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The First Lady: Thank you all.
Rest.
Thank you for braving the weather and being here.
I want to start by thanking Sam for that
very outstanding introduction.
We were saying backstage, don't you believe him?
Good kid, good -- great speaker.
And thank you for your commitment and for being
such a great role model.
And also, to JoAnne for the terrific work that
you're doing to help kids lead healthier lives.
I know the work isn't easy, but it takes parents
like you being engaged.
So we are so proud of you and your entire family.
Thank you for joining us today.
I also want to recognize our outstanding Secretary
of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, who has been such
a great friend and a leader on this issue.
We could not do what we do without all your work
and your entire team.
We are so proud of you.
We have been working together from the very
beginning, and it is always an honor and a
privilege to see the great strides
that we're making together.
So let's give Tom a big round of applause.
(applause)
And of course, most of all, I want to thank all
of you -- the advocates, the educators, the leaders
who've been with us from the very beginning
of this journey.
As you all remember, back when we first launched
Let's Move this whole healthy eating thing was
still kind of a novelty.
Back then, if a school grew a garden
or installed a salad bar, if a fast food restaurant started
selling a healthy item or a business offered
employees incentives to exercise more, that was a
big deal.
Some folks even warned me that taking on childhood
obesity might be controversial.
They thought kids and parents should deal with
these issues privately.
Others laughed it off as not a real issue at all.
Well, four years later, that all seems like
ancient history.
Today, big chain restaurants have whole
menus of healthy choices.
Entire organizations are working
to plant school gardens.
And water just surpassed soda as the most commonly
consumed beverage in America.
Yay!
Go, water.
Drink up.
(applause)
And today, folks are really starting to think
about what they eat and how active they are,
so they're scrutinizing labels; they're asking
questions; they're changing what
they feed their families.
And just as we no longer smoke or drink when we're
pregnant, just as we no longer let our kids ride
their bikes without a helmet or sit
in the backseat of the car without a car seat, today,
we know that we can no longer let our kids eat
whatever they want, because
now we know better.
Now we've seen the devastating effects that
poor nutrition has on their health.
And this new approach to eating and activity is not
just a fad, and it's no longer just a movement.
Instead, here in America, healthy habits are
becoming the new norm.
And nowhere is that more clear than in our schools,
which have been a core focus of Let's Move right
from the very beginning.
See, Let's Move is based on a very simple idea that
parents should be in control
of their kids' health.
And their good efforts at home shouldn't be
undermined when they send their kids off to school.
Parents have a right to expect that during the
school day, their kids will have food that meets
basic nutrition standards, and they'll have a chance
to maybe move around a little bit
while they're there, too.
And that's why we launched Let's Move Active Schools.
And today, more than 6,500 schools are bringing
physical activity back into the classrooms.
And because of the child nutrition bill we passed
back in 2010, today nearly 90 percent of our schools
-- 90 percent of them -- have already implemented
new school lunch standards.
With the hard work of so many administrators
and chefs, nutrition professionals and others,
these schools have
literally transformed their menus.
They're serving more fruits and veggies, more
whole grains and more lean protein.
And starting next fall, they'll be offering only
healthy snacks and beverages
in their vending machines as well.
So this is a big deal.
And so far, these changes have been
a resounding success.
In fact, in a number of American school districts
-- places like Dallas, Orlando, Cincinnati --
although they're not charging any more for
their lunches, they're actually making more money
because more kids are participating
in the school lunch programs.
So we're making some real strides in our schools.
And that's why I'm thrilled to continue this
progress with two very important
announcements we're making today.
The first is that we're issuing new school
wellness guidelines to help build healthier
learning environments for our kids.
And as part of this effort,
we'll be eliminating advertisements for unhealthy
food and beverages in our schools.
Because I think we can all agree that our classrooms
should be healthy places where kids are not
bombarded with ads for junk food.
And these new marketing guidelines are actually
part of a broader effort to inspire companies
to rethink how they market food to kids in general.
Because the fact is, today, the average child
watches thousands of food advertisements each year,
and 86 percent of these ads are for products
loaded with sugar, fat or salt.
And, by contrast, our kids see an average of just one
ad a week for healthy products like water,
fruits and vegetables.
Just one.
So that's why we convened the first ever White House
Summit on food marketing to children, where I urged
businesses to stop marketing unhealthy foods
to our kids and do more
to get kids excited about healthy foods.
And that same principle should apply
to our schools.
Our second announcement today focuses on school
breakfast, and I cannot possibly overstate how
important this is, because right now,
millions of children in this country are showing
up for school hungry every day.
And too many kids aren't eating breakfast even when
it's provided because they feel like there's a stigma
with participating in the school breakfast program.
And this is happening here in the wealthiest country
on Earth, and it's intolerable.
And that's why we're expanding our school
breakfast program, ensuring that nearly
9 million kids in 22,000 schools start
their day with a nutritious breakfast.
And as you all know, this doesn't just affect their
health, it affects their performance in school.
In fact, a recent study showed that kids who eat a
healthy breakfast perform 17.5 percent better on
math tests, and they
have fewer disciplinary problems.
So this is critical for our kids' future
and it's also critical for the future of our country --
because healthy and well-educated kids are
more likely to become healthy, well-educated
adults who will build a productive workforce
and a vibrant economy for generations to come.
So with these two announcements today, and
the initiatives we've launched these past four
years, we are well on our way to building healthier
schools for all of our children.
And I want us just to take a moment to really think
about what this will mean for our kids
in the years ahead.
Children born today will be accustomed to eating
healthy food during the school day.
So, for them, the norm will be fruits and
vegetables, and not chips and candy.
And instead of sitting endlessly at their desks
with no breaks, the norm will be kids up and moving
throughout the day -- in gym, in recess, and during
breaks in between lessons.
And to the extent these kids are seeing
advertisements, those ads will
be for healthy products.
So, hopefully, at the grocery store,
they'll be begging us for items from the produce aisle rather
than the snack food aisle, because that's what
they're seeing on TV.
And if we keep coming together and working
together, all of this will be the new norm for our
kids here in this country.
For our youngest kids, this might be all they'll
ever know, and these changes will shape their
habits and tastes for the rest of their lives,
including what they buy and feed their
own kids in the years to come.
So if there's anyone out there who was thinking
to themselves, in a few years this lady will be gone --
(laughter)
-- and this whole Let's Move thing
will finally be over so we can go back to business
as usual -- if you know anyone out there who might
be thinking that way, you might want to remind them
that I didn't create this issue
and I'm not the one who is truly driving it forward.
All of you are.
And that's really my message to all of you
today: Keep on doing what you're doing --
because with every healthy choice you make in the grocery
store or at a restaurant, you're making a statement
about the food you want for your kids.
And while your kids might grumble at first when you
serve them this food, you know that if you stand
firm, they'll adjust.
That's our job as parents
-- to hold steady through the whining.
(laughter)
We do that all the time.
No child wants to brush their teeth or go to the
doctor for shots, but we make them do those things
anyway because these are the norms
for keeping our kids healthy.
And healthy eating and physical activity are
really no different.
These are becoming the new norms
for raising healthy kids.
So we need to keep it up.
We need to keep on coming up with new ideas to get
kids excited about healthy habits, particularly in
our schools.
So many of you are leading the way.
For example, at Marshall High School in Virginia,
kids actually wrote and performed a "wrap" song --
and that's "wrap" spelled with a "W."
And the goal was to get their classmates excited
about healthy eating.
And here's one of the lyrics that I love:
"If I'm gonna help my brain come to fruition,
I'm gonna have to feed it quality nutrition.
We love the cookies but they're not sufficient.
We need veggies to make our bodies efficient.
Roll my chicken in a wrap, don't jam it in a nugget.
(laughter)
Get hyped for healthy snacks; fresh food
Get hyped for healthy snacks; fresh food
-- we love it."
Pretty good.
(applause)
Holla!
Love that.
Don't jam it in a nugget -- not my chicken.
This is just one example of the explosion of good
ideas in our schools.
And to celebrate the fourth anniversary
of Let's Move, I am asking folks across
America to get up and show me how you move.
Show me the fun, creative things you're doing
in your homes, schools and communities to get kids
excited about eating healthy and being active.
Show me how you move.
I want you to tweet it, Facebook it,
Instagram it with the hashtag
#LetsMove so that everyone can see how you're moving
towards a healthier future.
If we get enough of a response,
we might have a little surprise from the President
and the Vice President.
I'm just saying.
(laughter) And I ask you to do this not just
to celebrate our progress, but to motivate
us for all the work that still lies ahead.
Because while childhood obesity rates are
beginning to fall, we still have a long way
to go before we solve this problem once and for all.
And that's what the next three years
will be all about.
They'll be about pushing forward to reinforce these
new norms -- because we have come so far, so we
can't slow down and we can't turn back now.
So we have to understand there's a lot at stake --
not just for our kids' health and success, but
for the success of our entire country.
So we need to keep pushing and innovating
and inspiring each other to do more
for our next generation.
And if we do that, I am confident that we can give
our kids the happy, healthy futures
they so richly deserve.
So I look forward to working
with all of you together.
I'm excited to see how everybody is moving out
there throughout the country.
And I can't wait to see everything
we achieve in the years to come.
So thank you all again for your dedication,
and God bless you.
Take care.
(applause)