Along with exercise and 20-minute lessons from teachers and the Michigan Health System staff, Ann Arbor Middle School students were offered better food choices.

In the Clague Middle School cafeteria, for instance, french fries were replaced with baked potatoes. Bacon-double-cheeseburgers, high-fat meat pizzas and footlong hot dogs were downsized or eliminated. Vegetables with dip and a fruit salad bar were added to the daily menu. School vending machines now offer water and fruit juice instead of soda.

Making these changes also meant challenging food service contractors whose bottom line relied on high-profit — and high-fat — lunch items.

"We really pushed the district and the food vendors more," said Michael Hecker, the principal of Clague, the pilot school. "It may cost more, but it's better for kids."

Susan Aaronson, a university health system dietitian, delivers the program message with props, such as Crisco-filled test tubes representing the amount of fat found in various foods and a plastic model showing the four stages of clogged arteries. She said sixth-graders are a perfect audience.

"Until now, they've been handed a lunch tray," she said. "For the first time, they have choices."

At Clague, some choices include more exercise, especially for sixth-graders who are no longer required to take P.E. after they move into seventh grade.

"I've had kids tell me playing their musical instrument is exercise," said Kim Jackson, 30, a Clague P.E. and health teacher.

She said Clague seventh- and eighth-graders are remembering what they learned in sixth grade. "They know they have to increase their heart rate to get the benefits of exercise."

Dr. Gary Edelson, an endocrinologi3st and president of the American Diabetes Association of Michigan, said he thinks the early intervention is a good idea. "If our children learn good habits, they will carry them into adulthood."

Clague sixth-grader Sabrina Dotimas, 12, said she is eating better and exercising more because of Project Healthy Schools.

"I used to be really lazy, but now I can run around this place 10 times," she said. She still craves soda pop, but avoids it because of its high sugar content.

"Now, healthy eating to me is five fruits and vegetables every day and not eating so much junk food," she said.

That's a good sign to Eagle, who has seen his share of heart-related deaths, including a woman who died after a heart attack during childbirth. To him, battling child obesity is Job 1.

"I see the future, and it scares me," said Eagle, who next year plans to expand the project into a second Michigan school district. "We're hoping to create an army of volunteers who can spread the word about good health."