The debate heated up last month as Congress was considering a $4.5 billion childhood nutrition program, backed by Michelle Obama, that expands eligibility for school meals programs, establishes nutrition standards for all foods sold in schools and provides a six-cent increase for each school lunch to help cafeterias serve healthier meals. The bill cleared the Senate unanimously in August and easily passed the House, 264-157, earlier this month. – Palin takes hit from the right for picking food fight with Michelle Obama
With an an “estimated 34.2% of U.S. adults aged 20 years and over are overweight, 33.8% are obese, and 5.7% are extremely obese,” according to the CDC, First Lady Michelle Obama’s quiet perseverance on childhood obesity, diet and healthier life choices was the most important campaign waged in 2010. Entitled “Let’s Move,” Mrs. Obama is the heroine of the year for taking it on.
It’s simply a bonus that she made Sarah Palin look like a fool while doing it.
“Where are the s’mores ingredients?” the sharp-elbowed hockey mom growled in Sunday’s episode of her outdoorsy TLC show “Sarah Palin’s Alaska.” “This is in honor of Michelle Obama, who said the other day we should not have dessert,” Palin said mockingly as she rummaged through her kitchen cupboards for graham crackers, marshmallows and chocolate. – Sarah Palin mocks Michelle Obama’s anti-obesity campaign
With Palin’s popularity plummeting, she may have to hold on to her 2010 Tea Party midterm victory, which made her the obvious “Person of the Year,” as her biggest hurrah. The smarter move for Palin, which should have been a no brainer for a politician needing to expand her base, would have been to embrace First Lady Michelle Obama’s kids’ health campaign. But for whatever reason the idiocy of her advisers seems to revolve around contrarianism for the sake of it, even when what she’s railing against is wiser than what she’s advocating. It’s this stubbornness to embrace a good idea even if it’s not yours that gives us a peek into Sarah’s deep-seated insecurity. It’s one reason she could be dangerous if allowed to rise further, as she possesses the same unawareness that George W. Bush had that got us into a self-defeating war in Iraq, with Sarah’s preoccupation being Iran instead.
The fact is that though there are undoubtedly illnesses and infections that come out of the blue, the majority of our health ills are self-inflicted, many coming straight from our own diets, as well as the stresses of our life we let get out of control. A simple act of changing your diet is a beginning, as long as you realize it’s a lifestyle choice at its foundation, which will inevitably also attack the stress you’re living. I know this through my own life and the journey I began in my late teens to become healthier and more in control over my health. It began by curing myself of migraines, with other benefits of a healthier diet a contagion of positive manifestations.
No one has to be fat, out of shape, unhealthy, laden with mood swings or at the whim of outside forces.
First Lady Michelle Obama has quietly worked to begin to revolutionize thinking on childhood obesity, which has the added benefit of instilling self-control and discipline in one area of a person’s life that impacts all others, too.
Everyone should stand with her, but also take another step by taxing sugary drinks and sodas, which are fat breeders and mood enhancers that don’t do anything good for young people. Fighting the soft drink industry is tough work, but someone should take them on.
From Fred Hiatt, who gets this one correct:
For the nation, it could be bankrupting. Obesity and its attendant ills already may add as much as $147 billion to health-care costs each year, one-tenth of the nation’s medical bill, a figure that is certain to rise. And the Army reports that one in four young people is too fat to serve.
Anyone who has been at an airport recently can see the problem for yourself.
We are a fat, lazy, overeating nation.
It’s costing us, including through our health care plans, because we pay for the illnesses of people who don’t have the willpower to take control over their own life through their eating, which is the strongest area of prevention of disease each of us actually can control.
Now if Mrs. Obama could just get Pres. Obama to stop smoking for good.
As for what you can do for your own health as the New Year approaches, make the decision to join a gym in January. Get your cardio up and your heart pumping. Working out will also help with the stress that’s killing you. It’s the absolute best thing you can do for those who love you.
My own opinion is that the first lady has really followed a very defined path for the liberals in her battle against obesity.
She has veere off from most first lady’s efforts. How? She hasn’t been proactive about programs.
Instead, it’s been mostly finger-wagging.
And she set up herself as well as her critics. Who can dispute the problem? Who can also dispute that making food industries the source is ridiculous.
She has to live with her own honest efforts.
Apparently, that’s good enuf for her.
It’s a first lady stale-mate, I say.
Shame on her. She had real power. She has blown it
You really need to re-read the top graph from The Hill. The bill that got through Congress is HUGE and wouldn’t have happened without Mrs. Obama.
That she also started the first garden at the White House in U.S. history was exemplary and continued the thread Alice Waters started about utilizing locally grown & fresh foods, which revolutionized the restaurant industry.
So, though you’re certainly entitled to your opinion, you’re simply incorrect on the facts.
Spot on, Taylor. If the graph isn’t enough, just visit the local shopping mall. While I wouldn’t consider myself skinny, by comparison,I am. It gets frustrating having to dart around all of the slow-moving, waddling fat people in my way. While I give some credence to folks who have true medical conditions that lead to obesity, the number 1 problem has to be junk food addiction, much like alcoholism. Only there is no penalty for Driving While Obese (DWO) and having a heart attack at the wheel because you clogged your arteries with a poor diet, IMHO, it is just as serious a health threat, if not more, than alcoholism.
I know this post will probably upset a lot of people. Too bad. Sometimes the truth hurts. Many don’t want to take responsiblity for what they put into their bodies. Well, for the most part (except where a medical condition is the root cause), you are what you eat so go look in a mirror and you be the judge.
no wonder poll numbers look grim for palin. jensen from ppp says it staggering her negatives even in alaska they are sky high. new poll out shows huckabee with a strong lead with 2/3 of gop primary voters. palin’s petty attacks and lack of any ideas is very unhelpful at a time when this nation deserves better from both sides. much better. the schooll lunch bill is very iportant- it transforms what our kids are to be fed in school etc.. we have 12 yr old with diabetes and worse. most kids today get their lunch via school lunch programs. if taught to eat right then they will eat right their whole life. its people like palin that make the situationf or this nation so grim. obama is clueless ont he economy and is ready to slash away at the new deal. palin is snarky at best with no ideas. she just disses folks daily on facebook it seems. we need a leader.
huckabee is a dangerous pol. he can sound half sane, attends union evens regularly down here and could get some of thos e reagan dems i think.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1210/Huckabees_strength.html?showall
Totally agree with you texan,Huckabee is a dangerous pol. He can seem very warm and caring.I have watched him work a crowd on c-span and he is very slick.
Even the WSJ chided Palin for this –
From The Hill (quoting the WSJ):
http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/other/135221-conservatives-blast-palins-attacks-on-obamas-anti-obesity-campaign:
I think its a ham-handed attempt by Ms Palin to reinforce the narrative that Democrats want to create the nanny state, and that Republicans are big believers in individual freedom. Palin has the uncanny ability to take a complex societal problem like childhood obesity and re-frame it into an argument about “elites” somehow dissing “regular” Americans.
Which, at heart, seems to be the one narrative Ms Palin excels at. Taking on the First lady isn’t new it just exhibits a certain level of mean girl churlishness that I think will be a turn-off to many.
I am in agreement with taxing soda and fast food although I doubt it will curb anybody’s enthusiasm for their mountain Dew, at least it will help pay for their healthcare.
And ladywalker, obesity is a complex problem that simply isn’t related to junk-food addiction or laziness alone. It is as much an economic problem as anything else, but I am certainly in agreement that people need to take some responsibility for what they put in their mouths.
“And ladywalker, obesity is a complex problem that simply isn’t related to junk-food addiction or laziness alone. It is as much an economic problem as anything else, but I am certainly in agreement that people need to take some responsibility for what they put in their mouths.”
I totally agree with you.
I think it was stupid for Palin to lash out at Michelle Obama for using her bully pulpit to help fight obesity. To me, with each passing day Palin looks more like a candidate to play the lead role in “Mean Girls, Part 2″ as opposed to candidate for POTUS. I’ll admit, she’s very good at getting attention- just as with most toddlers, she knows that negative attention is almost as good, if not better, than positive attention. Her latest snark was something about the hypocrisy of vegetarians? Brilliant, really. The common theme with Palin is that she’s a petty, mean person who blasts out bumper sticker talking points to great effect. When it comes to actual substance, there’s no there there. She’s the perfect poster girl for the mean-spirited, far right- she’s an updated, slightly softer version (although not much) of Ann Coulter and her appeal to independents is nil. I am beginning to think she’s as much a media creation as anything else. I’m not trying to belittle her popularity or her role as a leader of the angry right, but at the end of the day, she doesn’t seem to have the knowledge or temperament to lead anything, let alone a country. What’s she gonna do when the going gets tough, attack Iran with sarcasm and snark?
Oh boy Taylor, you are going to make getty very mad today!
I agree with buckhill that obesity is a more complex problem than some would like to make it.In fact I would love to see more studies. For an example, on what the additive of so much corn and corn oil to processed products is doing to people?
Especially in young people. Many are prisoners of their environments;living in urban areas that are food deserts with few safe outdoor places to exercise.Add to that mothers who work two or three jobs with kids often left on their own for meals. I often had students who made dinner for sibs. They cooked simple,cheap, easy to make things like frozen pizza and mac and cheese etc.
In rural areas it seems more cultural and habitual but can also be economic.
I don’t think finger wagging is the way to go ladywalker,I can’t think of too many alcholics that have become sober that way if your theories are true.
I think the First Lady has made a good start and props go to her if she improved the school lunch program in which the Reagan administration labeled katsup as a vegetable.The WH “home” garden is something that I would love to see grow in this country along with the ‘eating locally’ movement.
Eating locally incentivises lots of things that are good for people and good for the environment and for local economies.
It supports people who are staying on the land and trying to use it for healthy purposes as opposed to the huge distructive corporate farms.
It cuts out the middle man(transportation) that adds to our dependence on foreign oil,it protects our water sheds from fertilizer and toxic chemicals to control weeds or toxic run off from big concentrations of animal waste.
It encourages people to eat whole,wholesome,seasonal,food and meat with no hormones added.
I know that some cities are doing it but I would love for the practice of turning ruined city lots into gardens,worked by and for the community, to grow everywhere.It would be so good for city youth on so many levels.
If the upside down farm subsidy program could be rethought to reflect health and sustainability think of the difference that wouild make in people’s lives.
Lake Lady–I agree. Alcholics recover by being encouraged to take responsibility for their sobriety, even though it is considered a chronic disease just like diabetes. Beating it is easier said than done, especially if you look at relapse rates. Yet alcoholics are often treated as undisclined losers who just can’t get their acts together or control themselves.
What I am suggesting is that our obesity issues in this country are just as serious and complex as alcoholism, and I believe that in fighting obeseity there is much that can be learned from approaches used in fighting alcoholism. You must be vigilent and battle it one day at a time and with support of others around you who face the same challenges. I am glad the First Lady is making this a priority.
I am glad about that too.
I just think we are so fast to be unloving in this country and we always want to blame people and find scapegoats for systemic society wide problems. I am just a believer in a postitive,loving approach to things.
Having known and loved some alcholics in my life I have to say that I don’t think of them as undisciplined losers.I think of them as people with a terrible, powerful, disease.
Daniel Patrick Moinihan is often quoted I notice when discussing what has happened in our country. Brilliant man! Contributed much to the body politic during his time. Raging alcholic. Ted Kenneday certainly had his battles with the bottle and I miss his voice more each day. Let’s try not to paint with such a broad brush..that’s all I’m sayin’….
I didn’t no why Sarah Palin went after first lady Michelle Obama, all she is trying to do is help the problem with childhood obesity. But I am thinking the reason why Sarah Palin said what she said is because 1. Michelle Obama is for it 2. She believes that the government should stay out of peoples lives and let the parents decide what good for their kids. I am a Sarah Palin fan and I was against what she said about the First Lady also. Sarah Palin should have said something about the President not following what his wife is doing. He was on camera with the Russian President eating hamburgers, The President goes and buys fatty foods when he visits diners and thats not the message he should be sending. Sarah Palin went after the wrong person. Sarah Palin works out so I don’t understand why she said what she said. Laura Imgraham always mocks First Lady Obama over her campaign. I don’t get it either.
LW68 – I would say that obesity is even more complex than has been talked about here.
Alocoholism is attacked at every angle. This is not true with obesity. In fact, if you try to take on obesity there will always be those ready withexcuses for it. There are indeed great gaps in healthy food availability in places across the US, but just look at the obese in urban areas & cities.
There is also a quick backlash on someone who dares to say that the great number of obese are self-medicating addicts just like others do with alcohol or drugs.
Mhmm…I’m not not all that impressed with this bill. They took money from freaking foodstamps to pay for it. Mrs.Obama should have insisted Congress come up with another way to pay for her bill.
palin’s numbers are just toxic. the tv show hasnt helped and her attitude is very unappealing. very. palin hits michelle over fighting obesity in kids? wtf? and obama yammers about poor vick who was given that 2nd chance from the nfl after going to jail for helping kill poor dogs. we are screwed beyond belief. leaderless
more on that poll: gop voters lean to huckabee. hucabee again to me is most dangerous of all the potential gop noms. in favor of can and trade, opposes govt shutdown, dream act, he raised taxes in ark, is a bible thumpin evengelical,pro life, attends union hall events.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/12/28/931989/-CNN:-Republicans-most-likely-to-support-Huckabee
Markos has been saying that about Huckabee for years, the same way I was warning about Mitt Romney.
I still think Huckabee will get the crap beat out of him over his pardons. Someone is going to run a Willy Horton type ad.
Just maybe it’s no one that’s in the foreground right now.
Marco Rubio will be whispered, maybe for veep, though remember where Obama was in his first Senate term?
It’s too early. All the GOP big names have been flopping around. One week Romney is up. The next week his numbers plummet. Ditto for Palin and Huckabee.
Part of the problem in comparing obesity to things like alcoholism and drug addiction is one small fact:
While it may be painfully difficult to quit, no one NEEDS to drink alcohol or take drugs or gamble or smoke or whatever. Everyone, however, still NEEDS to eat. I would argue it’s much harder to change eating habits than it is to quit smoking or drinking.
I think when I see a “debate” over an issue such as this one, then the obvious is that’s not really the debate.
The debate is the increasing intrusion of the government into our lives. And that really is the issue.
The obesity campaign is fine, in large part, except that it reinforces a theme of Democrats that people aren’t responsible. To lecture the food industry is to pretend that the food industry drives food choices.
That’s simply not true.
That is the issue.
You obviously have never read a food label if you don’t think they are part of the problem.
And intrusion into people’s lives? Good grief, were no not paying attention to what the GOP did for EIGHT years?!!!
George W. Bush produced a record expansion of so called “government intrusion” into every person’s life in this entire country. This is why people laugh at conservatives when they talk about things like “government intrusion”. The GOP wants to be in your house and in your bedroom, regulating what you do in your bedroom, not letting women make any decisions about their own reproductive rights, listening to your phone calls and the list goes on and on and on. Keep making your silly comments about “government intrusion” and we’ll just keep laughing.
Parents should be responsible for their children’s eating habits. Not the government. Individuals should be responsible for their own eating habits. Not the government.
I am responsible for myself and I am in great physical condition. I eat whatever I want. Healthy, and junk when I want it.
No one is going to deprive me of my povatica, nadovna,iced sugar cookies, potato chips and Champagne when I feel like having it.