Child Obesity Quotes

• Kids who participate in school meal programs get roughly half of their calories each day at school. ... This is an extraordinary responsibility. But it's also an opportunity. And it's why one of the single most important things we can do to fight childhood obesity is to make those meals at school as healthy and nutritious as possible.

  Michelle Obama

  Children, Kids, Responsibility

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• Child hunger and child obesity are really just two sides of the same coin. Both rob our children of the energy, the strength and the stamina they need to succeed in school and in life. And that, in turn, robs our country of so much of their promise.

  Michelle Obama

  Country, Children, School

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• We are living in a time where we just don't have enough time. People are rushed. They're over worked, over scheduled. Not enough resources. ...But the thing that I want people to understand in this campaign is that families can make small manageable changes in their lives that can have pretty significant impacts.

  Michelle Obama

  Children, Impact, People

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• In the 10 cities with the nation's highest obesity rates, the direct costs connected with obesity and obesity-related diseases are roughly $50 million per 100,000 residents. And if these 10 cities just cut their obesity rates down to the national average, all added up they combine to save nearly $500 million in healthcare costs each year.

  Michelle Obama

  Children, Cutting, Cities

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• It's not about government telling people what to do. It's about each of us, in our own families, in our own communities, standing up and demanding more for our kids. And it's about companies like Walmart answering that call.

  Michelle Obama

  Children, Kids, Government

  "Obesity: Michelle Obama campaign seen as effective" by Carolyn Lochhead, www.sfgate.com. February 09, 2011.

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• Parents have a right to expect that their efforts at home won't be undone each day in the school cafeteria or in the vending machine in the hallway. ...Parents have a right to expect that their kids will be served fresh, healthy food that meets high nutritional standards.

  Michelle Obama

  Children, School, Kids

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• We don't need new discoveries or new inventions to reverse this trend. We have the tools at our disposal to reverse it. All we need is the motivation, the opportunity and the willpower to do what needs to be done. ...With this report, we have a very solid road map that we need to make these goals real, to solve this problem within a generation.

  Michelle Obama

  Motivation, Children, Real

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• African American children are significantly more likely to be obese than are white children. Nearly half of African American children will develop diabetes at some point in their lives. People, that's half of our children. ...We can build our kids the best schools on earth, but if they don't have the basic nutrition they need to concentrate, they're still going to have a challenge learning.

  Michelle Obama

  Children, Kids, School

  "Michelle Obama Dons Dots At NAACP Convention", www.huffingtonpost.com. July 12, 2010.

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• If we are serious about combating the childhood obesity epidemic and improving child nutrition, then everyone must chip in -- parents, schools, and yes even Congress.

  Tom Harkin

  Children, School, Obesity Epidemic

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• The rise of childhood obesity has placed the health of an entire generation at risk.

  Tom Vilsack

  Obesity Epidemic, Childhood, Risk

  "Securing Our Future Through Our Children’s Health" by Sec. Tom Vilsack, www.huffingtonpost.com. April 25, 2010.

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• The rate of childhood obesity is just ridiculous. Anytime I can get involved with teaching them how to get physical exercise, I want to help in any way possible

  Shannon Miller

  Teaching, Exercise, Childhood

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• Childhood obesity is best tackled at home through improved parental involvement, increased physical exercise, better diet and restraint from eating.

  Bob Filner

  Home, Exercise, Parenting

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• Childhood obesity isn't some simple, discrete issue. There's no one cause we can pinpoint. There's no one program we can fund to make it go away. Rather, it's an issue that touches on every aspect of how we live and how we work.

  Michelle Obama

  Simple, Issues, Childhood

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• For the first time, the nation will have goals, benchmarks, and measureable outcomes that will help us tackle the childhood obesity epidemic one child, one family, and one community at a time.

  Michelle Obama

  Children, Epidemics, Obesity Epidemic

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• If we don't somehow stem the tide of childhood obesity, we're going to have a huge problem.

  Lance Armstrong

  Childhood, Tides, Problem

  Interview with Rebecca Zamon, www.huffingtonpost.ca. March 28, 2012.

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• If the childhood obesity epidemic remains unchecked, it will condemn many of our kids to shorter lives, as well as the emotional and financial burdens of poor health.

  Richard Carmona

  Kids, Emotional, Epidemics

  "Childhood Obesity: Fighting for the Future Health of America’s Youth" by Richard H. Carmona, www.huffingtonpost.com. September 25, 2010.

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• We can make a commitment to promote vegetables and fruits and whole grains on every part of every menu. We can make portion sizes smaller and emphasize quality over quantity. And we can help create a culture - imagine this - where our kids ask for healthy options instead of resisting them.

  Michelle Obama

  Health, Kids, Commitment

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• Two heads are better than one.

  Unknown

  Teamwork, Educational, Kissing

  John Heywood, Rudolph E. Habenicht (1963). “A Dialogue of Proverbs: Edited, with Introd., Commentary, and Indexes. by Rudolph E. Habenicht”

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• We have to make sure that our kids still feel good about themselves no matter what their weight, no matter how they feel. We need to make sure that our kids know that we love them no matter who they are, what they look like, what they're eating.

  Michelle Obama

  Kids, Feel Good, Needs

  Remarks by the First Lady at "Let's Move" Town Hall Event, obamawhitehouse.archives.gov. April 7, 2010.

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• We as parents are our children's first and best role models, and this is particularly true when it comes to their health. ...We can't lie around on the couch eating French fries and candy bars and expect our kids to eat carrots and run around the block.

  Michelle Obama

  Running, Children, Block

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• While budgets are tight right now, there are schools across the country that are showing that it doesn't take a whole lot of money or resources to give our kids the nutrition they deserve. What it does take, however, is effort. What it does take is imagination. What it does take is a commitment to our children's futures.

  Michelle Obama

  Country, Children, School

  "Twitter's #ThanksMichelleObama Hashtag Has Students Sharing Photos of Their Gross School Lunches" by Alyssa Toomey, www.eonline.com. November 21, 2014.

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• One of the things I want ... all the kids here to remember, is that these [Major League Soccer] stars were not born superstar athletes ... Many of them started out just like many of you-playing on a team at school, or just kicking a ball around on the playground with their friends. But they stuck with it. And I tell this to my girls all the time. I mean, you get to the point when ... things you enjoy ... start getting hard-that's when you know you're getting good, and you have to stick through it.

  Michelle Obama

  Soccer, Girl, Stars

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• This year, 1.7 million young people will be participating in Olympic and Paralympic sports in their communities-many of them for the very first time. And that is so important, because sometimes all it takes is that first lesson, or clinic, or class to get a child excited about a new sport. This summer, together with our children, we can support Team USA not just by cheering them on, but by striving to live up to the example they set.

  Michelle Obama

  Summer, Sports, Cheer

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• With this new initiative, Disney is doing what no major media company has ever done before in the United States. And what I hope every company will do going forward when it comes to the ads they show and the food they sell they're asking themselves one simple question: Is this good for our kids?

  Michelle Obama

  Children, Kids, Simple

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• We all grew up in communities with grandmothers who cooked two, three vegetables that you had to eat. There was no ifs, ands or buts about it. But that's because many of our grandparents, they had community gardens; there was the vegetable man that came around. There were many other resources that allowed them to have access. So it's not that people don't know or don't want to do the right thing; they just have to have access to the foods that they know will make their families healthier.

  Michelle Obama

  Children, Grandmother, Men

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