Michelle Obama praises lower childhood obesity rates in first stop of Let's Move! tour

Michelle Obama on Wednesday brought to her Let's Move! campaign to Mississippi, which has the highest obesity rate in the nation.

She praised the state for its efforts to slash those numbers, noting "Mississippi has seen obesity rates drop 13 percent among elementary school-aged kids. 

"Your schools did hard work.  They replaced their fryers with steamers — hallelujah.  And started serving more fruits and vegetables and whole grains," she said at her stop at the Eastside/Northside Elementary Schools in Clinton, Miss.

She also touted efforts across the nation to combat childhood obesity.

“We’ve seen real, measurable declines in the rates of childhood obesity right here in Mississippi, and in places like Philadelphia, New York City and California. And there is no reason why this success can’t happen in cities and states all across this country, if we’re willing to work for it,” Obama said.

The first lady was in the state for the first day of her multi-stop tour celebrating the third anniversary of Let's Move! She was joined by talk show host Rachael Ray.

After her remarks Obama, wearing a fuchsia and black striped cardigan and flowing black pants, headed to the school cafeteria where children for her waited among red, white and blue balloons, according to the pool report.

Obama and Ray oversaw a cooking competition between two chefs facing off with two school chefs. The results will be show on the March 11th edition of "The Rachael Ray Show."

Obama's next stops on her tour are Springfield, Mo., and her hometown of Chicago.

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