Everyone falls off the healthy-eating wagon from time to time. And that's OK. Life happens -- and so does chocolate cake. But when unhealthy eating becomes less of an occasional slip and more of a habit, it's time to take action. The good news is, even the worst eating patterns aren't hard habits to break:

• Late-night eating. Technically speaking, a calorie is a calorie is a calorie no matter when you eat it. But, more often than not, late-night snacking isn't really about hunger. Instead, it's just a habit to reach for the chips when your favorite show is on. If this sounds familiar, try eating dinner a half-hour later than usual. Also, go for a walk before or after dinner to help control your appetite. Then, during your down time, keep your hands busy working on a craft or doing a crossword. If you're feeling snacky, just wait out the craving for a while and see if you're still feeling hungry.
  
• Sweet tooth. Is your sweet tooth out of control? There's nothing wrong with having a small treat from time to time, but for many people, one small treat leads to a craving for a second treat (or third, or fourth). You can end up with a lot of calories and very few nutrients. When you've got a sugar craving, try soothing it with a sweet -- but healthful -- replacement such as dried fruit or some homemade trail mix. Check out Bethany's "Walking the Walk" to see how she nipped her sugar habit in the bud.

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Have fitness questions? Fitz has your answers. Our ThatsFit.com fitness expert -- and now your own virtual personal trainer -- will help you get fit, increase your overall health and do it in a fun way. Drop your questions here in the Comments section below and we'll choose one per week to publish on That's Fit! Learn more about Fitz here.

Q. Hi Fitz! I've come across a couple articles recently that are dead-set against prolonged cardio multiple times a week. They suggest that High Intensity Interval Training or low intensity activity only a few times a week at most, alongside regular weight training, is the only way to lose fat and stay fit. I don't think I could live without long runs or my favorite aerobics class. What do you think? Thanks, Samantha

A. Hi Samantha! Thanks for the great question. I'm sure it's on the minds of many. Bottom line, the folks who said that are over-opinionated. Think about Lance Armstrong, the guy does massive amounts of cardio each week and is the picture of health. So do I ... and so do most runners, cyclists, boxers, kickboxers, soccer players and more.

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Yuck! I just watched a little news bit about Minnesota on Fox News. They were featuring the state as it is hosting the Republican Convention in St. Paul. (That title is meant to be read with an adorable accent.)

Apparently all the folks in Minnesota aren't in "the know" about health. On display in this feature was an obnoxious amount of fried food being carried around on sticks. Mmmmm. Heart disease. Corn dogs, fried chips, fried meat and to top it off, chocolate covered bacon!

Would you ever even consider eating this? It looked pretty fowl to me, though I am fairly particular about what I put in my mouth. I can only imagine some guy sitting in a diner one day thinking, "how could I improve on this strip of pig fat? I know! Let's dip it in chocolate!"

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Chris told us recently about a revolutionary mint that might soon kill bad breath. Made from Magnolia bark, the new extract is about 17 times stronger and more effective than leading breath savers. Martha mentions this very same traditional Chinese remedy in this post. Chris tells us in another post to battle bad breath by staying hydrated, eating parsley, drinking green tea, and keeping up with vitamins. Search "bad breath" on this site and you'll come it with plenty of archived material to peruse. Clearly, we're on the hunt for the perfect bad-breath fix.

Real Age weighs in on the topic of toxic breath too, with these six fixes.

• Suck on a lemon wedge or nibble on the rind.
• Chew on parsley sprigs to release it's breath-refreshing oils.
• Chow down on an apple or other crisp foods, like pears and carrots. The combination of fiber and saliva production acts like a scrubbing rinse for the mouth.
• Crunch on some spices, like anise, cardamom, coriander, and fennel seeds. Mix equal parts, cover, and let sit. Grab when you want yummy breath.
• Savor some mint sprigs or cinnamon. Both are especially effective for onion and garlic breath.
• Eat berries and yogurt for prevention. A half-cup of plain, sugar-free yogurt twice a day lowers mouth levels of hydrogen sulfide, and berries deter stinky mouth bacteria.

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Got a habit that falls into the unhealthy category? Are you an emotional eater? A late-night snacker? Are you in a fitness rut? Do you skimp on your sleep? Smoke? Worship the sun? If you said "yes" to any of these, you're in luck. Not lucky because you possess one of these bad habits, lucky because Prevention.com can help you head in a healthy direction.

Check out this website and simply click on a bad habit from the drop-down menu. Let's give it a try by choosing figure fixation as a bad habit. Here's what the Prevention team has to say: Steer clear of the scale, they say. It's not an accurate measure of health -- it simply produces a number and that's all. A tape measure is a much better tool for figuring health. Measure around your hips, stomach, thighs, and upper arms once a week. If you're worried your figure is not so flattering, what you gather from these measurements can help you make positive change.

There's more -- on this topic and many more. Give it a try if you wish to bust your own bad habit.

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Divine Caroline's Natalie Josef has a task for you. It's not your usual diet or fitness task, though. No brisk walking, marathon running, or BOSU balancing required. No calorie counting, fat busting, or carb cutting either. Nope. This challenge involves nothing more than your imagination and your wildest dreams.

Here's your assignment, in the form of one simple question: What bad-for-you foods would you turn into good-for-you foods? Pick five. Make them good. And join this chit chat about what you'd choose. Here are my picks:

1. Gooey chocolate brownies
2. Cold Stone Creamery chocolate ice cream with brownies mixed in
3. Outback Steakhouse cheese fries
4. Milk Duds
5. Any chips, any dips

Now, in all seriousness: Check out this AOL Body nutrition site for tips on eating actual good-for-you food.

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If you are a health-conscious individual, you may do a little "food math" in your head to determine if that piece of chocolate is worth eating. Or perhaps on the weekend you wonder how beneficial a beer might be. Food such as these can be enjoyed in moderation, but have you ever been curious as to how good or bad it is for you?

That's where this list of the good and the bad of seven common foods that we consume every day comes in. Included among chocolate and beer are foods like red meat, nuts, coffee, eggs and even wine. For example, did you know that moderate drinking of brews can help protect your chromosomes from radiation exposure (like x-rays). As for a negative, beer can also cause gastroesophageal reflux which leads to heartburn.

These are just a few; the list is full of pros and cons for all those foods! Like this one about nuts: Several studies are cited which indicate lowered risk for gallstones the more you eat them. However, they're also high in calories -- only a dozen cashews pack well over a hundred calories! Check out the rest here for more information.

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A daily dose of yogurt isn't just good for your waistline. It's also good for your breath.

A new study suggests that eating six ounces of yogurt each day may keep your breath free of offensive odors. Credit goes to the active cultures found in yogurt and while further studies are in order for confirming these results, researchers say adding yogurt to your diet may be a safe and effective way to minimize bad breath.

There's a bonus too: In addition to decreasing odor-causing compounds in the mouth by 80 percent, yogurt seems to decrease the risk of plaque build-up as and the gum disease gingivitis.

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Sometimes it may feel like you just can't win against science. For diabetics, at least, there's some new information that contradicts twenty years worth of thinking: too much good cholesterol is bad.

A biochemist and his team at the University of Kentucky say that too much HDL in the blood causes the molecules to bind with myrisitc acid. This long-chain fatty acid increases the risk for cardiovascular disease. So instead of helping the heart like in other people, "good" cholesterol actually works against diabetics.

Given the slew of press concerning the healthier variety of cholesterol, this comes as a shocker. We've seen medicines, diets and a dozen tips to raise HDL. Now they're saying stop? Well, actually researchers urge diabetics to not try and lower their levels -- talking with your doctor should probably advised. Hopefully this study will help them understand how to tackle the issue and make good cholesterol good again!

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Is Medicare actually considered quality care by those in the know? Sure, some consider Medicare decent, but a research study just released has concluded that the quality of care is, at best, barely acceptable.

A care study that looked at the health of elders looked at 43 specific types of care received by more than 100,000 people of an average age of 81. All the subjects were from California.

The conclusions found that only 65 percent of recommended tests were given to those at risk of death or functional decline (in other words, in bad shape).

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The environment, global warming, and going green are all things that are becoming more and more embedded in our every day lives, which is of course a good thing. We can all be a little more conscious in our global efforts, and even if it's just making the smallest change the great part is that it multiplies across the population and can end up really making a difference. I thought for today's Jumpstart I'd take the idea that sometimes all your stalled workout needs is something new in the way of clothes or equipment to help make it interesting again, and going eco-friendly is the perfect excuse to help soothe that pang of guilt that's been holding you back.

Of course there are countless products out there to choose from in the green fitness world, and thankfully the options are only increasing. So what is it that would make the biggest difference for you and your workout right now? Maybe it's a new top, new shoes, or something else? Here's a few things I found online to help get the wheels of inspiration turning!

I love this new news: So-called bad carbohydrates, breads and pastas, are not so bad. I understand this is merely the opinion of one man who did a study -- another study may demonstrate just the opposite -- but in the face of confusing nutrition information, I like to side with the point of view that most suits my desires. And I desire to not worry about carbs. So this is the perspective I'm backing.

University of Virginia professor Glenn Gaesser says eating bad carbs will not make you fat. "It's just nonsense," he says.

Eating sandwiches with white bread isn't going to kill you, says Gaessar. It won't lead to obesity either. It might even help you lose weight.

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European life spans are being cut short by about a year due to poor air and water quality, according to a report out of Europe's main environmental agency this week.

Changes attributed to global warming were specifically referenced in the report as well (smog and pollution), and these collective reasons were connected to an overall decrease int he average European's life span -- to the tune of year lost.

The European Environment Agency concluded that quick changes are needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as well as increasing air and water quality or the more than hundreds of thousands of Europeans prematurely dying each year could increase, according to the 400-page report.

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Kids who frequently visit their doctors as scheduled for checkups and other reasons end up receiving the correct care only about half the time. This comes as a shocking result from a nationwide study released this week which looked at children's health care quality nationwide.

Astonishingly, almost all of the 1,536 kids who participated in the study had insurance. This appears to be another smack at how badly trained some doctors must be these days, or that something else is severely broken in the U.S. health care system, often touted as the world's most advanced.

I really look forward to the upcoming debates and plans that will be laid out by U.S. Presidential candidates is they relate to health care reform in this country. Apparently, it's not a priority any longer. It's even more reason to take charge of one's health on a private and individual basis.

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If you are a frequent visitor of healthy restaurants, you may be wise to pay attention to your caloric intake anyway. New research has stated that although visitors to health restaurants go there to watch their food intake, they also indulge in bigger side dishes desserts and drinks. Result: they may be eating worse due to a bigger caloric intake.

It's hard to think that those visiting fast food restaurants may actually eat less then when those same folks visit a healthy restaurant, but it comes down to specifics always. I can't fathom the logic that tells a person a veggie sandwich or salad is a better meal when finished off with that highly sugared tea and large slice of pie or other dessert.

The same result suggested that many visitors to healthy restaurants underestimate how many calories they end up eating by a whopping 35 percent. Yikes!

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