The Right Words for Obama Girls

My mailbox is filling up with concern over reports that the Obamas are putting their daughters on a diet and referring publicly to the girls' weight.

I missed this as it went past, so I dug back in the press for the facts:

Michelle Obama’s Agenda Includes Healthful Eating
“A couple of years ago — you’d never know it by looking at her now — Malia was getting a little chubby,” Mr. Obama told the magazine.

They took action, Mrs. Obama said, when “her doctor — he really monitors this type of thing — suggested we look at her diet. So we cut out juice boxes, sweets and processed foods.”

I'll trust the New York Times and say that these remarks make me cringe for the Obama daughters.  As anyone who's ever even flirted with eating disordered behavior knows, this kind of "concerned" scrutiny of a young girl's body and weight can ignite a very dangerous and misguided obsession with achieving the unattainable -- physical "perfection."

This is why the leading Eating Disorders organizations have sent a joint letter to Michelle Obama to alert her to the elements of her Healthful Eating agenda that are misguided -- especially the emphasis on weight as a source of concern. (I will post this letter as soon as I receive permission.)

But it is important that we not lose sight of the positives in Mrs. Obama's approach.  To her credit, her solution is not to put her daughters or anyone else on a "diet," or to prescribe exercise regimens. Her solution is to encourage healthier, more nutritious eating and a more active lifestyle.  Her advisors are folks like Alice Waters, who LOVE to eat well.  And her goal is to help Americans break the spell of Big Food and Fast Food, and start eating healthily, locally, mindfully, and responsibly.

There is not doubt that America has an obesity crisis.  Excess weight is the symptom of a lot of different underlying problems, and Mrs. Obama seems determined to confront many of these problems head on.  That's to her credit.

We just need to educate her about the words she and her husband choose, especially when speaking publicly about their own girls.  "Health" is a word we can all get behind.  "Chubby," "perfect," "overweight," and "diet" should be consigned to the scrap heap of bad habits, along with bingeing, purging, and counting calories.

Comments

[Sarah]

Excellent article. These comments, made by the Obamas about their children, (in public no less!) are the perfect catalyst for the start of an eating disorder, especially for young girls who are so much in the public eye.