Tom Harkin Quotes

Slowly but surely, we're beginning to turn the tide on childhood obesity in America. Together, we are inspiring leaders from every sector to take ownership of this issue.

This country must break the cycle of childhood obesity. Unless we reverse course, this epidemic will continue to put more of our children and the future of our nation at risk.

Fixing obesity is going to require a change in our modern relationship with food. I'm hopeful that we begin to see a turnaround in this childhood obesity epidemic.

For the first time, the nation will have goals, benchmarks, and measureable outcomes that will help us tackle the childhood obesity epidemic one child, one family, and one community at a time.

American children are the heaviest worldwide, and they are getting heavier at a faster rate than other children around the globe. This spread of obesity foreshadows an explosion in degenerative diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer waiting to erupt in our children's future. Together we can stop this tragedy from ever happening.

I think Michelle Obama is on the right track with her Let's Move campaign to bring down childhood obesity. She and I come from the same state, Illinois, which is number four in the nation for obese children. One out of five Illinois children are considered obese. Not overweight, obese. And two-thirds of Americans are either overweight or obese.

To amplify our efforts, USDA is joining with First Lady Michelle Obama in aggressively promoting the 'Let's Move' campaign, which will combat the epidemic of childhood obesity through a comprehensive approach that builds on effective strategies, and mobilizes public and private sector resources.

In neighborhoods without a usable park or playground, the incidence of childhood obesity increases by 29 percent.

More than ever, we as parents and a nation must do something about the growth of obesity in our children. We must do more than just talk, we must be concerned enough to act.

The rate of childhood obesity is just ridiculous. Anytime I can get involved with teaching them how to get physical exercise, I want to help in any way possible.

Proper school nutrition must be complemented by activities outside of the cafeteria. The decisions parents make to keep their kids healthy are critical in fighting this battle on the home front.

We should not have our children going to school to learn how to become obese.

As a native Washingtonian, I am well aware that childhood obesity is a real problem in our nation's capital.

Do you remember campaigns like 'Keep America beautiful'? What about 'Buckle up'? I believe we need an approach like this to attack obesity. Let's be a good industry that does 100% of what it possibly can - not grudgingly, but willingly.

Given that the biggest rise in childhood obesity rates are occurring in children ages 3 to 5 years, we must modify our efforts to place an emphasis on prevention versus intervention.

This might be the first generation where kids are dying at a younger age than their parents and it's related primarily to the obesity problem.

With the chronic obesity in America, it's more important than ever to not only feed kids healthy foods but to teach them how to make healthy choices on their own.

If we don't somehow stem the tide of childhood obesity, we're going to have a huge problem.

Obesity is racing through America, everywhere. It's high time someone spent some money to do something about it.

Actions, such as the designation of National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month, spring from First Lady Michelle Obama's leadership of efforts to end childhood obesity within this generation.

You can't have public health without working with the public sector. You can't have public education without working with the public sector in education.

Michelle Obama. She is big on encouraging kids to eat healthy - which is great.

Let's face it, we really did need something like this in this country to fight childhood obesity.

Exercise is essential for good health. But we can't exercise our way out of the obesity epidemic.

I would ban sweets from school - but this pressure to bring in healthy food is too much.