countries, providing training, logistics, intelligence, but our combat role will diminish and transition out. that's as it should be. there was a very significant event a few weeks ago with the multiply timed suicide attacks in kabul that was handled well by the afghans themselves. there were no international troops involved. . .

>> there will likely be continuing military aid, assistance, and advice from international partners beyond the combat mission. >> the next question -- >> i would like to ask about the reintegration and reconciliation process. the afghan government has invited the taliban to take part this year. does the u.s. specifically

support this invitation and do you think the invitation should include top taliban leadership as long as they renounce ties to al qaeda? does the u.s. have any plans to contribute funds beyond the military phones you have mentioned to the reintegration fund that the japanese are helping to establish? do you feel this reconciliation process represents the first point in a real road map toward ending the conflict in afghanistan? >> i think that the starting premise is that you do not make peace with her friends. -- with your friends. you have to be engaged with your enemies if you expect to create a situation that ends an

insurgency or marginalizes the remaining insurgents also that it does not pose a threat to the stability and security of the people. president karzai announced he would be holding jerka which is a traditional afghan mechanism for trying to reconcile competing views and reach decisions. it was natural for him to say that if they are going to have a peace jerga that people who do not agree with you should normally come. we have a very clear understanding of what we expect in this process. we expect that a lot of the foot soldiers on the battlefield will be leaving the taliban because many of them have wanted to leave. many of them are tired of fighting. we believe the tide is beginning to turn against them and we need

incentives in order to protect them and provide alternatives to them to replace the payment they receive as taliban fighters. this is similar to what the american military did in iraq. it became clear that a number of iraqis were tired of the brutality and barbarism of al qaeda as they began to see the potential alternatives available to them in the political system, they began to talk with our military personnel about changing allegiance and becoming part of the forces fighting against the terrorists. we have some experience of recent vintage. some of the same people, including a british general, who was active in this area in iraq

, are advising general mcchrystal. we have seen some examples. there is an article in one of the american papers today talking about a whole tribe, a whole tribe of 400,000 members who want to fight the taliban. you have to realize the circumstances. there was a tribe in a village in pakistan that decided to fight the taliban and they were targeted with these brutal suicide bombings, killing more than 100 people. in order to make good on the offer an alternative that will create the conditions for peace, you have to be prepared to help fund it and provide protection for people and that is part of the planning. we do not have any plans to add money to the reintegration fund because, as i said, we have a

significant amount of money that is being used for the same purpose coming through the miller -- the american military. this is an international effort. the number of international partners have signed up and made commitments to the reintegration fund. they will be working in the same arena up with the same purpose. >> last question from bloomberg news. >> what did you hear from the chinese ministry that assures you china is ready to support a new un -- a new u.s. resolution on a rent tax what was the response to your call for chinese response to hacking of google? what would you say two prominent american business leaders like bill gates who said that chinese censorship is very limited. ?

>> on iran, we had a productive conversation with the foreign minister. they are part of the p5 +1 process. that process has been unified and we hope it continues to move forward on that same track to work together to change the strategic calculus of the iranian leadership with respect to its nuclear program. we shared some of our thoughts with their chinese counterparts -- with our chinese counterparts. we set up additional opportunities for expert consultations. we made it clear to everyone with whom i spoke today and yesterday that our efforts to apply pressure on iran are not meant to punish the iranian people.

they are meant to change the approach that the iranian government has taken toward its nuclear program. we made that clear up when they p5 +1 agreed on a common plan to offer a ran the opportunity to ship out its leu and have a process for its nuclear reactor in a run which they so far have refused to accept. china is very much engaged. they are an active member of the p5 +1 and we are continuing to work together. i will not preview what our plans are. i think we have a very constructive conversation. i raised the issue, as you would have expected, on the google and internet freedom front.

china has its approach. they feel strongly that they are much more open than perhaps they are getting credit for. i expressed my concern that we do not want to create a series of actions that in any way it impinges on the freedom and utility of the internet but it was a very open, candid conversation. we agreed we will continue to discuss this matter in the context of our ongoing dialogue. as you can tell from the approach you referred to, a bit different people have differing responses or impressions. the overall issue is one that i think everyone should be concerned about and that is making sure that no one uses the internet for purposes of

censorship or repression. we had a very positive exchange on this issue with the chinese today. you have been very patient so let me end. let me end by asking these four women from afghanistan to stand up. would you stand up? they are among the women who have been working in afghanistan for the last years on behalf of expend opportunities for women and protecting human rights and women's rights. i have had a chance to work with some of the afghan women who were here for the conference today in the past. they are very much committed to their country's future but they are also very committed to making sure that women in of denniston play their rightful role in that country's future. i wanted to thank them for being

here and speaking out. thank you very much. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] >> up next, first lady michelle obama talks about childhood obesity topics on this morning's "washington journal" include jobs, and afghanistan. that starts at 7:00 with your calls. later today, we will hear from the chairman of the joint chiefs, admiral mike mullen at the center for strategic and international studies. on my coverage starts at 3:00 p.m. eastern. first lady michelle obama and others outlined plans for reducing obesity in the u.s. in children. besides the first lady, we will hear from the health and human

services secretary, kathleen sebelius. >> the national resource office for a 2600 ymca's across the country and welcome to harriston guest, mrs. obama -- welcome to our guest, mrs. obama and others. i would also like to thank the staff of the alexandria ymca, especially the branch executive director and the leaders of the ymca of metropolitan washington. we have the president and chief executive officer and the executive vice-president of organizational advancement, the chief operations officer and a senior vice president for program development. the ymca is so very honored to be a partner in this important effort and proud to be the host today. the ymca of ford's safe and

affordable spaces to help kids and adults learn, grow, and fried. in fact, for nearly 160 years, will offer programs to strengthen the physical, emotional, and spiritual health of millions of individuals from all backgrounds and all types of communities. or the past several years, we have increased our efforts to help stem the tide of rising obesity and chronic disease. there is an excellent example of this right here in our ymca of metropolitan. metropolitan just five years ago, the metropolitan ymca launched. the ph.d. launched ph.d. stands for physical, healthy, and driven. it is designed for children ages 5-14. this national recognize you as well as program offers a unique combination of assess the tools, fun and games, exercises, nutrition as education, and family involvement to help get children active and be well.

there is no better way to get children moving them by literally parking a playground right in their front yard. the ph.d. on the move to ban, the first traveling breakdown, -- the first traveling playground, promotes all these things. it brings it to the doorsteps of local children for the interactive is on next door which a couple was had a chance to play with before we got here, is our latest tool to combat childhood obesity through fun and exciting activities using technology. 24,600 children have taken part in the ph.d. program as part of an after-school, summer day camp, in school programs, specialized well as events, and global health and well-being events. nationally, our ymca is served over 9 million kids each year through different programs.

we are very serious about our responsibility to help each and every one of these children develop healthy behaviors, get a good education, and develop important values and life skills that will carry them into adulthood. we believe that our responsibility to support individuals of all ages in adopting and maintaining healthy lifestyles reaches beyond the walls of the ymca. it extends to the entire community. that is why we are also committed to working with community leaders to influence policy and system changes, to increase physical activity and improve access to help the foods. our help your community's initiative, supported by dr. freeman and the center for disease control as well focuses on collaborative engagement with community leaders, allen varmints influence health and well-being and the role public policy plays and sustaining change. the nearly 140 communities now

participating in these initiatives have had success in improving walk ability and pedestrian safety by changing zoning laws that include the inclusion of sidewalks. we bring farmers' markets to communities where healthy foods were not available. we employ is policy to institute physical education requirements back into our schools in our after-school programs. we have added new communities for each of the last six years and will continue to expand these initiatives to bring this work to as many communities as possible across the country. we need to make the healthy choice the easy choice. by ensuring that our communities have adequate opportunities for children, families, and adults to engage in help the behavior's in all the places where they live, work, learn, and play. to each of you, we look forward to addressing this issue of

childhood obesity and please note that you can count of the ymca to be part of the solution. i would like to introduce our nation's surgeon general, dr. regina benjamin. she has been on the job for almost three months now. [laughter] we have high expectations. [applause] we have the best scientific information available on how to improve health and education in our children. dr. benjamin, i would like to say and to the rest of our guests, you are welcome to visit any of our ymca's anytime if you do that, you will have a world- class collection of t-shirts and sweatshirts. [laughter] [applause]

>> thank you. thank you for your 40 years of leadership and service in the ymca and for all you do. you have played a role in my little community and alabama. it is an honor to be with you. we also have virginia's first lady, maureen bob mcdonnell and congressman beckham for the support of this very public health issue. i have a vision for a very fit nation. in 2001, the former surgeon

general called to action to prevent over wake of the city warned us about the negative effects that wait and wait again and a healthy life styles were having on american health and well-being. to reverse these trends, he outlined a national public health response and now we are following up with the surgeon general's vision for a healthy and fit nation. this plays out ways to respond to the public's health issues that were raised nine years ago. although we have made some strides in to talk -- since 2001, the number of americans like me who are struggling with their weight and health conditions related to that wait remain much too high. among adults, obesity rates doubled between 1980 and 2004. most of you know that more than 2/3 of adults and one in three

children are overweight or obese. we see the sobering impact of these numbers in the increase in chronic diseases that are starting to affect our children. for years, we have encouraged americans to eat more nutritious lee, exercise regularly, and maintain healthy lifestyles. for these things to happen, americans need to live and work environments that support their efforts. there is a growing concern as a nation that we need to create communities and in fireman's where the help the choices are the easy choices. my vision for a healthy and fit nation is to change the national conversation from a - one about obesity and well as to a positive conversation about being healthy and be fit. we need to stop bombarding americans with what they cannot

have, what they cannot eat, with what terrible things will happen to them if they do not get exercise equipment. [laughter] we need to start talking about what they can do to become healthy and fit. to go dancing because you enjoy it, to choose a healthier meal because you demand that the food companies make the healthy meals the best tasting meals. we need to make -- we need to make healthy activities fund. we want kids to do things that they have fun doing like swimming or taking a walk. we need to reach out to parents and teachers as well as mobilize actions and consistency across the federal government. from partnerships with governors and mayors, medical communities, leading foundations, and the sports and business communities. we need their help to support common sense innovative tools and solutions. for example, healthy foods

should be affordable and accessible to all americans in our diverse communities. children should spend less time in front of the tv. children should also be having fun and playing in save their roads that provide parks, recreational facilities, community centers, and walking and bike paths. parents should serve a healthier foods. schools should require early education class as part of hospitals, worksites, and all communities should make it easier for mothers to initiate healthier choices. employers should implement well as programs that promote healthy eating, encourage physical activity and create incentives for employers -- employees to participate. i hope the communities across the nation will use this meeting for a healthy and fit nation as

a blueprint to work more effectively and share resources to develop partnerships and to use innovative solutions for change. as surgeon general, one americans to live long and healthy lives. to become a healthy and fit nation, we must remember that americans are more likely to change their behavior if they have a meaningful reward, something more than just reaching a certain weight or dress size. the real reward has to be something that people can feel, that people can enjoy, that they can celebrate. the reward is invigorating, enjoying health. this help is a level of help that allows people to embrace and live their lives to the fullest without disease, disability. i want to say that today we stand at a crossroads. the old normal was to stress the

importance of obtaining a recommended number of weight and bmi. these numbers are important measures, the total picture is much bigger. it involves the creation of a new normal with an emphasis on achieving an optimal level of health and well-being. people want to live long and to live well. they are making their voices heard across this nation. today's obesity epidemic calls for committed compassionate solutions to mobilize the health and well-being that people deserve. i have for their calls. we all here have heard their call. i am honored to do everything in my power to help americans live longer, live well, to be healthy, and to be a fit nation. thank you. [applause]

>> thank you, dr. benjamin for those wonderful words and encouragement towards health. i am dr. judith paollprfpalfrey. i can tell you firsthand that we have experienced an alarming increase in the number of children and adolescents who are overweight and obese. today, most physicians are dealing with overweight and a obesity in 20%-30% in the children we see. contrary to the vision that dr. benjamin just mentioned, are obese children do not have a healthy childhood. overweigh toddlers have trouble toppling. they do not have the strength and coordination to carry out the extra weight.

overweight and obese children have higher rates of asthma. when we take x-rays of their chest, their families are astounded to see that the little tiny red cage surrounded by layers of fat, the chest and the three times normal. no wonder they struggle to run and jump and they succumbed easily to asthma and other respiratory diseases. school-age youngsters who are overweight and obese have a very are high risk of bone and joint problems. the most serious of which can be a major medical emergency. obese teenagers come in with problems ranging from diabetes to hypertension to sleep apnea. for all of these children, social and emotional concerns are very common. in fact, many children and adolescents who are overweight or obese actually suffer from clinical depression. now, it does not have to be this way.

we have proven early intervention can keep children healthy in the vision that dr. benjamin has just shown us. the two keys to that are healthy and nutrition at regular physical activity. good nutrition in childhood sets the stage for lifelong healthy eating. it is not bad to eat, you just have to eat healthy. we need to encourage mothers to breast feed. we encourage child care providers in school to serve multifoods and families to have colorful, well-balanced meals together. in addition to counseling families everyday, pediatricians are now involved in a wide range of programs, apart during programs to promote healthy eating. we're developing guides for nutrition. we create cookbooks to hand out to parents. and parentand grandparents.

this collectively as fundamental. play is the work of children. it not only helps them grow and build strong bodies but it actually improves their concentration and their ability to learn. working with schools like this one, boys and girls clubs, the american academy of pediatricians urges that every child has the opportunity to be active at least 60 minutes every day. let me say that again -- active at least 60 minutes every day. pediatricians in training at the university of mexico have developed a mom and me exercise group and literally get down on the floor with the kids. [laughter] did i mention that prevention can be fun? there's a strong relationship between television screen time

and the development of overweight and obese. limiting that screen time to two hours per day can help get our children moving. we're working hard to prevent obesity. before it ever obesity we need to meet people where they are, be sensitive to the different needs of various populations, no single solution will work for everyone. as the surgeon general has said, it is a challenge but we know we can surmount it together. our nation must commit itself to long-term campaign to transform our children's health. the american academy of pediatrics is proud to stand today with the administration in working to ensure a healthy future for all our nation's children. it is my distinct pleasure to introduce our next speaker, secretary of the united states department of health and human services, kathleen sebelius. she has been a leader on health care.

she helped families and children for over 20 years. as governor kansas, she was recognized for her work to improve access to health care and since taking office in april, 2009, she has been a leader in some of the top issues for children, including the reform of the nation's health and the response to the h1n1 virus. please join me in welcoming secretary of health and human services, kathleen sebelius. [applause] >> good afternoon, everyone. thank you dr. palfrey for that nice introduction and your work at the association of pediatrics. we have an illustrious group here on the floor. we are pleased to be joined by

our partners and congressman moran has a long history on wellness and obesity issues that he has worked on in congress and we look forward to working with you as this effort moves forward. mayor euel -- i cannot imagine any children not wanting to go into the room next door and hanging out. [laughter] i want to go hang out. [laughter] we are thrilled to have the first lady of virginia here. i can tell you that my husband still regrets us moving out of assisted living. [laughter] we had the opportunity to live in the governor's residence for seven years and he was happy to have me take this job but he did not know why he could but stay

where he was. [laughter] we're still trying to sort that out a little bit. [laughter] i am very pleased to be joining in this effort with my friend and our wonderful first lady, michelle obama. we got some pretty good exercise last night, all that standing up. and sitting down [laughter] it is thrilling to have her take on the role as the leading advocate in this country for healthy living. dr. benjamin cares a lot about the lives and health of americans. she used to focus the attention in her clinic in alabama and now, we have a great opportunity to have her become america's doctor and focus that attention all around the country. as she said, we used to have a whole set of rules which were given out to people. eat three square meals a day, the children up from behind the

television, but that fell on deaf ears. those are important things to do, if we are really serious about turning a corner on this issue, we need everyone to be involved. we need to make this a national crisis and a national issue. the president pointed out that families have a problem to pay their bills and affordable health care is getting more difficult and that impacts their ability to keep good employees and expand businesses. the on healthier we are as a nation, the more our healthcare costs will continue to rise and the less competitive we will be globally in the world. we have a moral obligation but i would say an economic imperative to begin to make a change.

let me give you a couple of pretty alarming statistics -- according to the centers for disease control and prevention, we already spend one out of every 10 health care dollars on obesity. and its obesity overall, we spent almost twice the amount today than we spent in 1928. nearly $150 billion per year is spent. that is more than is spent on treating all the cancers in america. a lot of the money that we're talking about goes to treating the, -- treating to chronic diseases which have an underlying cause. those include heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and certain kinds of cancers that are directly related to obesity. medical care for diabetes and its complications alone cost more than $160 billion per year.

health-care costs related to heart disease across the country, almost $93 billion per year. . stroke is another $48 billion. these are directly tied to obesity. that is just what we're spending today. right now, we have more children who are overweight and obese and we have ever had before in this nation. it is four times higher than it was four years ago. so many children now have type 2 diabetes that we no longer refer to it as adult onset diabetes. we refer to it as the type to which is a relatively recent and alarming change. we have the first generation of american children where if we do not change the trajectory, they will have a shorter life span than their parents in the united states of america. the fact that some of these consequences do not show up for 10 or 15 or 20 years should not make this any less of a crisis although dr. palfrey outlined

what happens in the unseen impact of childhood obesity. the administration has already supported some major changes in policies to help reverse the growing trends of obesity. one of the most historic steps is the recovery act that the president signed almost one year ago which will have a first time ever $650 million investment in prevention and wellness and that obesity and smoking cessation. community projects across this country will be experimenting with what it takes to make changes. the surgeon general has already recognized that there are a range of factors influencing obesity. what we have already done with those grants is begin to allocate them to state also to ask communities to come up with creative strategies. some of the ideas are encouraging. we are way oversubscribed.

we will have 30 of the best projects under way later this spring. we are also fighting another factor. which is facto which is adverti. children must stop being bombarded with ads that are aimed at children on kids' tv. we know that a recent study indicated that if you are watching a child program on tv, every eight minutes, you'll have a junk food advertisements. it is not surprising that children can identify most of the brands of the unhealthy foods. companies are spending $1.5 billion per year marketing those products to our children. those ads have now spread to video games and websites. it is not only on television but they're coming true in a variety of medium. that is another initiative that

we have to take very seriously. if a child gets diabetes because he turns 18, partly when he was younger, he ate only foods that he saw on tv and the internet, it is not just his fault, it is our fault. we have to change that dynamic. if we can change the way our children eat and help them be healthier, we also bring down health-care costs. last night, in the state of the union address, president barack obama recognize the urgency of this issue. he nominated our next speaker to lead a national movement to address it. the first lady has not only been on the national stage in a relatively short period of time but she did become the most visible and respected advocate for healthier lifestyles in america. she is everyone's favorite vegetable gardener. [laughter] she had a healthy kids fair last summer on the white house lawn.

she has been talking to america about choices they can make. she is launching a national campaign to reverse the epidemic of childhood obesity. we look forward to being a good partner in that effort. it is my great pleasure to ask you to give a great warm welcome to our first lady, michelle obama. [applause] >> as you know from last night, i get embarrassed easily. [laughter] i don't really know what to do so by way of and please sit down. good afternoon, i am thrilled to be here on the [laughter] floor]

it is kind of a warm flore but as it is a good floor. let me begin by thanking the new first lady in the room, more rain mcdonnell -- maureen mcdonald. she is already very engaged and support of of these initiatives and said she is so close, i am counting on her to work alongside on some of these issues. we will meet in one month at the governor's gala, whatever they call it. be ready to dance. welcome aboard. congressman moran, i want to thank you for your work in this area. i look forward to working with you. are steps are already talking about some things you have been working on for a long time. we are grateful for your leadership and concern and focus. mayor euell, you have been

opposed to me and -- in your great city and you have done wonderful work in this area. i had a terrific time addressing the national conference of mayors and got a very good response from your colleagues. i know the mayors in this country stand ready to work on this issue. they are seeing the effects of what everyone on this floor has talked about in terms of child obesity and they are ready to make some changes. also, dr. palfrey, it is an honor to have you with us. it was through our relationship with our pediatrician that we even began as a family to start thinking about these issues. our pediatricians and our medical community will work side-by-side with families throughout the country. we are grateful for your support. i know this is not a new issue for you. i hope that our attention to it

makes your job a little bit easier. i also want to thank all the folks at the ymca for all you are doing. i know you know the real work happens on the ground. the ymca has been a leader in ensuring that families and communities all over this country have access to places to play. your mobile, physical unit, your ph.d. unit that came to the south lawn helped me debut my skills. [laughter] i think the ymca is showing that they are thinking towards the next stage. the room that we were in is the next generation of what ymca's can be. the mobile unit is something i did not grow up with.

you are keeping up with the changes in cultures and communities in a way that will make a huge impact to the work we have to do in our nation. finally, i want to thank my body in crime, secretary sibelius' for her tremendous leadership and friendship. we are glad you moved out of the system. -- out of assisted living. [laughter] you can come over for dinner or something. [laughter] your work with the cdc to the fda, the department of health and human services is clearly at the forefront of addressing some of our greatest health issues. it will take their continued commitment. these grants that are coming out, we have been working with your departments in getting them done. your staff has been tremendous and moved very quickly and getting that may -- money out. i'm anxious to see what that

part work leads to. we were grateful to you and the thousands of people in your agency who make us all look very good. finally, i want to commend our new surgeon general, dr. benjamin, who i finally got to meet. [laughter] after three months on the job and we are already making you crazy, right? [laughter] you are doing a great job jumping right in. you are right on point. your perspective, your new way of looking at this issue is refreshing and again, it is right on point. it is presenting the dangers of inaction and a vision for health for this country. these are incredible steps in a long journey. we want to thank you for your important work. obesity in this country is nothing short of a public health crisis.

it is threatening our children. it is threatening our families. more importantly, it is threatening the future of this nation. higher rates of obesity are directly linked, as you have heard, to higher rates of chronic illnesses like heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. even though type 2 diabetes is rare among young people, more than 3/4 of those who have it are obese. in fact, the health consequences are so severe that as the secretary said, medical experts have warned that our children are on track to be less healthy than we are. there has never been a generation of young people who are on track to be less healthy than their parents. truly, if we are honest with ourselves, this is not hard to understand how this happened. i tried to track this for my own life.

in some cases, parents have told me and i have seen it myself that they would love nothing more than to feed their kids more healthy foods but if you do not live anywhere near a place that sells fresh produce, it is hard to accomplish that goal. in other cases, the issue is just convenience. at the end of a long day, and more and more families are experiencing a long days with two parents working and busy schedules, you just get home and you are tired and you pick up the phone and you order a pizza or you go to the drive through. it is just easier. our modern day lead to very difficult for us to sit down and prepare that meal. many times, it is affordability. in these tough economic times, buying healthy foods feels like a luxury for too many families.

they cannot afford it. we have heard stories of people who know that buying that large kellen of jews is cheaper than buying a gallon of milk. they can afford to make different choices. at schools and our communities, often times, it is budget cuts that make it more difficult. recess and physical education are gone for many kids in communities across this country. parks and playgrounds and after- school sports are few and far between in too many neighborhoods. for most people, this is a combination of all of these things, there is no one particular thing. let's face it, there are too many pressures on parents today. i understand those pressures. i talk about this all the time.

it is easy to live healthy when you live in the white house and you have staff and people who are cooking for you and making sure that it is balanced and colorful. i had a hard time doing it before lived in the white house. that was not so long ago barack and i were like a working couple. as a working mom with a husband who was busy, so many times, i was the one balancing that load and wrestling with many of those challenges. there were plenty of times that you come home tired and do not want to hear the kids fuss and popping something in the microwave or picking up a burger was heaven. it was a godsend. but we were fortunate enough to have a pediatrician, as i have mentioned, that kindzg of waved the red flag for me as a mother. basically, cautioned me that i had to take a look at my own children's bmi.

we went to our pediatrician all the time and i thought my kids were perfect and they are and always will be. [laughter] but he warned that he was concerned that something was getting off balance because fortunately he was a pediatrician that were predominantly a in an african american urban community and he knew these trends existed. he was watching very closely his patient population. in my eyes, my children were perfect. i did not see the changes. that is also part of the problem or part of the challenge for it is often hard to see changes in your own kids when you are living with them day in and day out. as parents, we all know and will readily acknowledge broadly that kids in general -- we know they don't eat right. we know they don't get as much exercise as they showed, generally.

but we often simply don't realize that those kids are our kids. our kids could be in danger of becoming obese. we always think that only happens to someone else's kids and i was in that position. we all want desperately to make the best choices for our kids but in this climate, it is hard to know what is the right thing to do any more. even though i was not exactly sure at that time what i was supposed to do with this information about my children's bmi, i knew i had to do something to lead our family in a different way. the beauty was that over the course of a few months, we started making really minor changes. i share this story because the changes were so minor. we did things like limit tv time. my kids were already fairly active.

we cut tv time out during the weekend that helped increase activity because they were just running up and down the stairs annoying me more. [laughter] we paid more attention to portion size. we did not make a big deal out of it but said to listen when you are hundred. we reduced our intake of sugary drinks and encourage our kids to drink more water. i put water bottles in their lunch during the week. we had low-fat milk and we did not make a big deal about it. we just made the change. we put more fruits and vegetables in our diets. we try to make for a colorful palette. you try to balance it out with something at dinner time. it was very minor stuff. these small changes resulted in

some really significant improvements. i did not know it would break it was so significant that the next time we visited our pediatrician, he was amazed. he looked over the girls'' chart and yet we were doing. i said not much that is the good news. we want to share this with families, particularly for kids, a small changes can lead to big results. they are not destined to this date. they are not really in control what goes into their mouth, usually. we know what has led to the obesity epidemic. we know inside. we are still learning but we kind of know. we know what we need to do to solve it. we have to make the commitment to do it. each and everyone of us needs to make that commitment. we need to provide parents with better true -- nutritional information so they can make

better choices. we need to give our kids healthier options at school where many kids are getting most of their meals. we need to make sure they are spending less time in front of the tv and playing video games and more time exercising and having fun and doing the work of children which is play. we also know that the solution cannot come from government alone. that is something that we just have to remind ourselves and for many, that is a great relief. everyone has to be willing to do their part to solve this problem. everyone has to work together to turn this pattern around. that is exactly what we hope to do through an administration- wide initiative on child obesity that i will be launching in the next couple of weeks along with a number of important partners. we will bring the federal government together, those resources in partnership with business, nonprofit, and the

foundation community, all of whom are thrilled to be part of this endeavor. it has been refreshing to see some of people recognizing that this is the time to step up and make some changes. we will do a number of things. some of them will be small things. we want to create what we are calling more help the schools. these are schools that are offering more nutritious meal options during the day. they are providing nutritional information to children as part of the curriculum and they are insuring that children are getting the increased exercise that we know they need. we also have to focus on increasing the number of exercise -- the amount of exercise outside of school and no place like the ymca knows we have to make these changes. we need to make healthy food options more affordable and accessible. that will be one of the toughest

things we need to do. we need to do this in all communities, urban, rural, everywhere a. people have to have the information, they have to have access to make healthy choices. there is nothing more frustrating the will frustrate a parent more than to say that you have to buy more fruits and vegetables but said -- but they see the cost out of kilter and those goals out of reach. these are just saw the things we hope to do through this initiative. what we know is that we have to be ambitious. the approach has to be ambitious. it cannot just be lax. it has to be something meaningful and powerful. another thing i will say is that this will not be easy. let's begin with that. this will not be easy. it will not happen overnight. it will not happen simply because the first lady has made

it her priority. that in and of itself will not be enough. it will take all of us. thank god, it will not be solely up to me. [laughter] but it will take all this, parents, schools, communities working together for a very long time over a sustained period of time, over generations of children, we will need to keep doing this. i have every confidence, based on the level of energy i have seen, based on the willingness of people to deal with this issue across party lines, the willingness of the business community to be a part of the solution, every sign we have seen over the past has been nothing more than positive breadte. we all want to make the best choices for our kids as parents.

we just need to know how. if we continue to do that and work with our physicians and the surgeon general, if we have the federal government working together, businesses ready to make the sacrifices, we can tackle this problem. we can do something really important for our kids. we can hand them the future we know they will need to be successful. . i am i look forward to working -- i am excited and i look forward to working with all of you over the years but to make this movement a reality. thank you for the work you have done so far. we have a lot more work to do. thank you so much. [applause]

[captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] >> saturday, the history of executive power. an author talks about his book.

that is part of our book tv penn daw cspan 2. >> "washington journal" is next on c-span and we will keep your calls. president barack obama is attending the house republican caucus committee in baltimore today. we have live coverage at noon. later in the day, admiral mike mullen is at the center for strategic and international studies. we'll have that for you live at 3:00, eastern time. .