It has been a full year since First Lady Michelle Obama launched the Let’s Move campaign to the Country. The campaign’s main focus is to reduce the rate of childhood obesity in America. To the public, Let’s Move emphasizes the importance of healthier eating choices and increasing physical activity. Behind the scenes, Mrs. Obama has been working hard on encouraging beverage and food companies to cut calories and salt from their product offerings, and to be more transparent about their products’ nutritional contents.
A recent article from the New York Times reported that the Michelle is now setting her sights on the restaurant industry. Apparently, the Let’s Move campaign is having conversations with the National Restaurant Association about starting a program that would encourage restaurants to offer smaller portions and healthier options for kids menus.
The Obamas are long time proponents of menu labeling as means of educating the public about their food choices. President Obama even included mandatory nutrition labeling for chain restaurants as part of the National Health Care Reform Bill which has drawn a lot of praise and criticism.
Not much has been released about what will be involved in this new program aimed at restaurants, but I am pretty sure that it will be voluntary, nothing like the Toy Ban. I have already been noticing a lot of healthier kids options on restaurant menus, so I feel like this may be pretty well received by the industry.
What do you think? Will restaurants buy into a program to support healthy eating for kids?