Efforts to bring healthier food to our nation's schools have been kicked up a notch with the USDA's recent announcement of more than $4.5 million in grant money that will bring fresh foods from local farms to school cafeterias across the country.

Last week, the Walt Disney Company made a major announcement that the park would be implementing strict guidelines regarding the promotion of junk foods throughout the organization's many channels along with major changes to menu items sold in its theme parks to help combat the nation's rising obesity problems.

In a move to support the efforts of First Lady Michelle Obama and the Partnership for a Healthier America campaign, launched out of concern over the rising number of diet-related health issues affecting millions of Americans, particularly the nation's children, the Mars company has announced a plan to reduce the sizes and calories of its top-selling candy bars by the end of 2013.

Californians may have just spotted a gem amidst the rubble of America's crumbling economy: The California FreshWorks Fund is a $200 million public-private partnership aimed at increasing healthy and affordable food for the state's most challenged communities.

More often than not, food comes on a plate, not a pyramid. The Obama administration agrees with this logic and will be doing away with the food pyramid, designed as a nutritional reference for healthy eating, and replacing it with a "plate" wedged out with the basic food groups Americans are advised to be eating daily.

If you live near a "food desert," you're among more than 13 million Americans—most often low-income families—who have little if any fresh food nearby, and the USDA has launched a tool to prove it.

With a number of regulatory efforts underway to guarantee that school lunches are becoming more nutritious, one obvious issue had been overlooked until now: the brown bag.

Spring in Washington DC can only mean one thing: Michelle Obama's bees are busy pollinating. The First Lady, who is known for her outspoken commitment to healthy food initiatives, has also been keeping a beehive on the property in addition to her plentiful White House garden.

Late last month, Sam Kass, the Senior Policy Adviser for the Healthy Food Initiatives program, and the USDA's deputy under secretary, Dr. Janey Thornton, visited Edgewater High School in Orlando, Florida to participate in pilot efforts of Michelle Obama's Chef's Move to Schools program.

Michelle Obama is on her way to becoming better known as a gardener, beekeeper and health advocate than the First Lady. Her Let's Move! Campaign led to the President signing the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 just over a month ago, which is focused on providing nutrition platforms to improve the health of students by eliminating nutritional deficiencies and risks for diseases including childhood diabetes and obesity.