First Lady Tours Air Force Base On Nutrition Campaign

First Lady Michelle Obama toured Little Rock Air Force Base on Thursday (Feb. 9) touting the expansion of a pilot program to encourage more nutritious foods on military bases and for military families.

Department of Defense officials have stated that poor health leads to hundreds of first-term enlistee discharges each year because candidates fail to meet weight and fitness standards. Poor nutrition also leads to billions of dollars in health care costs for the military annually.

John Lyon with our content partner, the Arkansas News Bureau, shares more in this report:

Little Rock Air Force Base began participating in the Food Transformation Initiative in late 2010. The first lady said the program has been so successful that the military is expanding it to more than 1,000 dining facilities and nearly 1.5 million troops.

During her two-hour visit, base officials briefed Obama on the program’s history at the base. She also toured dining facilities at the base and addressed troops.

“For the first time in 20 years, the (Department of Defense) is upgrading their nutritional standards to include more fresh fruits and vegetables, more whole grains, lean meat, low-fat dairy products with every single meal,” the first lady said. ”So that means more DOD installations will offer the kind of fresh, healthy food that the Air Force’s Food Transformation Initiative helped bring here to Little Rock.”

Obama also said the Pentagon will conduct a comprehensive evaluation of every military base to make sure healthy foods are served, not just in dining halls but in snack bars and vending machines frequented by service personnel and their families.