Although soft drink machines may be disappearing from U.S. public schools, that's no reason to quit keeping tabs on your teen's health and waistline. Another subtle contributor to the epidemic of childhood obesity plaguing America turns out to be mid-morning lunch periods.

The most popular foods sold at schools with earlier lunch periods ...

• Pizza
• Cookies
• Hamburgers
• Pastries

 ... read like a recipe for obesity to me.

This is one of the reasons for the astounding fact that children are living shorter, more disease-plagued lives than their parents, a heartbreaking consequence if there ever was one. I'm convinced, however, we can overcome this epidemic before it's too late.

Like most problems in life, preventing obesity among children and teenagers is far easier than treating it, but much of the success of prevention depends on parental involvement, and communication is the key.

You will not only need to set appropriate guidelines and talk to your children about nutrition and why what they are doing is so important, you will need to take the time necessary to create nutritious meals and snacks for them to eat.

Perhaps even more importantly, you will need to act as a good role model for them. After all, it is completely unfair to your children to ask them not to eat things they later see you eating.

Some ways to combat the problem of childhood obesity:

• Exercise -- The obvious answer to unfit kids is exercise. Overweight and obese children need at least 30 minutes of exercise each day, but more is better.

• Eliminate sweet drinks -- Drastically cut their sugar intake (and ultimately weight) by eliminating soda and fruit juices.

• Cut down or cut out television -- Not only does TV viewing promote inactivity, it exposes kids to commercials promoting worthless foods.

• Retool their diets based on their individual nutritional type.

• Address the emotions that contributed to their poor health by helping them learn an effective energy psychology tool like the Emotional Freedom Technique.