Michelle Obama to wield influence over America’s diet

Obama plans to take her initiative all the way into your home and onto your dinner table. “We just need everyone to do their part — and it’s going to take everyone. No one gets off the hook on this one — from governments to schools, corporations to non-profits, all the way down to families sitting around their dinner table,” she said at the public release of the Task Force on Obesity’s report in May.

With the first lady’s introduction of the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition, Obama appears to be getting even closer to becoming the country’s very first food-choice svengali. According to its website, the council is charged with reporting to the “president through the secretary of health and human services about opportunities to develop accessible, affordable and sustainable physical activity, fitness, sports and nutrition programs for all Americans regardless of age, background or ability.”

The first lady’s communications director, Camile Johnston explained Mrs. Obama’s official involvement with the council to The Daily Caller, “The council and its members will be integral parts of the ‘Let’s Move!’ campaign. The first lady is not a member of the council, but we do expect that we will work closely with them in the months and years to come.”

Prior to the addition of “nutrition” to its title, the council focused primarily on encouraging physical activity by providing exercise guidelines, research, offering awards, and having citizens, especially school children, participate in the “President’s Challenge.” With the new focus on nutrition, the council will also be promoting healthy eating and seeking to influence public policy with that end in mind.

Currently the council is focused on pushing the Child Nutrition Reauthorization bill through Congress, about which Obama said in her launch speech: “this bill controls the programs that provide school lunches to kids all across the country. And what we do know is that our kids are getting most of their activity, most of their nutrition at school.”

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