And we have some communities that don’t have access to that fresh produce（农产品，产品） and those fresh vegetables.  We are dealing¹ with millions of people living in food deserts.  And many parents are just overworked -- they’re juggling²（杂耍，欺骗） too much -- and although they want to do it, they just don’t have time to cook a home-cooked meal every night.  They’re lucky if it happens once a week.

So things have changed.  It’s gotten a lot tougher, and I think that’s why we’re seeing the outcomes in our kids that we’re seeing.  There’s a reason why we’re here today.

But “Let’s Move” is about trying to help change all that.  That’s really the goal.  It’s not to place blame.  It’s not to point fingers.  It’s really to help parents in communities and business leaders find a way out of this dilemma³.

But efforts to help kids stay healthy and active actually go back much further than what we’re trying to do here today.  Way back in 1956 -- this is a little history lesson, students -- Dwight Eisenhower was worried that the lack of exercise was causing young people in America to fall behind their peers in Europe and around the world.  And so he established the President’s Council on Youth Fitness to get kids moving.  This was back in 1956.  Does anybody remember that?  I don’t want to out anybody -- (laughter) -- on age, but I’m sure we have some people who remember that.

The Council’s original mission was simple: to encourage young people to get enough exercise.  And that is still a very important component⁴ of what we need to do today.  But today we know that being healthy is about more than just being physically⁵ fit.  It’s also about eating healthy foods and really learning which foods to enjoy in moderation.  That’s one of the reasons I talk about burgers and fries, because a life without burgers and fries is really depressing.  (Laughter.)

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  And fried chicken.

MS. OBAMA:  And fried chicken.  (Laughter.)  And just fried.  (Laughter.)  But it’s about learning about all the different ways to eat healthy and to strike those balances and to be active -– whether that means playing a sport, which many kids do, but not every kid is an athlete and they don’t have to be.  Because you can get the exercise you need from walking your dog vigorously（精力旺盛地） , running with your dog, doing some push-ups at home, or just playing.  You know, the work that we’re talking about used to be called play.  (Laughter.)

And it’s about developing healthy habits that kids will have for the rest of their lives.  Because the one thing we know, why we start with kids, is kids learn.  They’re not like us.  They’re not stuck in time.  You know, they learn something, they take it on, and it lasts forever.  So we’re talking about developing lifetime skills that kids will then teach to their kids.

That’s why yesterday, the President signed an Executive Order expanding the mission of this historic Council and creating the new President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition -- all three components⁶.  (Applause.)  So we’re just broadening the scope of what we have to focus on.  And this group, as Dominique mentioned, will include fitness and nutrition experts who’ve agreed to help raise awareness⁷ about how we can make our kids and our schools and our communities healthier.

This Council, as I said, is made up of everyone -- chefs, doctors, health experts, personal trainers.  We’ve got our Olympic gold medalists.  We’ve got a NASCAR（全国汽车运动竞赛协会） driver.  We’ve got NBA all-stars, tennis legends.  We’ve got it all because we know in the end, kids listen to these heroes in so many ways.

And those are just a few of the 25 men and women who will be donating their time and expertise⁸（专门知识） to this cause.  It’s just more people coming on and making “Let’s Move” a broader and stronger campaign.

Together, they’re committed to working with government and the private sector⁹ -– that’s businesses, schools and nonprofits –- to help kids everywhere learn about healthy eating and the importance of being active each and every single day.

And we’re broadening the mission of the Council so that we can make a bigger difference -– focusing on what -- not just what you do with your bodies, but what you put in your bodies.  We all know, if we’re focused on our fitness, it is not enough just to exercise -- you have to focus on diet.  I still struggle with that.  At 46 years old, if I want to lose some weight, I can work out as much as I want to -- right, Mayor? -- but you got to have that balance of food to really cut the fat.  So we’re really excited about this broader mission.

Here -- right here in Columbia Heights, you’re already well ahead of the game.  That’s one of the reasons why we wanted to come here, because we wanted to model -- (applause) -- what’s already working.  Because that’s another thing about “Let’s Move,” we don’t have to recreate the wheel; we have to just find the models that are already working and spread those across the country.  And Columbia Heights is serving as one of those models.

I know that you’ve made the President’s physical fitness test an important part of PE class, just kids living up to that test.  You collect information on the student’s weight and their heart rate and the progress that they’re making throughout the year.  And I also hear that at the end of the year, the students with the most improvement get to take part in a fitness challenge with teachers and staff, which is huge.  (Applause.)

Because as we’ve been talking with schools, what we’re finding consistently is that when the teachers and the staff are involved, when they’re sitting around at the lunch table and they’re practicing the same habits that they’re trying to instill（逐渐灌输） in kids, it just makes kids want to do it even more.

So I commend you all on what you’re doing here.  That’s what the President’s Council is all about.  It’s about all of us pushing ourselves to meet new challenges, even when they’re difficult, because none of this is easy.  It only gets easy if you start young.  That’s what -- that’s the gift that we can offer our children.  If they start out（出发，着手进行） with these habits early on, it just makes life easier for them.

It’s about having fun -- let’s not forget that -- because this isn’t all work and calorie counting and all that.  This is about having some fun and getting more opportunity for kids to be active and to find a way that connects with each of them, because not every kid is going to connect to activities in the same way.  So we’ve got to have a broad base of opportunities for kids.

So, again, I want to thank you all here at Columbia Heights for setting such a wonderful model, such a great example.  I want you all to keep doing what you’re doing and help spread your message to other schools not just here in the District, but around the nation.  You guys are a true model.

Again, I want to thank our Council members for their excitement and enthusiasm.  And I think now is the time that we actually are going to get moving.  So we’re going to do some activities with the kids.  And as I said, I’m going to try and hang with you all, but this bow might get in the way.  (Laughter.)

But I want to thank you all for being here.  So let’s get moving.  So thank you all so much.  (Applause.)

END
2:55 P.M. EDT