix.com, notes that the campaign seems to lack urban planning and design considerations. Targeted active community design strategies can make big differences in children’s ability to walk or bike to school safely, community members’ ability to engage in urban farming, residents’ ability to access grocery stores selling healthy foods via public transportation, and children’s access to available open play space.

Tips for parents
As parents, we don’t need to wait for the Task Force to decide on a national plan before we take action in our own homes to ensure our own children’s health. Here’s what we can do today:

• Select healthy foods and beverages for our children. Avoid sugar-sweetened drinks in favor of water and milk. Read labels on food packages, paying attention to ingredients and serving sizes. Cook with fresh foods, rather than pre-packaged goods as often we can.

• Encourage physical activity. Limit passive time spent watching television or playing video games, and encourage kids to play outside. Unstructured play is great; school-age children may also enjoy after-school activities or community athletics.

• Keep an eye on what schools are serving. Mrs. Obama notes that between school lunch and breakfast programs, many U.S. schoolchildren are getting more than half of their daily calories at school. Pay attention to the school menus, and talk with other parents and school administrators to address anything that concerns you, such as high sugar or salt content, lack of fresh fruits or vegetables.

• Talk to your children’s health care providers. See how your child measures on child growth charts. (For breastfed children, refer to the World Health Organization’s child growth standards.) Discuss the body mass index; similar to athletic adults, children who are athletic and muscular may have deceptively higher BMIs.

• Eat well and play, too! Remember that parents are natural role models for their children. Favoring healthy foods and engaging in regular physical activity (whether taking nightly walks after dinner, kicking the soccer ball around with your child, or heading out to the gym) send an important message for lifelong wellness—and that’s something we all want our children to learn.