Updated May 21, 2015.

As part of her ambitious campaign to eliminate childhood obesity in one generation, First Lady Michelle Obama speaks frequently about kids' health, nutrition, and fitness. These quotes are a sample of some her comments on these topics.

"... Over the past five years, we have truly changed the culture around healthy eating and living in this country. Just think about how much things have changed. Food companies are racing like never before to create healthier versions of their products.

Even convenience stores are selling fruits and vegetables. Head to the local drive-thru, and kids’ meals might include apples and skim milk. Hit the aisles of the nearest Walmart and you’ll find new healthy labels on their products. 

"Schools are growing gardens. They’re moving beyond just pizza and tater tots to lunches filled with fresh produce and whole grains. Companies are actually rewarding employees for eating right and going to the gym. And it seems like everyone’s running out to buy those fitness bracelets. Five years ago, all this stuff would have been considered cutting-edge, but now, today, it’s our new norm." –Partnership for a Healthier America Summit, 2/26/15

"So make no mistake about it, for the past five years, we have been addressing this issue from every angle. And taken together, these changes are finally starting to have an impact. Childhood obesity rates have finally stopped rising, and obesity rates are actually falling among our youngest children. ... But let’s be clear: While the progress we’ve made is impressive, it’s also incredibly fragile." –Partnership for a Healthier America Summit, 2/26/15

"Back in 2007, when RWJF made that first big commitment to combat childhood obesity, I know there were a lot of folks out there scratching their heads thinking to themselves, 'RWJF is spending $500 million on that? Why?' ... Many folks just didn’t think childhood obesity was a serious issue. And many folks who did think it was a serious issue didn’t want to go anywhere near it, because it seemed like an impossible problem, one so big and so complex and so entrenched it was hard to even know where to begin. ... So I think it’s fair to say that by investing $500 million in this issue back then, RWJF wasn’t just stepping on the bandwagon, they were building the bandwagon pretty much from scratch.  But they did this because they understood the science, and they realized that this issue wasn’t just undermining our kids’ health, it was undermining the health of our economy. It was affecting the productivity of our workforce. It was costing us billions of dollars in health care expenses." –Robert Wood Johnson Foundation announcement, 2/5/15

"Through Let’s Move, we plan to keep attacking this problem from every angle, because we know there is no one magic bullet. So we plan to keep building healthier schools. We plan to keep bringing fresh food into our communities. We plan to keep urging businesses to provide healthy products and market them responsibly to our kids. But we also need to keep innovating. We need to keep pushing the envelope. We need to find new ideas from every sector to help families make manageable, affordable changes that can transform our children’s health." –Partnership for a Healthier America’s Building a Healthier Future Summit, 3/14/14

"When the average child is now spending nearly eight hours a day in front of some kind of screen, many of their opinions and preferences are being shaped by the marketing campaigns you all create. And that's where the problem comes in. ... And I'm here today with one simple request—and that is to do even more and move even faster to market responsibly to our kids." –White House convening on food marketing and children, 9/18/13

"I am not asking anyone to take the fun out of childhood. As we all know, treats are one of the best parts of being a kid. Instead, the goal here is to empower parents instead of undermining them as they try to make healthier choices for their families." –White House convening on food marketing and children, 9/18/13

"Since we started the Let's Move! initiative, I've been looking for as many ways as possible to help families and kids lead healthier lives. And I've come to realize that if we were going to take just one step to make ourselves and our families healthier, probably the single best thing we could do is to simply drink more water. It's as simple as that. Drink more water." –"Drink Up" campaign launch, 9/12/13

"Some kids have never seen what a real tomato looks like off the vine. They don't know where a cucumber comes from. And that really affects the way they view food. So a garden helps them really get their hands dirty, literally, and understand the whole process of where their food comes from. And I wanted them to see just how challenging and rewarding it is to grow your own food, so that they would better understand what our farmers are doing every single day across this country and have an appreciation for ... that American tradition of growing our own food and feeding ourselves." –At the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 5/3/13

"Slowly but surely, we're beginning to turn the tide on childhood obesity in America. Together, we are inspiring leaders from every sector to take ownership of this issue." –Building a Healthier Future Summit, 3/8/13

"We as parents are our children's first and best role models, and this is particularly true when it comes to their health. ...We can't lie around on the couch eating French fries and candy bars and expect our kids to eat carrots and run around the block." –Building a Healthier Future Summit, 3/8/13

"You've got to keep your body active, even if that means just turning on some music and dancing for an hour. ...That's how you;ll prepare your bodies and your minds for greatness." –Let's Move! Active Schools launch, 2/28/13 (remarks to kids)

"I didn't just start with ...local city officials because I knew that they would understand the problem. I started with them because I knew that our cities, towns and counties would be a key part of the solution to this issue. ...there is no one-size-fits all policy or program that can solve this problem. And Washington certainly does not have all the answers. Instead, many of the best, most innovative, most effective solutions start in our city halls and our towns and our county councils." –Let's Move! Cities, Towns and Counties announcement, 7/18/12

"With this new initiative, Disney is doing what no major media company has ever done before in the United States. And what I hope every company will do going forward when it comes to the ads they show and the food they sell they're asking themselves one simple question: Is this good for our kids?" –Press conference announcing Disney's healthy food marketing standards, 6/5/2012

"One of the things I want ... all the kids here to remember, is that these [Major League Soccer] stars were not born superstar athletes ... Many of them started out just like many of you—playing on a team at school, or just kicking a ball around on the playground with their friends. But they stuck with it. And I tell this to my girls all the time. I mean, you get to the point when ... things you enjoy ... start getting hard—that's when you know you're getting good, and you have to stick through it." –Let's Move event with L.A. Galaxy, 5/15/2012

"This year, 1.7 million young people will be participating in Olympic and Paralympic sports in their communities—many of them for the very first time. And that is so important, because sometimes all it takes is that first lesson, or clinic, or class to get a child excited about a new sport. This summer, together with our children, we can support Team USA not just by cheering them on, but by striving to live up to the example they set." –Announcement of commitments from governing bodies of several sports to offer kids' programming, 5/14/2012

"While budgets are tight right now, there are schools across the country that are showing that it doesn't take a whole lot of money or resources to give our kids the nutrition they deserve. What it does take, however, is effort. What it does take is imagination. What it does take is a commitment to our children's futures." –School lunch standards announcement, 1/25/2012

"We all grew up in communities with grandmothers who cooked two, three vegetables that you had to eat. There was no ifs, ands or buts about it. But that's because many of our grandparents, they had community gardens; there was the vegetable man that came around. There were many other resources that allowed them to have access. So it's not that people don't know or don't want to do the right thing; they just have to have access to the foods that they know will make their families healthier." –Mayor's Summit on Food Deserts, Chicago, 10/25/2011

"In the 10 cities with the nation's highest obesity rates, the direct costs connected with obesity and obesity-related diseases are roughly $50 million per 100,000 residents. And if these 10 cities just cut their obesity rates down to the national average, all added up they combine to save nearly $500 million in healthcare costs each year." –National League of Cities conference, 3/15/2011

"It's not about government telling people what to do. ... It's about each of us, in our own families, in our own communities, standing up and demanding more for our kids. And it's about companies like Walmart answering that call." –Announcement of Walmart's Nutrition Charter, 1/20/2011

"We can all agree that in the wealthiest nation on Earth, all children should have the basic nutrition they need to learn and grow and to pursue their dreams, because in the end, nothing is more important than the health and well-being of our children. ... These are the basic values that we all share, regardless of race, party, religion. This is what we share. These are the values that this bill embodies." –Signing of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, 12/13/2010

"Parents have a right to expect that their efforts at home won't be undone each day in the school cafeteria or in the vending machine in the hallway. ...Parents have a right to expect that their kids will be served fresh, healthy food that meets high nutritional standards." –Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act signing

"Child hunger and child obesity are really just two sides of the same coin. Both rob our children of the energy, the strength and the stamina they need to succeed in school and in life. And that, in turn, robs our country of so much of their promise." –Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act signing

"Childhood obesity isn't some simple, discrete issue. There's no one cause we can pinpoint. There's no one program we can fund to make it go away. Rather, it's an issue that touches on every aspect of how we live and how we work." –Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Legislative Conference, 9/15/2010

"We can make a commitment to promote vegetables and fruits and whole grains on every part of every menu. We can make portion sizes smaller and emphasize quality over quantity. And we can help create a culture — imagine this — where our kids ask for healthy options instead of resisting them." –National Restaurant Association Fall Board Meeting, 9/13/2010

"We are living in a time where we just don't have enough time. People are rushed. They're over worked, over scheduled. Not enough resources. ...But the thing that I want people to understand in this campaign is that families can make small manageable changes in their lives that can have pretty significant impacts." –Let's Move live web chat, 7/13/2010

"African American children are significantly more likely to be obese than are white children. Nearly half of African American children will develop diabetes at some point in their lives. People, that's half of our children. ...We can build our kids the best schools on earth, but if they don't have the basic nutrition they need to concentrate, they're still going to have a challenge learning." –NAACP 101st National Convention, 7/12/2010

"You're all here for the same reason—because you appreciate the power that food can have in our lives. ...Each of you has so much to offer when it comes to helping our children make healthy choices. You know more about food than almost anyone—other than the grandmas—and you've got the visibility and the enthusiasm to match that knowledge.
–"Let's Move!" Chefs Moves to Schools Event, 6/4/2010

"We don't need new discoveries or new inventions to reverse this trend. We have the tools at our disposal to reverse it. All we need is the motivation, the opportunity and the willpower to do what needs to be done. ...With this report, we have a very solid road map that we need to make these goals real, to solve this problem within a generation."
–Press conference announcing childhood obesity task force report, 5/11/2010

"Our kids didn't do this to themselves. They don't decide the sugar content in soda or the advertising content of a television show. Kids don't choose what's served to them for lunch at school, and shouldn't be deciding what's served to them for dinner at home. And they don't decide whether there's time in the day or room in the budget to learn about healthy eating or to spend time playing outside."
–Childhood Obesity Summit, 4/9/2010

"We have to make sure that our kids still feel good about themselves no matter what their weight, no matter how they feel. We need to make sure that our kids know that we love them no matter who they are, what they look like, what they're eating."
–Let's Move Town Hall, 4/7/2010

"As a mom, I know it is my responsibility—and no one else's—to raise my kids. But what does it mean when so many parents are finding that their best efforts are undermined by an avalanche of advertisements aimed at their kids? And what are these ads teaching kids about food and nutrition? That it's good to have salty, sugary food and snacks every day—breakfast, lunch, and dinner?"
–Grocery Manufacturers Association, 3/16/2010

"Kids who participate in school meal programs get roughly half of their calories each day at school. ... This is an extraordinary responsibility. But it's also an opportunity. And it's why one of the single most important things we can do to fight childhood obesity is to make those meals at school as healthy and nutritious as possible."
–School Nutrition Association, 3/1/2010

"The physical and emotional health of an entire generation and the economic health and security of our nation is at stake. This isn't the kind of problem that can be solved overnight, but with everyone working together, it can be solved. So, let's move."
–Let's Move launch announcement, 2/9/2010