"Certainly childhood obesity is a big issue, bigger than I think a lot of us realise."
Mrs White-Haverkamp said she believed one of the big challenges was getting children away from the technology and out exercising.
She said they'd found parents were keen to lead the way, but often children were left at home.
A big focus for the group was trying to get whanau exercising together.
She cited an initiative which was run over the holidays trying to get whanau to clock up 100km of walking, running, biking or other exercise together.
"Families were getting out there together. They wanted to move, play and stay together."
She said exercise didn't have to be complicated and while exercise and moving was important, food was a big factor.
"Time constraints are a problem first and foremost. People are so busy trying to support their families they are just grabbing whatever is convenient."
That wasn't always healthy, she said.
"Eighty per cent is food. If you can get them to move together then you start to change their thinking."
Sunset Primary School principal Niels Rasmussen said schools had a role to play in teaching children about food and health choices, but at the end of the day they weren't the ones packing their lunchboxes or putting dinner on the table at night.
He said his school taught basic healthy food principles like the healthy eating pyramid, which foods should be eaten the most and what foods should be kept as treats.
Mr Rasmussen believed a lot of it came down to cost.
He said while parents knew the health benefits of eating well, they also had to balance that with the affordability of feeding their families.
"A lot of our parents can't get the lean meats because they are expensive. They get what they can afford. They don't get Vogels, they get white bread because they can afford it."
Toi Te Ora medical officer of health Dr Neil de Wet said he believed people were becoming more aware of what was in their food.
"We need to be quite clear as a society we want the food industry to change."
He said while people were increasingly aware items like sugary drinks had virtually no nutritional value, many were surprised by how much sugar was in other common foods.
Cereals, lunchbox snacks and even tomato sauces could have surprisingly high sugar levels, he said.
"One thing people don't necessarily think of is tomato sauce. Some of those have up to 30 per cent sugar."
He encouraged parents to take notice of food labels, especially around sugar.
Lakes District Health Board consultant physician and diabetologist Nic Crook is "hugely" concerned about the obesity epidemic and said the focus should be on children.
Among his suggestions to parents was making sure children drank water, ate fresh fruit and vegetables and also to watch portion control.
"Don't do to your kids what I did to my kids - making them finish everything on their plate."
He recommended that parents allow their kids to make the decision when they're full.
