First Lady Michelle Obama told a packed house in Lisner Auditorium Friday that the fight against childhood obesity has made headway, with strides such as Reebok’s before-school exercise program, but American families must still make better lifestyle choices.
Obama, honorary chair of the nonprofit Partnership for a Healthier America, gave the keynote speech for the annual Building a Healthier Future Summit. The first lady has championed healthy living during her time in the White House, launching the Let’s Move campaign in 2010, which promises to eradicate childhood obesity in a generation.
“Together, slowly but surely, we’re beginning to turn the tide on childhood obesity in America,” she said, citing the declining obesity rates among elementary school-aged children in Mississippi and California.
Global fitness brand Reebok announced Friday a $30 million three-year investment to promote physical activity. It will expand its early morning fitness program called Boks, which currently runs in 200 elementary schools, to 1,000 schools by 2015.
American football player Eli Manning, a sponsor of the program, said his visit to a New York City school that offered Boks inspired him.
“To know that, because of the Boks program, these kids are eager to get up an hour earlier each day and they’re more confident in everything that they do, it’s just as rewarding for me as winning the Superbowl,” the New York Giants quarterback said.
Obama called Reebok’s plans a “groundbreaking investment,” but added that parents in America still need education about nutrition, access to healthy food and ways to set examples for their children in their daily lives.
“It wasn’t that long ago that I was a working mom, juggling a demanding job and two small children and a husband who traveled,” she said. “Back then, something as simple as a grocery shopping required a finely-honed plan of attack.”
She said TV and the Internet also play important roles in how children think about eating, and called on food marketing to be both “responsible and profitable.”
Introducing the first lady, University President Steven Knapp highlighted the School of Public and Health Services’ department of exercise science and GW’s Urban Food Task Force.
“Mrs. Obama has inspired many individuals and institutions, including our University, to look for innovative ways of improving the health of our global communities,” Knapp, whose wife is a nutritionist, said. The University also announced last month that it is planning to build an urban food institute within several years.
As Obama began his speech, she thanked Knapp for “the wonderful work this university is doing to forward the agenda of nutrition and fitness.”
Mayor Cory Booker of Newark, N.J., another honorary member of the Partnership for a Healthier America, announced the winner of the event’s innovation challenge. He presented a $10,000 check to Dennis Ai, a Northwestern University student who invented a video game that teaches children about healthy eating called JiveHealth.
Friday’s event in Lisner ended the three-day D.C. summit that began on March 6.
