Childhood Obesity vs. Eating Disorders

I was pleased to learn that Michelle Obama has chosen combatting childhood obesity as her focus for 2010. Let's face it, this is a growing problem in our society, one focused around our twisted American food culture. Her focus will be on promoting health, expanding the education efforts on the importance of health eating in families with an emphasis on fruits and vegetables. I probably shouldn't have been surprised, but was, to learn that there was outrage spreading about the fact that Obama had mentioned her own daughters' weight issues in a recent comment about the importance of fighting child obesity. People who have experience with eating disorders feel that by drawing attention to her own daughters bodies. I will never make light of eating disorders, but I am shocked that people are drawing this conclusion from Obama's statement. In her comment, Obama specifically said that their pediatrician had told her that her daughters were overweight and needed to lose weight. The eating disorder folks are lamenting Obama putting her daughters on a "diet" at such a young age. Surely they must see that a healthy diet goes hand in hand with preventing eating disorders? Without a doubt, our society gives our youth an unhealthy image to live up to. I would love to see less rail-thin models, especially when it comes to youth-targeted advertising. However, the other side of our advertising to children is encouraging them to indulge in fat-laden, vegetable-deprived, HFCS-filled junk. How can we try to condemn Obama for wanting to help her daughters find a healthy weight by eating healthy foods, and making it a family effort? I think Obama should be applauded for not only her efforts, but for showing that the first family deals with many of the same issues that we all deal with. I hope that she will be able to educate more families on the importance of healthy eating, and hopefully expand programs to take these educational efforts into schools as well. Our kids should be the best motivation for us to eat healthy, whole foods again.