Let’s get physical at the White House

US First Lady Michelle Obama launched her summer fitness campaign on the South Lawn at the White House on May 26 by inviting 84 local children aged 8-10 to get physical with obstacle courses.

The message for American children is "Let's Move" and make sure to get some sort of physical activity for sixty minutes daily.

According to the political blog HuffingtonPost.com, Mrs. Obama told the children, "What I want you guys to do is to make a commitment that you will do your best to get that 60 minutes in every single day. Will you promise me that?"

In the United States and Europe childhood obesity is an epidemic with one in three American children overweight and half of the European population in battling the bulge.

Mrs. Obama is leading the fight and will continue to host fitness events all summer on the South Lawn encouraging children to move more with the help of some local superstar athletes from DC teams including, "the Redskins, Capitals, Nationals, Wizards and Mystics".

For more information on the Let's Move initiative, visit:  http://www.letsmove.gov and to see how European nations are changing policies to help shed their collective kilos by 5-10%, go to:  http://www.obesityday.eu.