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Herbs & Health: Michelle Obama’s Whitehouse Herb Garden

Regardless of your political affiliations and who you voted for in the last presidential election, one thing is true, there are a lot of changes taking shape in and around the Whitehouse!  And in the yard of the Whitehouse is most notably where one of the most important changes is taking effect.  The new Whitehouse garden, the brainchild of first lady Michelle Obama for all intended purposes, is more than just a garden.  Not since Eleanor Roosevelt’s victory garden has there been an actual garden in the Whitehouse.  The timing couldn’t be more perfect and the public is more than ready to have the trickledown effect finally work in their favor.

When it comes to the health of our nation and its people the first ladies have always been the leading advocates for change, improvement and the overall education of the public in regards to health.  It’s a little bit of an oxy-moron in a way as the first ladies are advocates for the basic health needs of the public sector, yet many of their husbands or presidents policies directly affect public health in a negative way, especially in regards to agricultural policy.  We won’t get too political as the goal here is to bring awareness to what the First lady Michelle Obama is doing and not focusing on the policies of her husband, President Obama.

Americans are by far one of the most unhealthy people in the world, this is fact, we are more obese, suffer more preventable diseases and are more apt to suffer major health problems at a young age than most other countries in the world.  In the late 60’s and early 70’s, the industrial food revolution changed the way food was viewed throughout the world.  Americans were on the forefront of these changes and were pioneers in the manufacturing of food.  What started off as convenient type foods in conjunction with our automobile revolution, which required the need to eat and run, soon became a product of capitalism, which soon after that became about politics, policies, and lobbyists and in the end a greed controlled food system didn’t take the health and well being of its citizens into effect.  Food corporations become richer and richer, the fatter and sicker Americans got.   The real tragedy is that the most targeted demographic of the most unhealthy foods is children.

We are now entering into a new food revolution and up until recently it had only been a grassroots type of revolution; this is the revolution to get food, pure and clean food back into the lives of our citizens, starting them back on the path to healthiness.  When first Lady Michelle Obama joined this revolution with her Whitehouse Garden, she took the revolution from grass roots and flung it into the mainstream; she shed the spotlight on the path that will inevitably lead Americans to a healthier and therefore more prosperous people. 

The garden was created with the help of under privileged youth from the DC area and in addition to simply producing food for the Whitehouse, the garden donates a large portion of the yields to the Mirian Soup Kitchen providing for many homeless and needy DC residents.  The garden  not only grows a wide variety of vegetables and a few fruits, but it hosts a very large herb garden that the First Lady believes will help transform the way Americans eat, by showcasing herbs as a means to enhance healthy eating.

“I personally would love to see garden fresh herbs become a large part of the American diet; I believe it will expose children and adults alike to be exposed to a variety of flavors and nutrients available in herbs.”

First Lady Michelle Obama

Incorporating fresh herbs into any diet is a great way to change an unhealthy eating cycle.  Fresh herbs replace sugars, salts, and fats with incredible flavor and help us eliminate processed foods filled with all of these unhealthy industrialized foods.

First Lady Michelle Obama’s Whitehouse garden is like a gigantic classroom for the nation, on in which healthy eating and living habits are the curriculum.  The time is now to make changes and the First Lady is one of many who are not waiting for policies to change but educating our nations people into her own hands by embarrassing the media attention she gets and shining the spotlight on the path to a healthier, pure food system and way of thinking about food for Americans.  The gardens success is a perfect indication that the public is ready to hear more about healthy eating and what healthy foods actually are.  As this spotlight shines the First Lady is hoping that families all across the nation begin to talk and learn more about the healthy options that do exist.  It’s all about choice and we know that when Americans have the correct information, they tend to choose correctly.  So, although government and policy play a big role in making these healthy food choices national issues, certainly First Lady Michelle Obama’s mission is one of the most important happenings our nation has seen in a long time.

Here are a few of the herbs growing in the Whitehouse garden; thyme, rosemary, chives, cilantro, parsley, oregano, sage, dill, chamomile, lemon balm, lavender and hyssop.