EnviroMom supports Let's Move! Campaign

We took advantage of a gorgeous spring-like day yesterday, loaded up our bikes and headed to a nearby bike/walk path and logged… 8 miles on our family's first bike outing of the year. It's always a bit of a letdown how little actual biking we do given the amount of work it is to load up the bikes, fill the water bottles, find all our helmets, etc. But hey, it was fun. We were together as a family. We're weren't glued to the TV watching the Olympics (a crime on such a pretty day). We were outdoors. We moved.

I think it's awesome that Michelle Obama is heading up the national Let's Move campaign. I'll join the army of moms (and dads) it will take to make this program count in our country's fight to end childhood obesity. I appreciate that the stress is on movement, vs. 'eat your veggies.' As a mom who struggles to get her kids to eat their recommended daily allowances of fruits and vegetables every day, there's no question as to which of the following statements will be greeted with cheers:

• Hey kids! Fresh beets for dinner!
• Hey kids! Let's go on a family bike ride!

Of course, we all know that optimal health is finding the balance between eating a variety of good foods (and not too much) and fun, playful exercise. The Let's Move program presents a balanced approach of four key components:

1. Tools for parents to make healthy choices. I love Obama's quote on this: 'It's time we all had a wake-up call. Our kids didn't do this to themselves...Our kids don't choose to make food products with tons of sugar and sodium in super-sized portions, and then have those products marketed to them everywhere they turn.'
2. Improving the quality of food in school lunches (yay!)
3. Making sure all Americans have access to affordable and healthy food (the quickie marts containing all the corn-sugar food-like products don't count)
4. Increasing and improving physical education and activity

Heather had written about the Jamie Oliver Food Revolution show starting up this month, and I caught a teaser video from it:

Given the (lack of) knowledge of fresh veggies from this first grade class, our nation is in grave trouble. We have our work cut out for us. Let's Move, indeed!