Americans are consuming way too much sugar -- about 22 teaspoons a day, to be exact. Since The American Heart Association suggests consuming no more than 100 calories of sugar a day (that's six teaspoons), FitSugar offers some tips for lightening up on the sweet stuff. Even though Halloween may not be the easiest time to lighten up on sugar, the bulk of our fructose and sucrose intake actually comes from our regular diet and beverage choices.

Cut back slowly, they say, and start with weening yourself off the sugar you add to foods. No more spoonfuls in your coffee and less on your cereal, OK? It's also not a bad idea to choose your daily sugar vice -- allow yourself one bowl of ice cream after dinner, but don't indulge during the rest of the day. Watch out for natural sugars, too, like brown sugar and molasses. And steer clear of liquid sugars -- one 12-ounce can of Coke has a whopping 40 grams of sugar!

We know, it's hard to cut back on something so yummy -- sugar is addictive, after all, but maybe this book can help.

Day 3: According to the Crave-NX packaging, I can use the spray between meals, before meals, before exercising, and really, whenever a craving hits. (But Crave-NX is not to be used as a meal replacement, so don't even think about it.) I'm finding that it's the biggest help in the mornings, but this afternoon it came in handy too.

Out for a bike ride, my girls talked me into stopping in at the ice cream store. I happened to have Crave-NX in my purse and pulled it out. I felt a little silly using it in public, but I learned two things: 1) Don't miss your mouth ... this stuffy is sticky! And 2) I really do have willpower against double scoop waffle cones.

Crave-NX didn't stop me from ordering ice cream (not even magical spray could do that), but I stuck to a baby-sized scoop of a lite sorbet, rather than something far more damaging.

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Cutting desserts to lose weight? Here's how to feed that sweet tooth without any damage.

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So, you don't want to actually eat that Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. Well, you do want to eat it, you just know you should not eat it. So, is smelling it enough to quench your appetite? Like, smelling it all day long, I mean.

There are some heavenly perfume scents on the market, and you might consider spraying up with your favorite food aromas. Straight from the company Demeter Fragrances, calorie-free sweets and other treats might be just what you need to stave off your sinful desires. Or maybe they'll send you straight to the supermarket, where you'll stuff your face full of goodies. You make the call.

Check out the menu on this website for all sorts of delectable body options, like birthday cake, apple pie, cotton candy, even some egg nog and gingerbread in honor of the holidays past. Now, I'm all for candles that smell like food (vanilla cupcake, umm, umm good), but I think I'm not so keen on the sticking such smells on my skin. And you?

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Welcome to the Good, the Fat and the Hungry. I'm Karla and I have been -- or am -- all those things. Here, I will share with you my lifelong struggle with my weight, and I hope you'll follow along on with my determined attempt to lose nearly 40 pounds. I promise to tell you every win and setback along the way every Tuesday and Friday.

I need a do-over. Ever heard of that? That's the second chance you get in certain kids' games. It applies to hopscotch and double dutch, so it seems only fair I get one for my seven-day, no-sugar challenge.

The plan was strong. I was all set. So I thought. Inspired by a fellow blogger, Bethany Sanders, I wanted to experience the benefits of seven days without sugar consumption. I was thrilled to have Bethany stop by and comment on my post! However, sista girl should have reminded me that it's HOLIDAY time, when sweets abound!

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Sugar gives me a headache, which gives me a really killer reason to avoid the stuff. Now, I don't live a perfect sugar-free existence. If the stuff is buried in my generally-healthy food, I don't worry about it (a few grams per serving doesn't seem to mess with my head). But sticky-sweet anything -- I don't eat it. That means no cake, cookies, candy, brownies, donuts, holiday-inspired pie, you name it -- if it's considered a "sweet," it's dead to me.

Banning sweets keeps my noggin free from pain. And it keeps my body free from fat (well, from some of it, anyway). I like it this way. And honestly, I think I'll never, ever let a sweet treat pass through my lips. Not a taste of frosting, not a lick of the batter-covered spoon. It's like my own personal challenge now. I simply must emerge victorious. And I think I will -- because keeping headaches at bay is really great inspiration.

You may not have a medical reason to scratch sweets from your diet, which makes things a little more difficult. But I wonder if you think you can do it anyway -- can you go without sweets, for a day, a week, a month, a year (you can do it, Martha)? Tell me in the poll below and consider making this your own personal challenge. I think you'll like how you feel without that refined stuff coarsing through your veins. You'll likely feel less sluggish, more energetic and if weight loss seems attractive to you, I'm guessing you'll shed a few pounds too.

Here at That's Fit, we're constantly telling you what we think about things, but sometimes it's nice to know what you think. So from time to time, we'll ask you a question. Don't be afraid to speak up -- we love feedback.

Christmas parties are in full swing and while I try to only indulge in rich foods when it's a special occasion, it seems that this month is just a non-stop barrage of 'special occasions.' I don't know about you, but I'm finding it hard to avoid my vices lately, probably because I have so many. How about you?

Sugar bingeing can lead to sugar addiction, a new study finds. As for reactions to the news? No one is surprised, least of all me, currently recovering from a binge of my own while on vacation at one of those all-inclusive resorts in Mexico. Oh, Pina Coladas, how I miss thee.

Anyway. The study monitored the effect of sugar bingeing on behaviour in mice, and the ultimate conclusion drawn was that after a sugar binge, absence made the heart grow fonder. Furthermore, when the sugar was taken away, folks actually went into withdrawal -- teeth chattering and all. Evidently, a sugar binge changed the chemistry of their brain for good. Scary stuff, huh?

So is there any hope for those of us who are trying to change our sugary ways? You can break the cycle of addiction. There's only one way to do it, man -- cold turkey.

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There are a million ways the holidays can trip up your diet -- overeating at a party, drinking calorie-laden drinks, sampling the baked goods you're making for others. But, the gifts you get from others can also create a problem.

I've definitely been guilty of giving a less than diet-friendly food gift to people, although I try to avoid giving such a thing to anyone I know is watching his or her weight. But what about that plate of (delicious) cookies your neighbor brings you? Or the freshly baked pie your aunt drops at your front door?

In my experience, if it's in the house, it's going to get eaten, which leaves one solution -- get it out. Take the naughty treat to your local police or fire station, or if you have a favorite charity in town (American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, Alzheimer's Association), take it there. The workers (and residents) in your local nursing home would appreciate a sweet treat, as would nurses and doctors in the hospital. In these places, it's not just one or two people snacking -- lots of people are sharing, so it's not as damaging a gift.

Welcome to Walking the Walk, a feature that takes a deeper look at commonly shared diet and fitness advice. Every other week, I'll choose one piece of advice and practice it for seven days. Then I'll report back on what I discovered about making it work in real life and how it affected my own personal fitness -- and how it ultimately can affect your own efforts.

Common diet advice tells us that we should be able to have our cake (or cookies or brownies or ice cream) and our healthy weight, too ... as long as we remember that treats are treats and are to be only eaten occasionally.

This works for a lot of people. And then there are the rest of us, the ones who buy a bag of snack-sized candy bars, intending to eat just one now and then, and then manage to devour half the bag in one sitting.

With friends like sugar, who needs enemies?

In every single weight loss attempt I've ever made, sugar was the thing that eventually tripped me up. But this time around, it's different. I've had a great deal of success, and I'm doing everything I can to keep those diet derailers from stopping my "downward" progress.

Since my biggest diet derailer is sugar, it has to go. Not for good, but for the long haul. Until my new healthy eating habits are firmly in place, letting myself indulge in even a little treat here and there is playing with fire.

Join me on this week's Walking the Walk, where I learn to live without my favorite vice. No processed or added sugars, period. Buckle up, because it promises to be a wild ride.

There's a story in my family about my great-grandmother baking a pie for the family. She tried a sliver, just to make sure it was good, and then another, and then another. Well, she ended up having to bake another pie because, by the time she finished "testing" it, there was nothing left. Obviously it didn't happen much -- she was very thin -- but I've always identified with her through this story.

This has never happened to me (honest), but it makes me wonder if a recent University of Toronto study is on to something. It found that people with a "genetic quirk" drank more sugary drinks, ate more sweets, and consumed more calories from the extra sugar. It's not surprising that these folks weighed more and had larger waists.

Personally, I don't think anyone should blame their genes for having a hard time putting down the cookies -- there are a lot of other factors involved in weight gain and loss. But, it makes me wonder if maybe Great-Grandma Zahrt passed down a genetic quirk.

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Welcome to the Good, the Fat and the Hungry. I'm Karla and I have been -- or am -- all those things. Here, I will share with you my lifelong struggle with my weight and I hope you'll follow along on with my determined attempt to lose nearly 40 pounds. I promise to tell you every win and setback along the way every Tuesday and Friday.

My Dad, a recovering addict, used to say that while he was inside staying clean, his addiction was waiting out in the parking lot doing push ups. I watched his recovery from drugs the last seven years of his life. He kept it true by staying far, far away from the people, places and things that would reignite his addiction. No more crack houses or dark alleys for him. When he decided to get clean, he changed every route he traveled because he knew he was one step away from relapse.

My crack house can be a supermarket, a restaurant, a corner store or a vending machine. How do I avoid that? I was in the supermarket on Saturday and was admittedly unprepared. I am usually the chick in line armed with coupons and a list. This being an unplanned trip, I had no time to prepare. I started out strong in the produce section. Fresh grapes, spinach and lots of other things that would just thrill my nutritionist Keri. But in the same visit, I managed to bring home things that would also make her gag. I promise my intent was good but before I knew it, I'd gone astray and my diet was derailed.

I ate red velvet cake this week. Not just ANY red velvet cake but Lola's Sunday gospel brunch red velvet cake. It was so good it took a few days for guilt to come, but it did come. I ate cookies this week. I ate a candy bar this week. I even ate a throwback. No, not a jersey but old school Now & Later candies in my favorite flavor, banana. I have no excuse for these indulgences or why I let them go so far. My best guess is I bumped into my addiction while I was in the supermarket and it was just like old times. Suddenly, the things I've intentionally avoided for so long were passing me by on the conveyor belt to be bagged for my trunk to my fridge to my new midsection. As smart as I can be is as silly as I can be. How do you make it right after you've embarked so deeply on wrong?

I've said before that I wish there was a way to ration myself a handful of M&Ms or a small serving of something sweet a day. But I can't keep that stuff in the house because when it comes to chocolate, I just don't have enough self-control. So (perhaps sadly), I can get behind the idea of the Chococlock.

Every hour on the hour, the clock offers up a piece of chocolate. You've got 30 seconds to grab it, then it's gone until the next hour. The fatal flaw with this product, however, is the cheat button. Doesn't anyone understand how a chocoholic works? I'd have that cheat button worn out in no time.

Thankfully, there's a free way to keep a handle on overdoing the sweets. Leave them at the store. Studies show that if you leave tempting food in your line of sight, you're far more likely to eat it. When I want a treat, I go out and buy one, but control my cravings by only buying a single serving every time.

How to you keep your cravings for your favorite treats under control?

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We all have overwhelming cravings from time to time. And it's okay to cave in and let yourself have a treat from time to time. After all, food is meant to be enjoyed and appreciated. But when treats change from the rare occasion to the norm, you've got a problem.

Most people don't tend to crave the healthiest foods. Chocolate, salty snacks, and sweets tend to be the foods we ache for. Good Housekeeping has a fun tool that provides suggestions for craving substitutes. You can satisfy your sweet tooth (or salty tooth as the case may be) with some alternatives that are a little less hefty in the fat and calories department.

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My first grade kid brings home a folder full of completed worksheets every Monday. Some of his work I toss. There is so much of it. And some of it I save. I can't wait to pull out his handwriting samples when he's a teenager.

One crumpled-up piece of paper came home with my seven-year-old yesterday, and I'm definitely throwing it in the "Joey's First Grade" box I have stuffed in a hallway linen closet. It's all about health -- Joey wrote out seven good health habits -- and so that makes it a keeper. Here are Joey's tips for good health:

1. Take a bath
2. Drink water
3. Exercise
4. Get plenty of sleep
5. Eat healthy foods
6. Keep cuts clean
7. Bruch (he meant brush) your teeth

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