From the day she gave her first interview last March about the vegetable garden she was about to plant on the White House south lawn, the first lady has always talked about a rude awakening she received from her daughters’ pediatrician.

As the person who interviewed her that day, I'm always struck by how delicately she handled the subject: “It was our pediatrician who kind of said, you may want to, you know, think about diet and nutrition issues.”

Simple changes you make to your routine can have a big impact on the environment. For example, taking shorter showers can save billions of gallons of water.

Here's how: The average person showers for 8 minutes a day. Every minute uses about 21⁄2 gallons of water. So that's 20 gallons of water for the average shower.



If everyone turned off the water 1 minute sooner, the savings across the country would total nearly 12 billion gallons.

Michelle Obama scolded the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) at their meeting in Washington on Tuesday for not doing enough to reduce childhood obesity—and, in fact, for contributing to it. But if the assembled representatives of PepsiCo, Coca Cola, Kraft, Krispy Kreme, McDonald's, ConAgra, and other food and beverage manufacturers and fast-food chains were offended by the criticism, they never let on. Instead they laughed in all the right places, and gave her a standing ovation.

What's for dinner tonight?

Instead of going out every night this weekend, why not try making a delicious meal at home?

This recipe for grilled salmon with lentil tabouli is a lean source of protein--and the dish is low in saturated fat and calories.

From supermarket visits to jogging with Sporticus, each time First Lady Michelle Obama talks about her Let’s Move crusade against childhood obesity, she adds another wrinkle. This time, she's recruiting computer programmers into the fight.

Considering that everyone is talking about the epidemic in childhood obesity—including the first lady, who is working to make the problem disappear in a generation—it may come as some surprise to learn that there has been an 88 percent reduction in calories from not-so-good-for-you beverages like sodas and sports drinks sold in schools across the country since 2004.

First Lady Michelle Obama can now add "athlete" to an already extensive resume that includes organic gardener, “mom in chief,” and “chairman of the board” of her childhood-obesity initiative, Let's Move.

In a few short sentences, First Lady Michelle Obama gave the women (and men) who are responsible for what children eat in school a shout-out that should keep them revved up for the rest of the school year.

Your honey’s face has healing powers. In a study conducted by the University of California at Los Angeles, women were asked to endure pain while either holding their partner's hand or looking at his photo.

Surprisingly, women rated their pain lowest while viewing the photo.

Why? Viewing your honey in pixel form causes the brain to release chemicals that reduce pain. But holding his hand may make you worry that he’s evaluating you, which can heighten your nerves, making you more sensitive to pain.

The squeals of delight sounded more like a Beatles concert than the arrival of First Lady Michelle Obama at The Fresh Grocer, a supermarket in an inner-city North Philadelphia neighborhood where 95 percent of the children are entitled to free school breakfasts and lunches.



The cameras were flashing and small children were being hoisted on parents’ shoulders in order to shake her hand.

Friday morning was the beginning of a two-day effort by Mrs. Obama, who in fact is something of a rock star, to promote Let's Move, her campaign to eliminate childhood obesity by encouraging children to exercise more and eat healthier foods.



Using a combination of folksiness and humor—often self-deprecating, sometimes at her husband’s expense—she tells hard truths about the toll childhood obesity is taking on almost one-third of children today, most of them poor, and how she thinks her Let’s Move initiative may reverse the trend.