Numbers mean things, so let’s go to the tape. According to new data analysis, the percentage of obese children and adolescents has risen steadily since the 1970s but began leveling off in 1999. Today 16.3 percent of children between the ages of 2 and 19 are obese and an additional 15.6 percent are overweight. Taken together, this means that 31.9 percent of kids have a weight problem, but government researchers are saying that they’ve found no significant increase since the late 1990s.

Before we break out the champagne, let me remind everyone that childhood obesity rates have nearly tripled for children ages two to five (from 5 to 14 percent) and quadrupled for children ages six to 11 (from 5 percent to 19 percent), according to a report from the Institute of Medicine. For teenagers 12-19, 17.6 percent are now obese, which is quite a leap from 6.1 percent in 1972. All these numbers prompted Richard H. Carmona, M.D., the U.S. Surgeon General from 2002 to 2006, to declare, “Generation Y is turning into Generation XL.”

The topic of childhood obesity has become a national conversation because parents are waking up to the fact that their children’s extra pounds today put them at risk for experiencing significant health problems tomorrow. A body of research has found that obese kids are likely—a 79 percent probability, according to one study—to become overweight adults who’ll live lower-quality lives that could result in their early, untimely deaths.

The unblinking reality is that overweight and obese children face considerable health perils in the future, including serious diseases like type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure, pediatric gastroesophageal reflux disease (or pediatric GERD), joint stress from carrying around so much extra weight, sleep apnea, skin rashes—the list goes on.

Why are our kids in this mess? A lack of parental leadership when it comes to shopping for the right foods is a huge problem. I can’t tell you the number of moms who’ve come up to me after I’ve spoken and said, “All my kids want to eat is junk, junk, junk—hot dogs, pizza, ice cream, candy, and soda.”

When I hear this, I always respond with this question: “Tell me, what’s your diet like?”

I hear a lot of hemming and hawing, and then the mom won’t make eye contact with me while she mumbles something like, “Well, you know. I don’t have time to eat too well. I’m too busy.”

There’s something else she forgot—she controls the purse strings. In other words, all the food inside your refrigerator, freezer, and pantry didn’t get there by accident. Someone had to purchase these foods, lug them home, and stock your kitchen.

I know—it doesn’t help that billion-dollar companies heavily advertise their sweet cereals and salty snacks on kid-friendly channels like Nickelodeon and the Cartoon Network. Nor does it help that our kids are much more sedentary these days. Every day after school or during the summer break, Xbox and PlayStation video games capture millions of young eyeballs. The only part of their anatomies getting exercised is their thumbs.

In my view, everything boils down to two words: parental control. Please understand I’m generalizing here, but when you look at the big picture, too many fathers and mothers have lost command of the parental ship. They are:

• unwilling to say no to their kids’ demands for junk food
• unmotivated to cook and prepare meals from fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and meats
• uneducated about the importance of nutritional supplementation
• unaccustomed to exercising regularly

So let me inspire you to go to your local health food store and fill your cart with healthy organic fruits, vegetables, meats, and snacks. That’s the best first step you can take to keeping your children out of the overweight and obese columns in government statistics.