My 2 older boys (15 and 13) saw SuperSize Me and now they wouldn't go to McD's if somebody paid them to Not that they went that often anyway...

I agree that soda is a top contender - if I let them, my boys (all three of them - the youngest is 7) would drink it from morning to night and never anything else. It's pure sugar and taking the place of water for almost every kid I see on the street. I see a lot of teenagers walking down the road chugging out of a 2 liter (1/2 gallon) bottle all to themselves!!

Video games and TV -- sitting around too much, eating out of boredom and stress. Today's kids have a lot of pressure coming at them from all sides and sometimes use food to self-medicate. That was my problem as an adult - why not kids, too? Parents working too much or single-parent homes and no time to cook/shop/prepare meals. Kids signed up for everything under the sun and there's no time between piano practice and soccer to go home for a healthy home-cooked meal - hit the drive thru.... All of these are factors, IMO.