Though this site focuses on Helping Parents Raise Healthy Kids, health professionals need practical tools to work with kids in schools and in clinics. The University of California, Berkeley, has assembled Fact Sheets for Schools, Professionals, and for collecting heights and weight.

Latino kids ages 6 to 19 are about twice as likely to be overweight as white kids, according to the U.S. CDC. Latino kids (9 to 13) participate barely half as much in organized physical activities than white kids, 26 percent versus 47 percent.

For many (62 percent) Latino kids, the reason is money: then, unsafe communuities (41 percent), no wheels (37 percent) and few chances (31 percent).

To learn more about how to eat to avoid overweight, and to make it part of your lifestyle, check out these terrific cookbooks, selected by Dr. John La Puma, an expert in nutrition and food as preventive medicine.