I suspect the U.S. Department of Agriculture's failure to enforce its own junk food rules probably had something to do with Congress getting involved on the front lines of the childhood obesity epidemic in America's public schools.

It's encouraging that this bill would apply to all foods served in schools, not just lunches. The major addition would include vending machines, and takes into account how a product contributes to obesity, thus targeting dangerous junk foods like:

• Doughnuts
• Soft drinks 
• Potato chips

This all sounds well and good but we still have to contend with the bill being neutralized by powerful lobbying groups like the American Beverage Association, who believe merely removing soft drinks from elementary schools will do the trick.

This is where you can make a difference. If you are a parent please get involved in preventing obesity in your home. This way your children won't be as susceptible to the powerful marketing messages that are used to influence poor but tasty food choices.

Food companies use all sorts of tricks in addition to the vending machines:

• Athletes and celebrities
• Saturday morning commercials
• Internet

It really is tragic that many of your children will live shorter lives than you, but if you address these issues early on you can avoid the negative influences on your child's food choices. 

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.