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On Monday, DC media outlets reported that First Lady Michelle Obama made a visit to a Washington, D.C. area Shake Shack and more than indulged herself. She ordered a burger, fries, a milkshake, and a Diet Coke, totaling up to a whopping 1,700 calories.
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While that Shake Shack meal might not be bad for you or me, even though it accounts for close to 80 percent of the recommend calorie-intake, it raises major questions as to whether Mrs. Obama is setting a good example as the head of the fight against childhood obesity.
Mrs. Obama has made the fight against childhood obesity a major point of emphasis during her time in the White House, organizing exercise activities with youths and replacing the old Food Pyramid with "Choose My Plate."
And admittedly she is right to want to focus on this issue. Approximately 12.5 million children suffer from obesity making it a major problem that needs to be tackled.
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So while there is no denying that the issue needs to be immediately addressed in the United States, it also needs to have the right type of person as its leader to make a meaningful impact.
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Mrs. Obama certainly has a lot of pull as the wife of President Obama and has gotten significant media coverage on childhood obesity, but the Shake Shack incident begs the question whether she is the right person to lead the cause.
One of the first questions you have to ask yourself is whether Michelle Obama is hypocritical for ordering a meal that directly goes against the advice she gives children?
To me, the answer is a resounding yes.
Perhaps too much might be made on this one specific meal but Mrs. Obama needs to be smarter and more aware of her actions. When you are the First Lady of the United States, every single thing you do will be scrutinized to the nth degree.
When you organize a successful charity event or raise money for a good cause, the media will lavish you with praise. But when you do something that goes against one of your primary causes, you have to expect the firestorm that will ensue.
This might be the first time in a month that Mrs. Obama has consumed a greasy fast food, but there are still consequences to her actions. By ordering greasy food like this in public, Mrs. Obama is sending a particular message, whether she did so purposely or not.
Despite how tough it might be to resist her admitted soft spot for French fries, Mrs. Obama has to do so or else find a new cause to focus her time on. Because just like many kids look up to athletes such as Derek Jeter or Peyton Manning, many children are looking to Mrs. Obama for advice and guidance.
It's unfair for Mrs. Obama to preach one thing and then do the exact opposite. Just imagine being an eight-year old that has been convinced by his parents to eat healthy because that's what Mrs. Obama has advised, and then you see a picture of her indulging in a juicy cheeseburger?
It's time for Mrs. Obama to either put up or shut up on how she represents the fight against obesity.
She can truly get committed to the process and eat healthy, as she encourages people to do, or she can eat any way she'd like but without all of the pretenses.
Either way she needs to make a decision quickly, if only to not confuse anymore children.
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