Obesity task force has a recipe for success

A moving address: "We're setting really clear goals and benchmarks and measurable outcomes that will help tackle this challenge one step, one family and one child at a time," first lady Michelle Obama said at an event to unveil the report by the White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity.


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By Robin Givhan
Wednesday, May 12, 2010


Washington Post


In a tremendous show of administration muscle, Cabinet officials Tuesday stood shoulder to shoulder onstage with Michelle Obama to reveal results of the White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity: a 124-page report laying out 70 recommendations and a gentle warning that, while the federal government can't solve the obesity epidemic, it is prepared to take action where others don't.


The task force, created by the president as part of the first lady's "Let's Move" campaign, which launched in February, defined success by the numbers: returning this country to a childhood obesity rate of 5 percent by 2030. The current rate is about 20 percent.


Members of the task force, chaired by White House domestic policy adviser Melody Barnes, focused their efforts on five areas: prenatal care, empowering parents with nutritional information and community support, getting healthier foods into schools, increasing access to healthy foods in neglected urban and rural neighborhoods, and making sure that all kids are physically active.


The recommendations were unveiled at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, where Barnes held up a copy of the report -- 90 days in the making -- with its multitude of sections and subsections. Cabinet officials lending their voices included Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan...link to complete article