In a recent Washing Post article, our First Lady Michelle Obama was quoted as saying she loved French Fries. Well, now, really, who doesn't?
"Turn off the TV," (Michelle) Obama told students."Go outside if you can." To make her point, Obama trotted out examples of her own efforts to eat well and teach her daughters, Malia and Sasha, how to do the same. Fast food was a treat when she was growing up, as was dessert, she said. And so in her home, if the girls say they are not hungry, they eat their vegetables and are excused -- but are not allowed to ask for anything else.
She also encouraged the children to turn off the television and move about. Malia and Sasha are not permitted to watch TV on school days and are allowed only several hours on weekends: "Because the TV is off, my girls get up and they move. Even if they're pushing each other down, they're running."
Obama empathized with parents about the struggle to put healthful food on the table. "When you come home from a long day at work and the refrigerator is empty and you know you don't feel like cooking," she said to appreciative laughter, "the easiest and sometimes the cheapest thing to do is to get in a fast-food drive-through. We've all done it."
But she said the key is to strike a balance.
"Look, my favorite food in the whole wide world are french fries. I love them. Dearly. Deeply. I have a good relationships with french fries and I would eat them every single day if I could," she said. "But I know that if I'm eating the right things, and I tell my girls this, if you get the right foods for most of the time, then when it's time to have cake and french fries on those special occasions, then you balance it out."
To read the whole article, click here.
