Clinton Targets Childhood Obesity

Former President Zeroed In On Obesity In U.S .After Heart Surgery

(CBS)  When Bill Clinton called the White House home, he put away plenty of burgers and barbecue. But since his serious heart scare last year, the former president says he's changed his ways.

And now he wants to help kids see the light, too, by declaring war on childhood obesity.

Mr. Clinton was more like the average American than he'd like to admit - a cigar-smoking, super-sizing, friend of all things fried, observes CBS News Correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi.

"You loved all food from the South?" she asked Mr. Clinton.

"Oh, my God, I do. I love it all"

"Barbecue?'

"Barbecue."

"Pie?"

"Pie."

"Fried chicken?"

"Absolutely."

"Ice cream?"

"Yeah."

And, famously, Big Macs?"

"I like it all. I love all that stuff"

He seems an unlikely candidate to kick off a health initiative, Alfonsi notes.

"Is it true you've sworn off all junk food?"

"Yes, I don't eat junk food."

"At all?"

"At all."

"Ever?"

"Ever. I don't think I've had any junk food since my surgery."

That was in September, when the former president underwent a quadruple bypass operation. Since then, he says, he's dropped 15 pounds and gained a new appreciation of the country's obesity epidemic.

But is it a cause really worthy of a former president?

"I'm working on tsunami relief, I'm working on AIDS, but cardiovascular disease is the No. 1 killer in America."