Michelle Obama said a doctor told her the food she was giving her daughter was impacting her health: 'One of the worst feelings I've had as a parent'

• In an essay for Oprah Daily, Michelle Obama wrote about her mission to improve children's health.
• A doctor once told her the prepared food she was giving her daughter negatively impacted her health.

Former first lady Michelle Obama is continuing the work she started in the White House to promote and improve children's health and nutrition.

In an essay for Oprah Daily published Thursday, Obama recalled how her early years as a parent often meant feeding her young children delivered and prepared foods out of convenience.

"Grabbing prepared foods becomes simpler than cutting up carrots. Ordering delivery is sometimes all you have energy for," she wrote.

"I still remember taking one of my girls for a well-child visit and having the doctor tell me that all those simple choices I was making were negatively impacting her health. It was one of the worst feelings I've had as a parent — and one of the biggest wake-up calls of my life. I was a little scared, and also a little exasperated."

Obama has two children with former President Barack Obama: Malia, who turned 25 on July 4, and Sasha, now 22.

The experience inspired Michelle Obama to champion children's health as first lady. Her Let's Move! campaign worked to combat childhood obesity, and the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act set new standards for the nutrition of school lunches.

She also cofounded PLEZi Nutrition, a food-and-beverage company offering "healthier drinks and snacks" for kids. In May, PLEZi launched a line of four juice drinks with no added sugar.

Obama wrote that by creating her own products, she's now "working from the inside" to tackle the issue.

"There's no perfect solution that will work for every single kid, let alone millions of them," she wrote. "But my time as First Lady taught me that the food industry plays an outsize role in the fate of children's health."