First lady asks restaurants to serve healthy foods

Yahoo ^ | 9-13-10 | MARY CLARE JALONICK/AP

[mlizzy]

WASHINGTON – First lady Michelle Obama is prodding the nation's restaurants to add more healthy options to menus, label those items more prominently and market nutritious foods to kids.

Speaking to the National Restaurant Association on Monday, Mrs. Obama pleaded with restaurants small and large to take a little butter or cream out of their dishes, use low fat milk and provide apple slices or carrots as a default side dish on the kids' menu.

Mrs. Obama said that Americans are spending half their food dollars outside the home and eating a third of meals in restaurants. She asked the restaurants to rethink the food they offer and reformulate their menus to help combat childhood obesity.

"We have to do more, we have to go farther, and we need your help to lead this effort," she told the restaurateurs and executives.

The first lady has delivered similar messages to schools and the nation's largest food companies as part of her effort to boost childhood nutrition. She told the restaurant industry that parents' choices at restaurants need to be easier, and healthy options shouldn't be buried on the menu.

[Dubya-M-DeesWent2SyriaStupid!]

[Dubya-M-DeesWent2SyriaStupid!]

make-up or Michael Jackson cream?

[Mashood]

She looks just like Jackie O in the picture on the left.

[CitizenM]

I am so sick and tired of Barack and Michelle playing Mommie and Daddy to the country. It is not their role, but it appears it is all they do. They must resort to this role because they cannot tackle or solve the hard problems in our country. They must believe that instructing people about their daily lives, like a parent or grandparent would, makes them seem like they care about the people. But they don't really care, it just is good PR. They just have to find something to seem involved...and acting like everyone's parents is about the best they can do.

It is only when politicians don't know how to really lead or govern, or how to handle significant issues that they turn to telling people how to run their lives. Somehow they must feel that is their duty. Somehow people who are willing to be hoodwinked think this is a sign of a politician who cares. It is a sign of incompetence in every important area of their responsibility. Obama's speeches to school kids is another typical example. He should be managing the nation. He and Michelle should not even have time to be meddling in the daily lifestyle practices of people.

If Michelle wanted some project she should have picked something that did not require her to be critical of Americans, and something she had real knowledge about. For example, Laura Bush's campaign for encouraging reading did not require her to get out and criticize anyone's lifestyle. She did a great job in advancing a goal without alienating any Americans. And at least Laura had a professional background and experience in what she advocated. Michelle, on the other hand, is hardly qualified to lecture on foods. She is not a nutritionist and many of her idealistic suggestions are often highly debatable anyway. And that daily ice cream eating we have seen the Obamas indulge in, hardly reflects she practices what she preaches.

The Obamas must feel they are the perfect parents and perfect role models. It is obvious how blind to the truth they are.

[Rebelbase]

“Do they accept food stamps?”

Don’t give them any new ideas.

[RedMDer]

The one on the left looks like a wax figure. :)

[Dubya-M-DeesWent2SyriaStupid!]

LOL she tried.

[Shamrock-DW]

Yeah, she eats out quite often....you can tell by her fat A$$!

[mlizzy]

And that daily ice cream eating we have seen the Obamas indulge in, hardly reflects she practices what she preaches.

I agree, however, she looks to be enjoying this carrot ... /sarc

[mlizzy]

make-up or Michael Jackson cream?

Looks like wax ...

[Morpheus2009]

My situation is different I am living single, but my discovery came more or less from the collegiate life. I found that an occasional cooking eased my stress, and also made for a sociable activity. It’s great to hear your story as well. Thank you for sharing

[Morpheus2009]

I agree, I hope the left realizes that I buy most of my junk food from a supermarket and eat it as a snack at night. making restaurants get singled out would hurt everyone else and encourage me to go less anyway. I’m a person who, by my admitted lifestyle, would be hurt less by the increasingly expensive restaurants. The soft drink tax did just about nothing to discourage me as well from buying an occasional sprite or pepsi.

[Morpheus2009]

My parents did about the same thing with me. We also usually reserved fast food in general for road trips, fancier restaurants for special occasions. My parents almost always, even at the fast-food restaurants, had my siblings and I eat some salad with whatever else it was we ate, I found out later as to exactly why.

[Morpheus2009]

I want to be a patron.

I agree wholeheartedly. Cooking is a fun hobby, but I am not the material to manage the money, certainly not yet.

[Morpheus2009]

I am a twentysomething, and I will tell you that I buy most of my food either in grocery or the convenience store. I can’t say that it’s always healthy, but as a single adult male living in the American University setting, it’s what I do.

[cubreporter]

What do the White House Chef and staff cook with?

What do they bake with?

Do they serve smart balance in tubs on the tables of State Dinners?

What about all the fancy pastries served? Are they made with low fat or “pretend butter?” How about the icings? What??/ No butter/?? Imagine that?

Less cream? What do they put on the tables at the State Dinners...SKIM MILK???? What about all those fancy drinks before dinner...how do you make those dreamy drinks without cream????? What do they use...powdered milk????

What about the potatoes or the fancy vegetables at the State Dinenrs? What? No cream? No butter??

What is in ice cream cones that the obamas munch down on?

Maybe if they practiced what they preach all the time people might listen. However...people will do and eat what they want and oh yeah by the way...if an eatery we frequented quit using butter and cream etc...we would simply stop going there.

We have so many problems in the world. The President won’t help out Arizona with the illegal problem and so they cross over into Arizona and some may die along the way due to heat stroke.

The President has taken away our freedom to choose our own healthcare.

We manufacture money to pay for other projects and our kids will one day be burdened with all of it.

We are asked to eat less enjoyable foods because they have butter and cream in them...the white house goes to the oil stained beaches and tells the people to come down and swim while he goes off to someplace far, far away for HIS family vacation. Give me a break. These people are over the top.

With all of that weighing on this country...they are now asking us and restaurants to use less butter and cream???/ What a joke. Tell that to the Food Network staff, the Elite Restaurants around the country and the neat diners as well. Yeah, right.

Tell ya what Mrs. Obama... YOU quit eating butter and cream if you like...we’ll continue to eat what we want and will continue to cook for our families what it is they like and we ourselves will determine what we use and no one else.

[Grams A]

Dear Michelle: In compliance with your request to increase our consumption of apples, I baked a double crust apple pie today. Didn’t use much butter butter but did use lard for the crust. We’re going to top it off with homemade ice cream made with eggs, half & half, whipping cream, real vanilla and sugar and just a bit of milk to top off the freezer. And since life is so uncertain lately, we may have some before our dinner. Thanks for the suggestion.

[cubreporter]

Absolutely. I make my own meals and some are filled with creamy, dreamy butter and cream. I allow our children to have good things just like we did growing up. I dont’ see the obamas giving up ICE CREAM. We are in charge of our own family and we will continue to provide them with good, honest goodness for their good health, teeth and bones. We take care of our own children and don’t need busy bodies telling us what to eat or do not eat.

More people should cook as you said. You can control the amount of fat and sugar and salt yourself. It’s all about making smart choices which we do not learn from the government...we learned it from our mothers in the kitchen! THEY were the geniuses to be able to make a dinner from nothing. If we are ever in a position to have to scrimp and make do...we’ll be able to do it. Until then...we eat, drink and enjoy God’s bounty.

[MichaelNewton]

Soon, they’ll be installing cameras in our kitchens to monitor our food selection.

[TChris]

In other news:

Taxpayers and voters ask First Lady to mind her own business and let citizens eat as they choose.