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Everyone knows the keys to healthy weight loss: healthy diet, exercise, rest, 8 glasses of water. Even with all the different definitions of what constitutes a "healthy" diet, the problem is not primarily lack of knowledge. The question is: How do you do it??

Even this is not really the question. The real question is, what do you do when your head tells you one thing and your body tells you something else? Your head may tell you that you should start the day with some lowfat protein, fruit, and a cup of green tea. Your body, however, insists that you sleep in, rush out the door for work, and pick up a sausage egg McMuffin (400 calories, 1/2 of which come from fat) on the way.

Your head tells you that you can recover from this by having 1/2 a whole wheat bagel spread with cottage cheese for lunch. But your body says "Look, you've already blown it anyway and everyone's going out to Tubby Tacos for Ed's birthday. I just won't eat anything at all tomorrow - yeah, that's it!"

And so it goes. First of all, don't get mad at yourself (or your body!). Cravings can be a great source of information about the body's health - once they have been properly trained. Training the palette is easier (and less messy) than training a puppy, or a child for that matter! The key is to start slow, be consistent, and be patient.

Here's one craving to start with - sugar. The brain needs sugar to operate. The body breaks down everything we eat into glucose. We do need sugar. But we don't need that bright white stuff that comes in a box at the store. That is food crack. It rushes into the bloodstream, sends off alarm bells for insulin to rush in, which stuffs all those calories onto your backside for storage. (Does anyone need more "storage" on their backside? I know I don't!)

Anyway, after all this frenzied activity, the bloodstream quickly drops in its sugar level and you're hungry again before you really need to eat. And to add insult to injury, it's not just added sugar in your coffee, or cakes and cookies that are the problem. Sugar is added to most processed and packaged foods to improve their taste. You don't taste the sugar, but your body reacts to it all the same.

For a change of pace, and to gradually train your tastebuds to behave themselves, try Agave nectar. It has a lower glycemic index which means it is absorbed by the body in a slower more natural pace and doesn't get stuffed onto your backside the way white refined products and granulated sugar does. You can find it at Trader Joes, Whole Foods, and even many grocery stores in the sugar and syrup aisle.

Adopt a new healthy habit every week or two or even once a month. This will ease you into health gently and prevent your body from screaming or trying to convince you that Krispy Kreme donuts are fine as long as you wash them down with a glass of non-fat milk.

Now if we can only get you to wake up on time....