Let's Move! movement USA
Something seems to be stirring across the ocean, and finally, even the highest political circles are starting to realize that the quantity and consumption of sugary, fatty, and fast food, which is flooding everything and available everywhere, has reached a critical level. They have started ringing the proverbial alarm bells because they have realized that the nutritional conditions in the United States are no longer sustainable. It is one thing that 15% of the American population (45 million people) is morbidly obese, but the explosion of the ultra-welfare system in the 1970s laid the foundation for a generation that is now simply called the fast trash food generation. The image of a society obese and sickened by junk food is beginning to emerge from New York to Chicago to Santa Monica, and the phenomenon is only growing, which has even caught the attention of Congress. It seems that even in Washington, they are starting to hear the whispers that an obese, sickened society can indeed destroy a nation's future and deplete its reserves. Michelle Obama thought the same (she certainly did) and, lending her face to it, launched the Let's Move Movement, one of the most comprehensive and largest-scale reforms in the United States, at least concerning school meals. The movement enjoys unprecedented support, as such a degree of agreement between Republican and Democratic politicians is rare. The last time there was such unity was perhaps in 2003 with the invasion of Iraq; let's hope this program will be somewhat more successful than that desert blunder...
The message of the movement launched by the First Lady is clear: "Let's raise a healthy future generation to live the American dream." According to a recent study, the number of overweight residents in the USA has tripled from the early 1980s to the present day, meaning that every third American citizen now struggles with weight problems or morbid obesity. The situation is even more severe among the Black population, where this ratio is 40%, while among the Hispanic population (meaning Mexican cleaners and illegal immigrants), the obesity rate is 45%. These are frightening numbers, and if this trend continues, it will simply deplete the USA's welfare and human resources within a few decades, because obesity is the leading cause of most diseases in the world, surpassing killers like cigarettes and alcohol. Obesity is responsible for almost all diseases found on Earth, whether mental or organic. Cardiovascular catastrophes, all types of cancer, diabetes, blood pressure, asthma, and I could go on endlessly...
The USA spends 150 billion USD on treating the health consequences of obesity in a single year. For comparison, the entire Hungarian budget in 2009 was 99 billion USD. Michelle Obama, obviously with the strong support of her husband, launched a movement that exclusively targets children and the growing generation. The Let's Move reform includes a complete rethinking of kindergarten, school, high school, and university canteens, and has now been embraced by the Senate and influential American celebrities, who have started to support it through their own channels. Madonna, Oprah, Lady Gaga, or even Beyoncé Knowles, who rewrote the title, video, and lyrics of her latest song, "Move Your Body," for the Let's Move movement.
The official face of the program is Michelle Obama, who sends a video message to the nation, advocating for the reform of healthy eating for the growing generation. As Obama puts it, everyone actively involved in building society or who has an influential voice must rally behind the custodians of America's future. "Our future is our children, so these are fundamental values we all share regardless of race, party, or religious affiliation. These are the values that this legislative proposal embodies," Michelle adds. For this program to be successful, it is not enough to have billions of dollars in congressional support; every segment of society across the country must help, because without social cooperation, true success cannot be achieved.
Here comes a bit of the usual American cliché about how everyone can help in their own field, and will help, because it's their job, their personal interest, and generally the interest of their nation, and besides, America must continue to be built. I think the basic idea is good, which is why I translated this part as well, because if these ideas take root, the spread of a healthy lifestyle could be successful even because of them.
Teachers have an interest in healthy diets, because there is a demonstrable link between proper nutrition and academic performance.
Doctors and nurses know that unhealthy children will become unhealthy adults, and with obesity, they are 6 times more likely to develop cancer and cardiovascular problems before the age of 35.
Now comes a very large part, typical American molded crap. The lawyers and religious leaders who fight against hunger every day through some organization, who know what it means to feed 31 million American children daily, who know how vital the quality of food is for them. You understand, the lawyers… I can imagine György Magyar trembling for the child feeding program while trying to somehow gloss over Stohl Bucsi's 2.5-year prison sentence.
To the leaders of business and politics who know what it means to spend 150,000,000,000 USD on treating diseases caused by obesity, and who are concerned because they know what impact this has on the economy.
Military leaders, who can only enlist and put into service one out of every four Americans, and who say this is not just a public health and economic issue but also a national security threat. But I am calm, because I see the unity from all walks of life, Obama continues, because people know that in the long run, this is the only viable path, and with it, we not only save money but also save lives.
The Program
Government measures
Sale of high-nutrient foods supplied to schools, with strict quality and ingredient control in vending machines, in the à la carte section (canteen), and for food stored by schools.
· Additional support for schools that meet updated nutritional expectations, meaning those who join the movement and change their food receive extra funding.
· USDA (Department of Agriculture) support for improving the quality of grains used for schools, and expanding the production of vegetables and fruits.
· Increased access to drinking water, especially around school dining areas and in places where public catering takes place. Here, I would like to draw everyone's attention to how important the intake of 3-4 liters of liquid per day is, and that this step by the American government was not included in the program by chance.
· Introduction of wellness lifestyle classes into the national core curriculum, and increased physical activity by raising the number of physical education classes.
· Inclusion of the WIC* program in the Let's Move movement and increasing the level of support.
· The number of students eligible for school meals will be expanded by 115,000 nationally and an additional 4,500 per state.
· In America, whether a child is eligible for school meals is determined by their parents' income. While this will not be abolished, a unified meal package will be introduced for poorer sections of society.
· Training and technical assistance for school food suppliers, but let no one doubt the ownership behind the four large state supplier companies. (United Fresh and LunchBox)
· Ensuring access to information within school grounds for parents and educators, and indicating the nutritional value, ingredients, and calorie content of all foods in every instance.
* WIC health support for federal states, specifically for low-income pregnant and breastfeeding mothers who receive healthcare and participate in a healthy eating program. So it's like GYES, but cooler, of course.
Social cooperation
Cities In America, no two states are alike, let alone two cities. America is so segmented culturally, geographically, gastronomically, and in every other way, that it would be impossible to manage the problem centrally from Washington. Thus, the Let's Move package program and its implementation structure were designed to encourage mayors and elected officials of cities and towns to adopt a long-term, sustainable, holistic health program against obesity. In practice, this means that if a municipality joins the movement, on the one hand, the city receives additional support for implementation, but it also undertakes to reduce the risk of obesity in early childhood in the coming year, provide healthy food in schools, thereby making nutrition affordable and accessible, and increase the physical activity of students.
Clinic Involving healthcare professionals directly in school life. Holding classes and lectures on proper nutrition, the importance of physical activity, and helping children understand their significance. Establishing health points, with health professionals, counselors, dieticians, that is, prophets who draw attention to the dangers of childhood obesity. All this at a national level, and not just some daily bluff campaign won through tenders, preferably with a crew behind us.
Movement A program called Junior Rangers is already running in the states, the essence of which is that children are taken to the 50 national parks of the USA in an organized manner within the framework of multi-day excursions and camps, an advanced version of which is Let's Move Outside. Organizing outdoor programs and further developing the already strong sports support, which the DHS (Department of Homeland Security) prioritizes and helps organize as effectively as possible. If I read correctly, Junior Rangers is some kind of scout effort, the essence of which is that a student visits as many national parks as possible where they get a stamp, and after each stamp, their school receives greater support for similar trips. It's some kind of "get to know your country" thing.
Faith and Communities I didn't really understand the essence of this, but it's something like, since community members are organized on the basis of faith and their leaders influence the believing masses, they also have a duty to advocate for healthy food and a healthy lifestyle change. Welfare-learning-faith is the trinity in this case, and hunger was also brought up, but I simply couldn't translate this part. I really don't understand it; if someone does, please write it down for me. Here's the article.
Chefs of America In the more fortunate areas of the states, where the proportion of whites is still stably above 70% (meaning the East Coast and the northern areas), schools have long reached the level of nutrition and catering that Let's Move now aims to achieve in the more disadvantaged regions (southern states, Southwest Coast, and of course the most unhealthy areas of Central America). Highly trained chefs have been working in the developed regions for years, but now the experience of thousands of chefs is needed, and Obama's request is for these chefs to travel and share their knowledge with residents and their children in underdeveloped areas. Every school that joins the program will be assigned a chef who will then work closely with teachers, parents, and the schools' lifestyle counselors (because such also exist). They teach new techniques, introduce fresh recipes, and radically change the menus of à la carte dishes, now with new ingredients in a new system. An important element of the program is a competition between schools where the title of "America's Healthiest School" is awarded, which comes with brutal support, so they take it quite seriously there.
And finally, the fifth and final point of the program, the so-called Salad Bars to School initiative, which means a program launched for the establishment of complete salad bars in schools. This involves a $15,000,000 credit line that schools can draw upon to build salad bars. According to current data, 571 salad bars have been opened nationwide so far, reaching and serving 346,503 children, worth approximately $1,652,501. Well, they certainly aren't rushing things.
In the USA, you can't spend 25 cents without 76 different groups or interest organizations lobbying for it, and I'm not afraid that a significant amount of the billions of dollars invested in this program won't flow back into the Democratic, and specifically the Obama, foundation's coffers, but in this case, that might not even be important. What's much more important, at least for me, is that the program be successful and effective. Because if it is, then perhaps in a few years this model and this kind of future-building based on a healthy lifestyle will reach us too. I have no illusions in this regard, because while our healthcare reform amounts to 300 forints and sending 100 towels and 3 new blood pressure monitors to Saint John's, in Europe, but especially in America, things are quite different, and I'm not just thinking about financial resources. I'm thinking about social cooperation, which is completely unimaginable in our country's current state. But I could also mention Norbi Schobert's initiative to tidy up primary school canteens and buffets, which was then shot down by the good team of Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Kellogg's, and Nestlé, because if children didn't buy that damn chocolate and Sprite in the buffet, profit would have dropped by 0.0001%. Not that the municipalities showed much willingness to implement such reforms. Surely not enough money would have flowed back into the Nokia boxes, or they simply didn't have time to deal with this between two properties sold below market price. It doesn't matter, because the point is that nothing came of it. But sooner or later, the government should also realize that the population policy so often mentioned recently should be an integral part of properly and healthily feeding the growing generation, which should be one of the state's primary tasks.
In my opinion, a nation's greatest treasure and future lies in its growing generation. To let them go, to create conditions in the country where they have no choice but to seek work abroad, or for those who stayed, not to lay the foundations of healthy eating in childhood, is irresponsible on the part of parents, and faulty government policy. One of my girlfriends asked me what I would do if I had children and they ate unhealthy junk. First, I wouldn't let them eat such things; second, if I saw them, I'd smack them right away, and I'd do it for their own good. Because every parent should remember one thing very strongly: children imitate their parents in everything. In lifestyle, behavior, style, and yes, also in what parents eat and under what circumstances. I will be a strict and utterly consistent father who consciously wants to give the best to his child, and they can cry for donuts, chocolate, and who knows what other crap, if they don't get it once, they'll stop. It is the parent's duty to do this so that a healthy adult generation follows us, and this is where the incredible responsibility of the government comes in, because after leaving home, children will eat in schools, and it is the responsibility of the authorities what they are offered in an organized manner, or what they can buy in the buffet. We need to change at every level, because we might end up realizing that we only have a present but no future, and there's nothing left but to lament the past, and I think that's enough for hundreds of years in advance, because the God of Hungarians has already beaten us enough...
You can read all the sources of the article in their original form on www.letsmove.gov
