At the opening day of the National Governors Association meeting in Washington this morning I met with First Lady Michelle Obama and was able to tell her about all we're doing on childhood obesity in North Carolina.
Our First Lady knows very well how tough it can be for working Moms and busy kids to eat the right foods and stay physically active at home and at school. In our meeting before her speech, with a small group of Governors that have been working on this for some time, she outlined her experience as a Mom dealing with the pressures of work and home, the terrible lack of access to fresh, healthy foods in too many places both in cities and in the country, and reminded us that while the origin of the school lunch program was to address malnourishment as a national security concern for military recruiting, the number on reason today for recruits being disqualified for service is obesity.
In her speech to all the Governors she outlined the 'Four Pillars' of her recently announced 'Let's Move' initiative: information and education, better school nutrition, more widely available healthy options in grocery stores, and physical activity and school and at home.
She also specifically highlighted North Carolina's actions in these areas, including offering healthier food options in schools, building trails and exercise options in our communities, and training over 40,000 teachers to help students eat right and get fit.
I am so proud to be able to tell all my colleagues here for the NGA meeting that we are in fact living our motto of To Be And Not To Seem on this complicated and important issue. I am excited to have a national focus on the issue and our work on it and I can't wait to help push this forward.