Michelle Obama told AOL Health Tuesday during her first-ever live chat about her "Let's Move" initiative that fighting childhood obesity and helping our next generation of children get healthier is going to take efforts from our nation as a whole, from parents to doctors to government officials. And one of the most important areas to focus on is our schools.

Obama said she hopes to pass the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act, in order to improve the quality of food in schools, including vending machine snacks.

Following the first lady's goals, many school districts across the country are trying to replace their sugary and salty snacks with more nutritious options like fruit bars and nuts, the Associated Press reports.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conducted a 2008 Schools Health Profiles Survey and found that across 34 states, about 64 percent of secondary schools gave up their empty-calorie snacks -- which is up from just 46 percent in 2006, according to the AP.

But like any effort to curb unhealthy eating habits, there's always room for improvement.

Research from the Institute of Medicine and the National Center for Health Statistics found that the average young person gets more than 10 percent of his or her calories from saturated fat and 21 percent of boys and girls ages 9-13 get one-fourth of their energy from added sugars, according to the AP.

Some states, like California, have passed laws to regulate vending machines and prohibit some unhealthy snacks from being sold. Rift Gold The San Francisco school board passed a policy in the 2003-2004 school year that banned sodas (a restriction that the city also adopted) and snacks like baked potato chips in their machines, the AP reports. Instead, these machines have water, juice, milk and juice and water beverages with no added sweeteners, caffeine or herbal supplements. The snacks include yogurt bars, tuna salad and crackers, fruit bars and sunflower seeds.

"I can't say enough for what it does for the kids to have the junk out of the machines," Patricia Gray, a former principal of San Francisco's Balboa High School who oversaw a switch to healthier snacks, told AP.

Gray, now the superintendent of the school, added that ending the traditional candy fundraisers and trying to influence kids to bring in non-junk-food lunches from home is also helpful.

"If you don't have a principal that's totally committed to [healthier snacks], it won't work," she said.

Jolly Backer, CEO of Fresh Healthy Vending, a San-Diego-based company, told the AP that the company has machines in 1,700 locations in the U.S., including schools. These machines offer drinks and snacks like yogurts and fresh fruit.

Altering the eating habits of children will definitely take more than just adding healthy treats to school vending machines. RIFT Platinum Another way to help involves teachers educating students about nutritious meals at lunch, Mrs. Obama told AOL Health Tuesday.

She also explained that healthy eating is more about balance than denying yourself of foods you love and she emphasized that parents and guardians play a key role in guiding children's health and weight.

"I think our kids are looking to us to be examples," the first lady said. rift gold "So we are our children's best, first and oftentimes only role models. So our goal is to make sure that we're practicing what we preach."

But that doesn't have to involve major lifestyle changes to see results, she added.

"You can really make some significant improvements with small changes. And I want people to think in those terms, and not whole scale changes that are going to turn people's lives upside down, because then you can't sustain it."

Mrs. Obama's "Let's Move" campaign encourages the nation to make healthy food choices and physical activity in schools a priority -- changes that will also improve academic performance. And having athletes, chefs and other individuals that kids often look up to come into the schools to teach kids about fitness and nutrition can also propel the first lady's get-healthy initiative.

"Kids are malleable, and they're also open to learn," she concluded. RIFT Platinum "It's us, the grown ups in this game that are going to have to step it up and make some changes on our own to get our kids where we want them to be."