Sarah Palin: Americans Have "God-Given Right" to Be Fat?

(CBS) Americans don't usually get fitness advice from Sarah Palin, but last week the mother of five lashed out at Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" program to help curb childhood obesity by helping kids eat well and stay active.

"Take her anti-obesity thing that she is on. She is on this kick, right. What she is telling us is she cannot trust parents to make decisions for their own children, for their own families in what we should eat," Palin said on Laura Ingraham's national radio show.

"Instead of a government thinking that they need to take over and make decisions for us according to some politician or politician's wife's priorities, just leave us alone, get off our back, and allow us as individuals to exercise our own God-given rights to make our own decisions and then our country gets back on the right track."

The "God-given rights" Palin hopes to protect apparently involve not having to listen to healthy eating advice, learning about portion size and encouraging kids to play more sports and watch less TV.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, childhood obesity has tripled in the last 30 years, putting millions of kids at risk for diabetes, cardiovascular disease and bone and joint disorders.

As for Palin's own family, exercise is a priority.  According to a Wall Street Journal profile, the former Alaska governor's parents were marathon runners and Palin herself runs three miles a day. She even named her first son Track because he was born at the beginning of the running season.

"Conventional running is my sanity," she told the paper. The Palins eat well too. "My family and I eat a healthy diet heavy in wild Alaskan seafood, moose, caribou and fresh fruit," she said.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Is Sarah Palin fighting for parents' "God-given right" to make decisions about  the health of their children, or is she railing against a sensible government program to help kids lose weight and stay active?