“I remember when I was a kid, all my friends and I wanted to do after school
was run around outside until dinner. And even then, we didn’t really want
to come inside,” recalls First Lady Michelle Obama in a column about physical
activity on Letsmove.gov. “But now, with video games, the Internet, and entire
TV networks geared toward kids, there’s a lot more competition for our children’s
free time. And as we’ve seen more and more, when kids aren’t moving,
when they’re not active, they’re less likely to grow up healthy – and
it’s a significant factor in our country’s building epidemic of childhood
obesity.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that obesity among
6- to 11-year-olds increased from 6.5 percent in 1980 to 19.6 percent in 2008. Among
12- to 19-year-olds, obesity increased from 5 percent to 18.1 percent. The first
lady has made childhood obesity her signature cause, because it can contribute to
a number of health problems for children now and in the future as they grow into
unhealthy adults.
Studies indicate that obese children and adolescents have a greater risk for high
cholesterol, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, bone and joint problems, mental health
issues such as social stigmatization and poor self-esteem, and adult health problems
associated with obesity, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, several
types of cancer, and osteoarthritis.
Obesity is the result of too many calories consumed and too few calories burned
through physical activity. A big part of the solution is eating healthy, which is
why the first lady has been at the forefront of efforts to increase access to fruits
and vegetables in communities across America. She also promoted the U.S. Department
of Agriculture’s switch from the outdated food pyramid to the new MyPlate
guide to nutrition.