There’s a national crisis regarding childhood obesity in America and First Lady Michelle Obama is focused on getting more kids to exercise with her Let’s Move campaign.
On its three-year anniversary, Mrs. Obama continues to push the initiative and recently chatted with SiriusXM’s new B. Smith and ‘Thank You Dan’ Show to discuss how she got her kids involved in eating healthy.
When asked if she and her daughters, Malia and Sasha, still cook together, Mrs. Obama admitted that it hasn’t been as often since they moved into the White House four years ago. “That was one of the shifts I had to make as a busy mother, you know,” said Mrs. Obama. “Really cleaning our shelves, getting rid of the heavily processed foods, getting more fresh fruits and vegetables and fresh squeezed juices in, getting them more involved in going to farmer’s markets and understanding where these fruits and vegetables are coming from.”
Her decision to get her kids involved motivated her to create the White House kitchen garden. “Because I saw how much a difference it makes when kids are involved in the planting and the harvesting and the purchasing and the preparation of the foods they eat. It really fundamentally changes their approach to what they eat and what they’ll be willing to eat.”
Eating healthy, as Mrs. Obama puts it, doesn’t mean “no taste.” She has invited lifestyle maven and radio show host B. Smith to cook for the entire White House staff this Wednesday in celebration of Black History Month. “That’s what we have to communicate in communities, that there’s a way to do all of that with foods we love and that we’ve grown up with [by] changing preparations and adding different seasonings. We can still celebrate the foods that we love but do it in a way that nourishes our bodies and gives us the strength to keep making that history.”