White House Asks Mayors to Help Fight Obesity

The Obama administration wants the help of mayors as it works to fight childhood obesity, because such efforts won't work unless communities engage in them, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Friday.

Sebelius and Olympic gymnast Dominique Dawes spoke during the annual U.S. Conference of Mayors to promote first lady Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" campaign. Sebelius and Dawes encouraged about 400 mayors and municipal staff members to have their cities join a new part of that campaign, dubbed "Let's Move Cities and Towns."

"I know well how critical it is that you are mobilized and energized, because you are the leadership teams that can actually make things happen," Sebelius said.

"We now have, I think, a real opportunity with the spotlight of the first lady on this problem."

Sebelius, a former Kansas governor, said one in three American children are overweight or obese and that number had quadrupled during the past 20 years. She said estimates indicate the U.S. loses $1 trillion a year in productivity because of chronic disease.

Obama's program, launched in February 2009, is aimed at solving the childhood obesity problem in a generation, so that children born today can reach adulthood at a healthy weight. It has four components: helping parents make better food choices, serving healthier food in school vending machines and lunch lines, making healthy food more available and affordable, and encouraging children to exercise more.

Sebelius said mayors are in a unique position to encourage communities to become involved in the program.

"We recognize that every community is different and every town requires a distinct approach," Sebelius said, adding that the "Let's Move Cities and Towns" program is designed "to empower local leaders to take steps that will have a real impact on their own unique communities, whether that's building sidewalks and parks, supporting local farmers markets or bringing healthier foods into schools."

Obama addressed the conference by video, saying mayors "know how to develop effective solutions" and can "spur action at the grassroots unlike anyone else."

Before arriving at the conference, Sebelius and Dawes spent time Friday at the Chesapeake Boathouse by the Oklahoma River, watching local youngsters participate in fitness activities. Dawes, who represented the U.S. in the 1992, 1996 and 2000 Olympics, said keeping kids active and on a healthy diet is critical to fighting obesity.

"This is near and dear to my heart," said the 33-year-old Dawes, a member of the "Magnificent Seven" in 1996, the first U.S. women's team to win an Olympic gold medal in gymnastics. "Physical fitness and proper nutrition have really been a part of the core of my childhood."

Sebelius praised the citywide weight-loss efforts led by Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett. As of Friday afternoon, the mayor's campaign, thiscityisgoingonadiet.com, included 42,113 participants who had lost a cumulative 576,437 pounds, an average of about 13.7 pounds per person.

"Where Oklahoma City has succeeded is on the awareness side," Cornett said. "What we've seen here is a community that's finally talking about obesity. It was like the taboo subject in our town. No one wanted to talk about it. We just pretended that if we ignored it, it might go away on its own. But we knew it was an issue."

He signed the pledge for Oklahoma City to join the "Let's Move Cities and Towns" effort while standing at the podium, addressing his fellow mayors.

"Nothing is as powerful as an idea whose time has come," Cornett said. "With Washington and the power of the White House and the first lady's office, combined with the passion, the ambitions, the strengths and the budgets of mayors across the United States, we can make a big difference in the obesity issue."