Cookies will become a "sometimes" food.

"Sesame Street" is among half a dozen children's TV shows putting the spotlight on healthy eating and physical activity. The shows appear on the PBS network, the Disney Channel and Nickelodeon.

Studies have concluded that the amount of time spent watching TV and the content of TV shows are factors in the rise in children's obesity nationwide. These shows hope to be part of the solution.

The new "Sesame Street" season focusing on children's health is a direct response to the obesity problem, said Rosemarie Truglio, vice president of education and research at Sesame Workshop. "The message is very comprehensive," she said. "It defines what is healthy food and talks about why eating healthy foods is good for you. We're hoping that kids seeing the characters they love eating some greens will help them be open-minded about eating the same way.

"The other message is about how getting up and moving is good for you ... we do it with a lot of songs and modeling behavior so it becomes something fun that kids want to do ... this is all about increasing awareness and the appeal of these activities."

There's a segment called "American Fruit Stand," a spoof of the iconic TV pop-music showcase "American Idol." Miles sings "I Love Fruit" to the tune of James Brown's "I Feel Good."

Maria needs some broccoli and, fortunately for her, the vegetable is a guest star on "American Fruit Stand." So Miles sings "Broccoli Is Good," a parody of Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode."

In another segment, Oscar the Grouch sings "The Worm Workout" song to the tune of the Village People's "YMCA" as Slimey and the other worms stretch and wiggle to the beat.

"Sesame Street" is far from alone in its effort to communicate a healthy message. "Health became a hot-button issue about 2 1/2 years ago," said Linda Simensky, senior director of children's programming at PBS Kids.

Simensky cites some episodes in "Arthur," a popular animated series starring an 8-year-old aardvark. "Arthur goes to get a suit and finds out he is a husky size," Simensky said. "So he wonders if he's going to go on a fad diet or what sorts of things he's going to do. He realizes that exercise and eating right are the things that will work."

Health is the message

"In the conception of Nick Jr., which is for preschoolers, we wanted to make sure that we developed a curriculum to get preschoolers up and active while watching," said Cyma Zarghami, president of Nickelodeon Television. "We do that with 'Blues Clues' and 'Dora the Explorer.' "

Zarghami said shows tackling physical movement were "not born out of the obesity epidemic but to help kids relax and take a break from overscheduled lives." But as awareness of obesity has become more prevalent, "such messages have become more relevant," she said.

In September, Nickelodeon introduced "LazyTown," a show for 4- to- 7-year-olds that features 8-year-old Stephanie and her neighborhood friends as well as the requisite good guy and a villain.

Sportacus, the town hero, champions all kinds of sports and activities and healthy foods but can be defeated if he eats sugar, especially sweets. His nemesis, Robbie Rotten, is constantly trying to find ways for the kids of LazyTown to be sedentary and make less-healthy choices.

To empower kids

Kids prefer to hear constructive messages on health, rather than prohibitive ones, said Elel Hensleith, chief marketing officer for the Disney ABC Television Group. Shows focus on what kids can do.

"It's about getting up, bending, twisting, turning, jumping up and down," she said. "The two things that we're careful about when talking to them is that the messages are meaningful and relevant to their lives and that we not talk down and not be preachy. We don't tell them that you'll never eat anything other than fruits and vegetables, and there's no such thing as pizza in the world. What we're saying is that there are better choices."

In "That's So Raven," a hit Disney show targeting tweens, the food court at Raven Baxter's school becomes a fast-food/junk-food paradise. It's a situation that parodies the presence of fast food in schools across the United States today. At first, Raven is excited about junk food. But after eating only fast food, she finds herself lacking energy. After she has a vision of what she and others in her school might look like if they became morbidly obese, she and her best friend display big bags of fake sugar, salt and fat to show how much of the real things kids eat in a week.

Still not enough?

Some organizations and pediatricians monitoring children's media welcome the recent developments as a step in the right direction, and caution that more needs to be done.

"Any time you can give kids a message that supports their healthy development, it's going to be a good thing," said Christy Glaubke, an associate director at Children Now, a media watch group for children's television. "... Unfortunately, it's not going to be enough to air an episode. Companies have to think about how they license their characters and which products they put them on."

Dr. Mark Colon, a pediatrician at Children's Hospital of Orange County (Calif.), agrees.

"When kids watch TV, you want them to see and hear messages that are educational and self-improving," Colon said. Colon is concerned that kids might become confused when shows encourage healthy eating, but TV commercials tout less-healthy choices. He would rather kids didn't watch the commercials, but suggests that if they do, that parents use the ads as gentle teaching tools during ongoing conversations.

Ask your kids, especially school-age children, specific questions about the content of the ads, suggests Ranny Levy, founder of the Coalition for Quality Children's Media. Don't interrupt them. Listen to their answers.