US first lady Michelle Obama wants to take her signature campaign to reduce childhood obesity to a bigger audience.
During a wide-ranging luncheon interview with reporters, Michelle said she intended to spend part of the coming years shaping a more international message, with a possible focus on issues of maternal and child health.
She also expects to talk about fighting obesity when she travels with President Barack Obama overseas.
“What I find internationally, and Barack says the same thing, is whenever he meets with a world leader, one of the first things they ask him about is the garden, because the issue of obesity is becoming an international issue,” The New York Times quoted Michelle, as saying.
“Many first ladies have begun to think about how they’re going to deal with this issue,” she added.
The interview kicked off a two-day media blitz by Michelle for the first anniversary of her healthy eating and exercise campaign, ‘Let’s Move’!, which falls on Wednesday.
She took questions for slightly more than an hour, addressing topics like Obama’s cigarette habit (he quit about a year ago; “I’m very proud of him,” she said), how she keeps her marriage strong (“We don’t take ourselves too seriously”) and what she thinks about Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor, who has accused her of trying to tell Americans not to eat dessert.
The question-and-answer session, in the Old Family Dining Room of the White House, took place over a meal that included a salad of winter greens (hand-picked from the White House garden by Sam Kass, the Obamas’ chef and chief nutrition adviser), a choice of pan-roasted rockfish or seared rack of lamb and a key lime tart for dessert, all in appropriately small portions.
Michelle also defended the White House Super Bowl menu, which included kielbasa, cheeseburgers, hot dogs and other fat-laden items.
“It’s always about balance. I don’t even know what you’d have other than some hot dogs and some burgers for a Super Bowl party. That’s what the Super Bowl is,” she said.
