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Nutrition And Weight Status : Obesity

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Nutrition and weight status is a vitally important issue as obesity is on the rise in the United States. One third of children in this country ages 2-19 are either overweight or obese and this potentially sets them up to develop diabetes and other comorbidities during their lifetime (U.S. Task Force, 2010). It is important to promote health by way of consumption of healthy foods, getting adequate exercise and maintaining a healthy body weight and body image. The Let’s Move initiative, founded by First Lady Michelle Obama, approaches the obesity epidemic at a grassroots level and encourages children to eat healthy, get active and take actions towards a healthy lifestyle ("Let’s Move," n.d.). The Let’s Move initiative is devoted to solving the problem of childhood obesity. After the launch of this initiative, President Barack Obama also put into motion the first task force on childhood obesity with a goal of decreasing obesity in children to 5% by the year 2030 (U.S. Task Force, 2010). The Let’s Move initiative is built upon the following four pillars:  Empowering parents and caregivers  Providing healthy food in schools  Improving access to healthy, affordable foods  Increasing physical activity (U.S. Task Force, 2010, para. 5) While this initiative is for anyone, the specific target is for pre and school aged children. This initiative reaches into childcare centers, schools systems, as well as museums, gardens and faith communities across the country. In St

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