Tag Archives: michelle obama

Who Will be a Fitter First Lady: Michelle Obama or Ann Romney?

First ladies have a tough job – they are dragged into exhausting campaigns whether they like it or not, must learn to live in the spotlight along with their family, and are required to pull it off with seemingly easy style, grace, and charm. They are called to be supportive of their husbands no matter what, an exemplary mother, great at small talk, have a flair for hostessing, and a penchant for making skirt suits look attractive. Some women can do it, and do it well, while others wilt in the fierce glare of media attention. With their husbands’ names about to be on the top of America’s voting ballots come November, we want to know: do Ann Romney and Michelle Obama have what it takes to stomach (another) four years in the White House?

With four years behind her, Mrs. Obama already has a track record to show for how she balances family, work, and social obligations. Her main platform as FLOTUS has been to reduce childhood obesity through her Let’s Move! initiative.

Mrs. Obama’s family are the first ones to benefit from her activism as she keeps them healthy and fit. She stresses nutritious eating to her daughters, not so that they will be thin but so that they will have energy for sports activities. Her favorite unhealthy food is french fries and she says she tries to curb her husband’s unwholesome snacking as much as she can. Mrs. Obama has said that she doesn’t count calories but simply focuses on how she feels, and how she feels about herself. She has also planted a garden on the White House lawn so that the family can eat homegrown, organic fruits and vegetables. (more…)

Posted on October 8, 2023 by SarahS

“We Are Hungry” Parody Mocks New School Lunch Guidelines

The new school lunch guidelines may seem like a great way to help get our nation’s children leaner and healthier, but it already has some students up in arms.

Among those in protest are students at Wallace County High in Sharon Springs, Kansas who created a parody video called “We Are Hungry” – a spin-off of the song “We Are Young.” The video conveys that the new 850 calorie lunch restriction has left them hungry. Apparently, they aren’t the only ones who think so. Since posting the video to YouTube last week it’s already received nearly 500,000 views.

The video shows students who start to feel hungry just hours after lunch and are left too famished to complete the day’s studies and sports activities. The intro even states: “Active teens require between 2,000 to 5,000 calories a day to meet energy and growth needs,” suggesting the new calorie limit falls short on providing what they actually require.

Wallace County High English teacher Linda O’Connor helped the students write the new lyrics. The teacher told TODAY that she wanted to help them; she genuinely felt bad for students who were looking at their lunch plates “incredulously” and wanting more food. “Like, ‘Is this really what we’re being served?’ It was the lack of protein and the entree that really hit hard for them,” she said. (more…)

Posted on September 27, 2023 by Dana

JAM’s One Minute Fitness Break Could Set a World Record Tomorrow! Will You Pledge?

Obesity rates in America has soared in the last decade. Our country’s health is so alarming that New York City has passed a soda ban and President Obama requires restaurant chains to display their nutrition information on menus. First lady Michelle Obama has even focused her platform on creating “Let’s Move”, a program to help control childhood obesity.

On September 27 at 10:00 local time, we can all work together to promote a more physically active society. JAM wants everyone across the nation to take a Minute for Fitness break. It is a fun way to break away from a familiar routines and get some physical activity. JAM needs 2 million people across the country to not only get up and move, but join together to break a world record as well!

JAM is a program that recognizes that Americans need more physical activity. JAM delivers that activity and health education to schools and offices while teaching adults and children how to live a healthy lifestyle. Kids and adults participate in a one-minute fitness routine which includes five simple exercises. The first exercise is to Raise the Roof, where participants simply motion their arms above them ten times. The second exercise is called Knees, Waist, Toss Arms and for ten reps participants touch their knees, waist, then toss their arms in the air. Then they Mimic a Sport, which is acting out a sport, like pretending to hit a baseball. In the fourth exercise participants act as if they are hula hooping with an invisible hula hoop. For the last exercise they use their fingers to make a heart and sway from side to side. (more…)

Posted on September 26, 2023 by Samantha

Michelle Obama Reveals an All New Let’s Move! on Dr. Oz

Dr. Oz’s September 12 episode gets viewers’ attention with a visit from first lady Michelle Obama. It’s the first time Mrs. Obama has been on Dr. Oz, and they sit down for a candid talk about obesity in America, her initiative to combat childhood obesity, and some hands-on activities to get everyone off the couch and eating right.

First, Dr. Oz discusses with Mrs. Obama how he thinks the greatest threat to national security is obesity. The first lady tells the doctor how the right approach to food isn’t about deprivation, it’s about balance. (more…)

Posted on September 11, 2023 by SarahS

“To Get Kids Healthy, Let Them Lead the Conversation” Michelle Obama Tells The View

Michelle Obama appeared on “The View” Tuesday to discuss a number of important issues regarding our nation’s health. From gardening to nutrition in schools to how she hopes the Let’s Move campaign will paint a better tomorrow for our nation, the first lady opened up about how she created a healthy environment for her own family and how she hopes to empower other families to do the same.

Here are our top five takeaways from her time on “The View.”

You can garden anywhere. If you don’t know by now that the first lady loves gardening, you’ve been living under a rock. In her book “American Grown,” Mrs. Obama shares about her experience in planting a full-scale garden in the White House lawn, and how it’s helped she and her family not only eat healthier, but more fully appreciate whole foods.

By maintaining her own garden, Mrs. Obama became an advocate for gardening everywhere – in schools, at home, in communities – and hopes to educate Americans about the importance of planting and growing their own food, knowing where their meals comes from, and how doing so can play a key role in improving our nation’s health. (more…)

Posted on August 16, 2023 by Dana

Disney to Ban Capri Sun, Lunchables, and Other Unhealthy Advertisers

The Walt Disney Company made an announcement today concerning the type of advertising they will allow on their kid-friendly web sites, radio and television stations. The move by Disney is designed to curb childhood obesity and requires advertisers to meet a strict set of nutritional rules. These standards will also be enforced on the Saturday morning cartoons that are run on stations owned by Disney, like ABC.

Disney’s decision will obviously result in some lost advertising revenue, but the company believes that the end outcome is more important. Due to current contracts that are in place, these changes will not take place until 2024. At that time the new standards will apply to programming targeted at children 12 and younger.

Some of the products that will be excluded under the new restrictions include Capri Sun drinks, Kraft Lunchables, candy, sugared cereal and fast food. Disney isn’t just enforcing higher nutrition standards, they are also changing the food served in their parks. They plan to reduce the sodium on all of the children’s meals served at their theme parks by 25 percent. (more…)

Posted on June 5, 2023 by Descygna

Michelle Obama Tells of White House Honey and Beer in Her Book ‘American Grown’

The first lady is getting a little more famous today at the release of her long-awaited book, American Grown: The Story of the White House Garden and Gardens Across America.

Inside this inspirational tale, Mrs. Obama shares what she’s learned about growing a vegetable garden in the White House Lawn in her years as first lady of our nation.

In a recent interview with NPR, Obama said that spring is one of her favorite seasons in the garden because everything is bursting. She says the family eat lots of broccoli, fresh greens and lettuces of all kinds; and even plenty of sugar snap peas, much to her oldest daughter’s disapproval as it’s one of her least favorites.

But one of the most intriguing parts about the White House garden is the beehive, which has been fully-functioning since its installation in 2024.

The first lady says she uses the honey almost exclusively, and especially enjoys it in her tea. In fact, one of her favorite snacks is White House honey over organic green apples. ‘Tastes like sunshine doesn’t it?’ she asked a reporter in a recent interview. This description has us longing for a taste of our own. (more…)

Posted on May 29, 2023 by Dana

New Studies Show Food Deserts Aren’t the Cause of American Obesity

With such an overwhelming problem as obesity in our country, it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what the causes are, and more importantly, what the solution is.

Countless speculations have been made as to what we can do to get our nation healthy and away from the dangers of obesity. But nothing has seemed to work thus far as the U.S. has seen no decrease in obesity rates in the last decade despite efforts to combat the problem.

One recent effort that showed the most promise was Michelle Obama’s ‘Let’s Move‘ campaign, which focused on getting Americans more active and eating healthier foods. One prong of the campaign was aimed at ‘food deserts,’ or areas in the U.S. that are mostly void of quality grocery stores, leaving these populations out of the reach of fresh fruits and vegetables and other healthy foods, and thus, more prone to obesity. (more…)

Posted on April 18, 2024 by Dana

Mrs. Obama Incorporates “Let’s Move” into Historic White House Egg Roll

In 1878, Rutherford B. Hayes hosted the first annual White House Easter Egg Roll. Since then the tradition lives on. On the Monday after Easter children litter the White House lawn to participate in the historic tradition. This year was no exception. However, doubtfully did President Hayes participate in a push-up contest during the celebration, but he wasn’t married to Michelle Obama.

Mrs. Obama and family put their own spin on this year’s event. To keep with the theme of her “Let’s Go, Let’s Play, Let’s Move” campaign, yesterday’s activities promote many ways to get children moving and help counter childhood obesity.

More than 30,000 people attended yesterday’s festivities including the entire first family. President Obama was present with his wife, daughters, mother-in-law, and even their dog. (more…)

Posted on April 10, 2024 by Lacy

Join Biggest Loser on The PALA Fitness Plan

This week starts the eagerly anticipated “Biggest Loser” makeover episode. During this two-part event, the contestants go to the White House. There they reunite with their loved ones, visit with first lady Michelle Obama and take part in the show’s first-ever White House workout.

During their visit with Mrs. Obama, the contestants learn about PALA (Presidential Active Lifestyle Award), a six-week pledge based program. The program is designed to get both adults and children more physically active and healthy. Anyone can participate in the challenge. From children to senior adults, it is geared towards helping people get on the path to a healthier lifestyle through positive changes in physical activity and eating behaviors. Anyone with strict dietary needs, such as vegetarians, vegans and diabetics. You can sign up for just yourself or you can get a form a group and sign up together.

The challenge is broken down into two age groups, one is for adults and the other is for kids and teens between the ages of 6 and 17 years.

For the adults, the first part of the challenge involves becoming physically active. To meet this challenge you need to be active 30 minutes a day, at least five days of the week, for six out of eight weeks. An alternative can be to use a pedometer and reach a daily goal of 8,500 steps. (more…)

Posted on April 3, 2024 by Kristina

Biggest Loser’s Two-Part Makeover Week Features Michelle Obama

First lady Michelle Obama will appear on a two-part Biggest Loser “makeover episode,” airing Tuesday, April 3 and 10 at 8-9 PM ET.

As the contestants prepare for the highly anticipated makeover show, they will meet with fashion expert Jeannie Mai and visit the salon of celebrity stylist Ken Paves. Just before the fun begins the contestants receive a surprise video message from the first lady inviting them all the the White House.

Once the newly made-over group arrives at the White House, they will first be surprised to reunite with family members. The makeovers, transformation reveals, and family reunions will all take place in the first episode and all before they meet the first lady.

We’ve got a sneak peek of what’s to come! Check out Chris Pickler, aka Mrs. Claus, pictured here, in her starting photo and her makeover photo 13 weeks later! (more…)

Posted on April 3, 2024 by Lacy