In case you missed it, be sure to check out this Monday’s Washington Post feature providing an in-depth (and, to my mind, fair) evaluation of Michelle Obama’s progress in seeking to reverse childhood obesity.
While there will always be food advocates who criticize the First Lady for her partnerships with major corporations like Wal-Mart and for not pushing the food industry harder for reform, I’ve long praised her here on TLT for accomplishing all she reasonably can from the East Wing. (Then again, I apparently regard Mrs. O as my “one-way BFF,” so maybe I’m a little biased. 🙂 )
Take a look at the article and let me know what you think.
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Wendy says
Totally agree! It is a real challenge to tread on the very fine line there and I think she does it gracefully and with the best of motives.
Disagree on only one point — she’s MY one way best friend!! 🙂
Bettina Elias Siegel says
Ha! We’ll have to share her. 🙂
mommm!!!! says
While I respect (sort of) what Michelle tried to do, I’m not ready to applaud her for “working with” food conglomerates. Especially considering food conglomerates are the reason we have these conversations to begin with. They have notoriously and consistently used food labels to lie to consumers. This is not a behaviour that should continue to be encouraged. Removing 10% of sugar out of processed foods is not an accomplishment. It’s a sad compromise. In fact, the whole program is a sad compromise. And it doesn’t work. It was never meant to and the food conglomerates will make sure of it. Forgive me for being less than enthused.
The bottom line is that we, as parents, need to stop buying these products. When sales of these products plummet, only then will they make changes. As long as they can continue to pump processed trash into the school system nothing will ever change. Frankly, I’m glad that less kids are eating the school lunch and opting to bring their own. Hopefully, they are bringing healthier food. But at least the schools are waking up. That’s a start.