Michelle Obama is still 'not letting up' about kids' nutrition
Over 15 years since she first championed new nutrition standards for student lunches, the former first lady said that she's not "letting up any time soon" on pushing for healthier habits.
In a Parents Magazine interview published July 22, Obama, 61, said that "we've simply got to make it easier for families to raise healthier kids. We need to make the healthy option the easy option."
"We've got to make it easy for parents to afford − and cook with − fresh ingredients," Obama continued. "We've got to make it easy for kids to get some exercise during the school day. We've got to make it easy for everybody to hydrate themselves without loading up on sugar."
Michelle Obama: 'Everyone would know' if she divorced Barack Obama: 'I'm not a martyr'
Obama −who said that "children's health is about so much more than our kids" − told Parents that "what's available in our stores, what's on the menu in schools, whether or not our kids can play safely at the playground, it all ladders up to the wellbeing of our families and communities."
"It's a challenge I've tackled from a variety of ways for more than a decade and a half. And I'm not letting up any time soon," she added.
Obama got candid for the interview as Parents honors her with its Next Gen Awards, which applauds the work of 40 "changemakers" that have "made life better for kids and families this year."
When did Michelle Obama start advocating for school lunch changes?
Obama has advocated for healthier nutrition for children since the first term of her husband and former President Barack Obama, who took office in 2009.
He signed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act into law in 2010 and Michelle Obama supported the idea to improve the nutrition of school lunches and farm-to-school programs. During her husband's second term in 2014, she sparred with some congressional Republicans, who believed the school lunch nutrition issue was local versus federal.
Michelle Obama discusses parenting daughters Malia and Sasha in the White House
In the Parents interview, Michelle Obama, mom to Malia Ann, 27, and 24-year-old Sasha Obama, also got candid about parenting, telling the outlet that she and former President Obama, 63, "did everything we could to give our girls as normal of a life as possible" while they were growing up.
"When we were at the White House, we made sure they were doing things like making their beds every morning and as they got older, getting summer jobs," she added.
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Michelle Obama reveals daughter Malia Obama's name change
The "IMO" podcast cohost said that her daughters' lives "slowly began to inch a little closer toward normalcy," but their "extraordinary" circumstances have "forced them to learn critical skills like discipline, flexibility, and determination to go after what they really wanted."
Now, Malia Ann is pursuing a film career in Hollywood and recently helmed a 2023 short film "The Heart" which she wrote and directed. The Obamas celebrated the birthday of their youngest daughter Sasha, a University of Southern California grad, last month.
Contributing: David Jackson, Christine Rushton
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