My son is 12, and so far he's winning the battle of the bulge.

But then again, the kid's been brainwashed since birth on healthy food and exercise. When he was a toddler, he would eat the smelliest, greenest baby food -- stuff that would make me gag from the smell. That was the chicken and broccoli baby food. Chicken and broccoli makes a fine meal but somehow when you puree it, eh, not so much.

He grew up loving tofu, broccoli, yogurt, cucumbers and exotic stuff like pickled ginger and calamari.

As I wheeled him through the grocery store, I pointed out the different fruits and veggies, told him the kids' yogurt had "paint" in it and made plain Cheerios sound like the coolest cereal in the store.

He's totally not a picky eater, save for the bitter broccoli rabe encounter where he pronounced that there was "something awful" in his pasta dish.

All that brainwashing? He completely bought into it.

He still eats healthfully, and if he wants ice cream or chips, he'll measure out a serving on the food scale.

Compared with some of his schoolmates, he's taller and leaner than a lot of them. But compared with the guys on his baseball team he's right in line, which seems to show that kids who have some sort of sports in their life have fewer weight issues.

There's no "bad food" or "good food" in our house (for the most part). There are only bad and good choices.

In "decriminalizing" food, I'm trying to not send him down the road that I've been traveling lo these many decades.