Molly Fogarty, left, Rhonda Richardson staffed the Nestlé booth at the Partnership for a Healthier America summit in Washington on Thursday. Behind them are boxes of the company’s Lean Cuisine meals, which hospitals are using to teach patients portion control and encouraging them to use after they leave the hospital. (Jerry Hagstrom/The Hagstrom Report)

Kathleen Preis, left, and Fletcher Street discuss the Mushroom Council’s work with the Agriculture Department to encourage schools to use mushrooms in hamburger mix to meet new lower calorie school meal standards. Street, of Ostrom’s Mushroom Farm in the Pacific Northwest, said that the Mushroom Council has elevated its commitment to the Partnership for a Healthier America. Noting how rare it is for her to speak in public, Street said, “They don't let us mushroom farmers out of the dark often.” (Jerry Hagstrom/The Hagstrom Report)




First Lady Michelle Obama today challenged parents and corporations to do more to fight childhood obesity.

“We know we can’t lie around on the couch eating French fries and candy bars and expect our kids to eat carrots and run around the block,” the first lady said in a speech to the Partnership for a Healthier America summit at George Washington University.

“Slowly but surely we are beginning to turn the tide on childhood obesity,” she said.

The first lady reeled off a list of accomplishments of the “Let’s Move” initiative in the three years of its existence, from reductions in the childhood obesity rate in several states to Reebok’s decision to join the movement with a significant commitment to encourage children to be more active.

But she added that corporations can always take more actions to stop marketing unhealthy foods to children and to market healthy foods.
Michelle Obama
“We still have a lot of work to do,” she said, and suggested that restaurants should feature pictures of healthy foods in their ads rather than high-fat, high-sugar items.

The Partnership is a private-sector group that seeks to advance the Let’s Move campaign.

Obama also recalled how difficult it is for parents today to get everything done and still try to feed their families healthy food and get exercise themselves. She recalled that before her husband became president, her life was quite different, noting that she used to set aside 30 minutes to go to the grocery store and would buy only prepackaged fruit because she didn’t have time to put it in bags.

Obama’s speech came at a time when the Let’s Move campaign seems to have reached a maturation point. The trade show at the Grand Hyatt Hotel gave companies and organizations that have made a commitment to reducing childhood obesity a chance to display their wares.

Nestlé, the maker of Lean Cuisine meals, Birdseye and the Mushroom Council all had booths to display healthy foods, while Archie Comics showed off copies of a comic book now in production for Boston Children’s Hospital called “JD Shapes Up.”

Some participants privately complained that the sessions at the conference had become repetitive.

“I arranged this session, and I’m bored,” said the organizer of one panel discussion.

The anti-obesity movement has reached the point that connections need to be made between specific groups and individuals rather than general gatherings, but foundations haven’t been willing to pay for such meetings, one participant said.

Marion Standish, director of community health programs at the California Endowment, said on one panel that it is time to create demand for healthy foods. Just putting policies in place is not enough, she said.

The first lady appeared to expect the day when children will demand healthy food.

“Imagine walking into any grocery store in America and finding the healthiest options clearly marked and centrally placed so that you know within seconds what’s good for your family when you walk in that store,” she said.

“Imagine opening up a menu in any restaurant and knowing exactly what items will give your family the most nutrition for your hard-earned dollar. Imagine our kids begging and pleading, throwing tantrums to get you to buy more fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Yes, this is possible. It is possible to create this world!”

• Boston Children’s Hospital