Photo: PinkMoose, Flickr

Kids sliding their trays through school cafeterias are seeing more vegetarian options, and it's not just grilled cheese. According to a survey by the School Nutrition Association, two out of three U.S. schools offer veggie lunch options regularly, a 40-percent increase since veggie meals were measured by the nonprofit, which represents school food providers, in 2007.

Lunch ladies are serving up more meatless entrees such as vegetable burritos, lentil sauce with pasta, egg salad, vegetable cacciatore and stir fry. Even black bean brownies. Hmm, now there's a dessert with a potentially high yuck response, but commenters rave over these sugary squares of black beans at Eco Child's Play and this recipe variation, too.

Hip, hip, hooray -- there are more meatless entrees. But before you start cheering, the National School Lunch Program remains seriously at-risk in the wholesome foods department. Ann Cooper, aka renegade lunch lady, says the paltry $2.68 federal subsidy per free school meal served under the NSLP must be raised to $4 or $5 to properly equip school cafeterias to truly go healthy -- just one of her 10 guidelines to bring wholesome into schools. Dietitian Kathryn Strong's editorial in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette points out the federal government's own School Nutrition Dietary Assessment Study found 80 percent of schools don't comply with federal guidelines -- there's too much fatty food served up in cafeterias. Nutritionist Clare Miller noted not one school met recommended sodium limitations and few met recommendations for fiber.

Photo: broma, Flickr

Overweight kids typically face obesity as adults. If you've ever considered a weight-loss camp for your family or child, take a look at Wellspring Camps. Wellspring says it's not a fat, diet or boot camp. Rather, it's a fitness and weight loss camp based upon proven scientific principles. I recently spoke with John Gordan, chief marketing officer at Wellspring, to find out how they make weight loss stick.

That's Fit: What sets Wellspring apart from other weight loss camps?

John: We're a scientific organization. Second of all, we're focused on helping teens and young adults change behaviors for long-term success. Others are focused on food reduction and exercise, we're helping establish healthy habits.

That's Fit: How many keep the post-camp weight off?

John: We do record our results. Initial weight-loss on average is 4 pounds per week. Average camp length is about six weeks, and 70 percent of campers have continued to lose weight or keep it off for six to 12 months post-camp, a study we've repeated with the same results the last four years. We're working with a university right now to do a long-term, large-scale study. The most inspiring thing is how these teens change as individuals. Most of campers have tried an average of four different things before coming to us. They feel like failures. The real inspiration is the physical/emotional changes they make.

I love competitive sports. I live for the championship game. But not every school kid adores team sports. Heck, I knew many who cringed at the thought of gym class.

Teaching team sport skills has been an important part of America's physical education curriculum. However in one Long Island school district, only 15-18 percent of the student body are athletes. Nationwide, 16 percent of six-to-19 year olds are now overweight or obese. In response, districts across the area are moving away from the sports model and targeting nonathletes with creative offerings in fitness and wellness, adventure-based learning and lifetime skills. Finally, gym for everybody.

Of course, competitive sports are still in the mix -- to the relief of P.E. teacher jocks -- along with an exciting new wave of noncompetitive offerings. Yoga, Pilates, and Dance Dance Revolution. Just imagine studly Coach Johnson laying aside his whistle to teach DDR to a class of freshman. Agility stations including jumping rope, elliptical machines and medicine ball moves to music. Fitness walking, lifeguarding, cardio kickboxing and even Red Rover and Kick the Can. I love this concept. Not only does everyone play, if students find enjoyment in just a couple of these, they are developing fitness habits for life.

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I was a bad girl. Got a minor speeding ticket a couple months ago -- my first in over 10 years -- which landed me in drivers school last Saturday instead of the gym. After watching the crash dummies fly around in the videos, I'm looking lovingly at my seat belt now.

Interestingly, a new study reveals heavier children are more likely to injure their arms and legs in car accidents. While overweight or obese children are not more likely to be injured, their risk for sustaining a serious injury to the extremities is two and a half times greater. Even after researchers adjusted for other risky moves such as no seat belts or riding shotgun in an older car.

Researchers speculate the increased mass of a heavier child could mean a greater force of impact on the arms and legs. The way those drivers-school videos explain how your brain or internal organs come crashing into the skull or chest wall post-impact, this makes sense. But if rate of injury is similar across BMI, this article left me wondering the pattern of injury for children with lower BMIs. Are they less serious? No matter, stay safe during the rush-rush-rush holiday season, oK?

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BBC Health has a video showing a mother discussing how her children got overweight, the problems they encountered, and what they're doing to lose the extra weight. The mother mentioned that she realized her son was getting overweight when she couldn't find pants that fit him properly. She had to buy pants in America because "they cater more to the overweight child." Her choice of words really struck a chord with me.

It's definitely a chicken and egg situation. Larger clothing sizes are necessary because there are larger kids who need them. But is childhood obesity, in part, prolonged by the fact that items like husky or plus-sized clothing is readily available? The mom in the BBC Health interview stated that the lack of clothing was a main impetus for changing the family's unhealthy habits and helping the kids lose weight.

I think it would be discriminatory to not have larger clothing sizes available. But, on the other hand, childhood obesity is an ever increasing problem and we don't want to become a society that caters to the issue. What do you think?

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A recent study theorized that banning fast food commercials would have a positive impact on childhood obesity. After all, most kids watch an awful lot of television -- being tempted by burgers and fries (not to mention the toys they're packaged with) can be a big draw. Pair that with the potential sleep problems and loss of physical activity due to TV watching and you've got a recipe for childhood obesity. Or do you?

I asked That's Fit readers what they thought about banning fast food commercials. Here are the results:

• 56.6 percent think banning fast food commercials is a good idea. Remove the temptation and maybe kids would beg and plead for fast food less often.
• 34.5 percent of you think kids will still want fast food, whether they see it on commercials or not.
  
• 8.7 percent of you voted for other. Many comments focused on the fact that it shouldn't matter whether kids see commercials or not -- parents should determine the types of food that their family is eating. Kids shouldn't be the ones who dictate what they eat.

Do you think you're up on knowledge about childhood obesity? Take this AOL Health childhood obesity quiz and find out.

Most fast food meals make me feel a little ill -- yet often, when I catch a fast food commercial running on TV, the food looks so good I salivate like Pavlov's dog. That's exactly what those commercials are designed to do -- make you crave a trip to your nearest fast food joint for whatever triple-decker, bacon-packed, artery-clogging burger they're advertising this week.

A recent study reviewed data on nearly 13,000 children to determine how many advertising commercials most children view on TV each week. Researchers believe the commercials have a big impact on the amount of children who eat fast food. They estimate that banning fast food commercials from TV would reduce obesity in children ages 3-11 by 18 percent and by 14 percent in adolescents ages 12-18.

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Kids sometimes look as if they're glued to their cell phones. If they could only complete their homework as quickly as they can send text messages, they'd really be set. Even better: Maybe text messaging could also help them lose weight.

Researchers are actually questioning if text messaging could become a weight management tool. We already know that keeping a journal of weight loss or other health-related goals is a tried and true method. However, many people can't stick to journaling for the long-term because it can become tedious. A recent study followed three groups -- one that monitored health goals through text messaging, one that kept a paper journal, and one that didn't self-monitor progress at all. The study included children (ages 5-13) and their parents. The group reporting progress via text message had a lower attrition rate and had significantly greater adherence to self-monitoring.

I think keeping track of weight loss progress through text messaging is a great idea -- it's convenient and it could offer instant feedback. However, I question whether it's a good idea for children and teens. Weight loss is obviously the primary goal when a child or teen is obese, but another goal must be protecting/correcting the child's relationship with food and bolstering their self-esteem. Will reporting their progress through text messaging be motivating or demeaning? What do you think?

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Childhood obesity is becoming a big problem in the United States as well as many other countries. There are many factors that contribute to the problem, including poor nutrition at home, lack of nutrition education, unhealthy school lunches, and marketing/advertising of unhealthy foods to kids. But as the attention on childhood obesity increases, are we going too far and generating a fear of fat in kids?

A recent survey of 150,000 kids found that 1/4 of 10-year-old boys and 1/3 of girls that age are worried about their body image and shape. I found those numbers disconcerting. Yes, children should be at a healthy weight. Being overweight can have long-term effects on a child's health and self-esteem. But, in trying to help kids achieve/maintain a healthy weight, we shouldn't sacrifice a positive body image and shouldn't damage a healthy relationship with food.

Instead of forcing young kids to think about calorie intake and burning calories, we should just model and support healthy eating habits and make physical activity and play a part of every day. If your child is overweight, try these nine positive ways to help them get healthy.

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Childhood obesity affects the other side of the pond as well; it's estimated that 20% of kids in the EU are overweight. In an effort to teach kids how to eat more healthfully, some of Europe's top soccer stars have banded together to create a recipe book.

The book, Eat for Goals!, contains 13 recipes with easy, step-by-step ingredients. Not only are the recipes kid-friendly, they're simple enough for kids to prepare themselves. And getting kids in the kitchen is one of the best ways to pique their interest in nutrition and form healthy habits.

There are lots of kid-friendly cookbooks to inspire your kids. Check out the gallery for some ideas.

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Martha recently posted about whether or not parents should be notified if their children are overweight. A recent user question on Momtourage shows that some doctors are doing just that. ... and I think it's a good thing. The parent asking the question is wondering if they should even be concerned that their child is overweight because they feel that their child is active and happy.

Some children are clearly, unmistakably overweight. But for other kids, it isn't always easy to tell. After all, kids go through growth spurts and they grow at different rates. But if a medical professional expresses that your child is indeed overweight, it's time to take action.

As parents, there are many things you can do to help your child live a healthy lifestyle and maintain an appropriate weight.

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We've known that childhood obesity has been on the rise for a while. And researchers are reporting new findings on the implications of the obesity epidemic on a regular basis. The most recent finding is quite disturbing: About nine percent of teens may have metabolic syndrome, and might be putting themselves at risk for heart disease and diabetes, according to recent research published by the University of Rochester Medical School. Obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and now metabolic syndrome -- all formerly the lot of the middle aged and aging -- are affecting children and adolescents.

Metabolic syndrome has been an established health risk for adults, but it wasn't until 2006 that the National Institutes of Health commissioned to define metabolic syndrome for children and adolescents.

The risk factors for children and teens has been defined as:

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