How should I feed my kids to avoid childhood obesity?

Make sure you stock your home with healthy snack and meal choices. You don't have to go completely granola—in fact, one recent study showed that many “low-fat” granola cereals actually have over twice the fat, sugar, and calories of a high-sugar kids breakfast cereal!

Read the labels, especially for saturated fat, calories, and sugar content per serving. Sugary drinks are your single worst enemy. Replacing the case of cola with 100 percent real juice is good first step, but a lot of juice can be just as bad.

Get lean beef. Buy baked chips instead of fried. You get the idea. You won't need to change everything to make a big difference in what goes into your kids.

I stated this in another question but the best thing to do is to first change your eating habits.

Your children will most likely pick up your eating habits and they will most likely pick up your genetics.  We as parents have to take the responsibility for how our children are being raised and it is important that we as parents take the responsibility to take care of ourselves through nutrition and exercise.

Therefore we first must begin with learning for ourselves and then passing that along to our children.  A healthy adult diet will also be a healthy childhood diet.  This means frequent meals throughout the day, fruits, veggies, low fat proteins and healthy grains and fats make up a good balanced diet.  Do that and your child will have the best chance to eat healthy throughout their lives.

Children are taking in excess calories from several sources, including sodas, candy, and snack items like chips. Food is everywhere, including in places where it was previously unavailable, such as at gas stations and bookshops. Portion sizes, both in restaurants and at home, are bigger than they used to be. American children, on the whole, eat a diet higher in fat, sodium, and added sugars, and lower in whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and lean dairy products, than they should be consuming.

Caretakers should have available plenty of fruits and vegetables and less sweets and treats at home and schools. Skim milk and water should be the beverages of choice. Eating healthy meals together can also help make sure that the entire family is preventing obesity.