During European Tour, Michelle Obama Boasts of ‘Better Lunches in Our Schools’

As part of her European tour to promote “Let’s Move,” First Lady Michelle Obama boasted during a visit to Milan that American school children were eating better, thanks to her fight against obesity.

“We’ve gotten schools involved so we’re eating better lunches in our schools in the United States, thank goodness,” she said.

Obama made her comments during a visit to the Milan Expo 2015 at a cooking event held by Chef John Besh.

The First Lady didn’t mention any of the multitude of reports from children complaining about lunchroom changes as a result of the federal nutrition mandates she supported.

In spite of her efforts, she warned, global obesity had skyrocketed in recent years.

“Globally, obesity has doubled around the world since 1980 –- can you imagine that?” she asked her audience. “And right now, diabetes has increased by 45 percent all over the world — did you guys know that?”

Part of the reason she traveled to Europe, she explained, was to share success stories from the United States to people around the world.

“That’s why we’re here — because we want our delegation to share some of the lessons learned,” she said. “We want to listen to what’s going on around the world, to learn from other leaders so that we can keep making progress and hopefully help other countries do the same thing.”

She reminded the children in the audience that everyone had to do their part to stop the obesity epidemic threatening the world’s population.

“We all have to do our part and kids like you, you guys have to do your part,” she said. “You’ve got to eat your vegetables.”

The First Lady encouraged all families to get together for a home cooked meal in the evening and engage in conversation with each other.

“You find that if you’re talking over dinner, you’re actually paying attention to how fast you’re eating,” she said. “So you’re not just sitting their gobbling your food down; you’re actually tasting it.

She added that people who “shoveled” food in their mouth usually ate too much at the table, and that conversations would help prevent that.

“You probably eat less because you’re not just shoveling — shoveling is probably not a good thing. We don’t shovel,” she said, before admitting. “Well, the President shovels sometimes.”