According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the rise in obesity has hit a plateau. Now, that’s the kind of plateau we can celebrate.

Of course, it couldn’t continue on a constant upward trend. Nevertheless, it is cause for some reserved celebration. But only a little.

“This is not a cause for complacency or celebration,” says Dr. William H. Dietz, director of the Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity at the CDC, “but it is cause for modest optimism.”

A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association examined height and weight data from a national sample of 5,555 adults collected in 2007 and 2008. In the sample, about 34 percent of the subjects were obese.

More than two-thirds of adult Americans are obese, according to the latest studies, and many health experts feel that this begins in childhood. In the United States, the percentage of overweight or obese children has doubled over the past 30 years to 25 percent of the under-19 population. Obese children, just like adults, are at a higher risk for type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and other diseases that in years past have been considered adult diseases. Twenty five percent. Think about four children that you know, and one of them might very well be obese or on the way.

Here are some healthy habits that you can instill in your children to help them learn the actions necessary to be healthy adults.

There is more evidence that a certain amount of childhood obesity can be attributed to one’s genetic makeup. In fact, they may be missing certain segments of DNA. This is not to say that most kids who are unhealthy can blame Mother Nature – the research tied the phenomenon to severely obese kids.

British researchers from the University of Cambridge and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute examined the DNA of 300 children who became very fat, in the neighborhood of 220 pounds by age 10.

They looked for deletions or extra copies of DNA segments. What they found was evidence that several rare deletions may promote obesity, including one kind that the researchers found in less than one percent of about 1,200 severely obese children. But, it’s not about slowing metabolism, but increasing appetite.

The role of first lady is whatever she wants to make of it. Some prefer to stay pretty much invisible, while others like to take proactive roles with issues they are passionate about.

One of Michelle Obama’s passions in the first year of her husband’s term is promoting healthy eating… something that has become a sort of national emergency. Now she’s concentrating on childhood obesity.

“Nearly a third of all children in this country are overweight or obese… and a third will suffer from diabetes at some point in their lifetimes,” Mrs. Obama said in a speech at the Department of Health and Human Services.

“It is a major public health threat right now, so just imagine what we’re going to be facing in 20 or 30 years if we don’t get on this issue.”

Have our weight problems really come to this? Are parents of morbidly obese children guilty of child abuse on the level that it warrants them losing custody?

It’s not just in the U.S. – this is a worldwide debate. A Scottish couple lost custody of two of their six children because they failed to reduce the kids’ weight following warnings from Scottish social services.

In another case, a South Carolina mother lost custody of her 14-year-old son in May – he was 555 pounds. Jerri Gray didn’t help her case when she missed a court date to examine whether she should retain custody. The boy is currently living with his aunt. His mother, who was arrested, is facing criminal child-neglect charges.