There are end-of-year clearances all over town, including on my own desk. Here are three important stories from 2010 that I discovered under a pile of unread Vegetarian Times.

The first involves the mid-December passage of the Leave No Child a Big Behind bill. It's official name is the Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act, and in spite of almost no attention paid, it's a hugely beneficial piece of legislation.

Why? Because in America, one in three kids is obese. And sadly, our schools have been partly responsible for their increasing plumpitude. Over the last 30 years, school lunchrooms became unregulated feedlots. Basic principles of good nutrition were hidden away in storage closets along with slide rules and film projectors, while kids learned it was perfectly OK to pump themselves full of processed food, fried food, junk food and sugary soft drinks.

Now, thanks to a true bipartisan effort in Congress, the dark days of federally subsidized Ho Hos has ended. This new law sets aside $4.5 billion over the next 10 years to ensure that kids in school get healthier, more nutritious meals.

It may be too little, too late for many boys and girls who are stuck with early onset diabetes and heart disease, but it is certainly a giant step in the right direction. Out with the sugary colas and vending machines filled with toxic treats; in with fresh fruits and vegetables and schoolyard gardens. The bill also expands the free lunch program and after-school meals for thousands of needy, hungry children.

"It was her baby," President Obama said just before signing the bill into law, kissing first lady Michelle, who made this legislation a top priority of her ongoing Let's Move campaign.

(If you want to read more about the new bill and join forces with kindred spirits who are pushing through other healthy lifestyle reforms for kids, check out www.letsmove.gov.)

The second notable development of 2010 also involves youngsters and their well-being, but it isn't nearly as cheery. In fact, it's sickening. At the same time we're pushing them to be more active, we're seeing more kids than ever getting injured. Experts are reporting more concussions, more wrecked shoulders and twisted ankles, more breaks, strains and bruises. This is very bad and expensive news.

High school athletes alone account for an estimated 2 million injuries, 500,000 doctor visits and 30,000 hospitalizations every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While that number continues to rise, there's another disturbing trend in the works: Kids are getting hurt at a much younger age. Every year more than 3.5 million kids age 14 and under are treated for sports injuries.

And now for the most mind-blowing fact of all: More than half of these overuse and trauma injuries are preventable. That's right, this growing epidemic of youth sports injuries could be turned around overnight if parents, trainers, coaches and health care providers knew and practiced the basics of injury prevention.

Smarter training. Quality equipment that fits. Proper conditioning. Pre-season checkups. These are some of the crucial strategies discussed on the website www.STOPsportsunjuries.org. It was begun in 2010 as part of the STOP Sports Injuries outreach campaign supported by the country's leading sports medicine organizations and initiated by the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine.

If you're a parent with an active kid, check it out now, before your son or daughter gets hurt. Make sure their coaches and trainers are in the know. Prevention rocks.

And finally, late in 2010, Weight Watchers announced its first major overhaul to its point system in 13 years. The new Points Plus system still stresses group support, healthy eating habits and physical activity, but there have been two big changes worth pointing out: First, most fruits and vegetables are now "free" — meaning you can eat as much as you want without adding points to your daily count; second, processed foods now have higher point values and should be eaten less.

The moral of this story? Eat more fruits and vegetables in 2011. And fewer processed foods. Calories count, but eating real food is the best strategy for reversing plumpitude. (Don't bother to look it up; you know what I mean.)

ENERGY EXPRESS-O! LET'S KEEP MOVING

"In the end, nothing is more important than the health and well-being of our children. Nothing." — Michelle Obama

Marilynn Preston — fitness expert, personal trainer and speaker on healthy lifestyle issues — is the creator of Energy Express, the longest-running syndicated fitness column in the country. She has a website, http://marilynnpreston.com and welcomes reader questions, which can be sent to MyEnergyExpress@aol.com.