Michelle Obama on Healthy Eating Push: ‘This Isn’t the Nanny State’

EXCERPT:

Starting with kids seemed like the only place start. And then making it fun and not placing blame and try not to be nanny state, right? Try not to tell people, 'You’re doing it wrong and this is how you do it.' It’s really like, 'Let’s just try to make this fun.' Let’s plant a garden. Let’s show kids what a vegetable is. Let’s try to make it taste good. Let’s try to work with businesses and help them help families. Sell your products. Make your money, but just do it in a way that doesn’t kill our kids. How about that? We can work together on that. I will still buy your stuff, but help me understand that what I buy is going to help my kids grow up healthy. Work with us. That’s really the philosophy of 'Let’s Move.' And then let’s move. Let’s dance a little bit. Movement does not have to be some horrific exercise where you’re sweating and looking all pained. For kids, it is movement. It’s play. And if we think about how much play has been cut out the lives of our kids, not because the parents want it, but because of budget cuts and decisions that have to be made, let’s get our kids moving again. Let’s get them doing the things that they were born to do — running, jumping, playing a game, walking the dog. This isn’t complicated. This is not hard."