Our nutritional expert Cynthia Stadd really does improve our quality of life with her sound advice and pretty smile.

What are some of the best healthy snacks? Any favorite granola bars or Whole Foods favorites?
I love this question. The person who created the phrase "snack food"--implying that what we eat in between meals is allowed to be less than real food because it is not actually a meal--should be shot. There are no snacks, there are only beautifully healthy mini-meals.

Some of my favorites, especially when watching your waist, are:

• Red peppers, jicama and carrots with Sabra brand hummus or eggplant salad
• 4-5 pieces of a brown rice sushi roll
• 1 whole wheat or brown rice tortilla with dijonaise (mustard and healthy mayo like Spectrum brand canola mayo) and 2 slices Applegate Farms organic herbed turkey breast with lettuce and tomato
• Guacamole with just about anything!

Not a huge fan of bars as most of them are garbage and way too high in sugar. There are a few whole food-based bars that I can handle because they are only made from food, organic, and mostly raw, but if you are trying to lose weight, these are not carte blanche! Think of them like treats instead of a 4 p.m. muffin or piece of chocolate. Try a Lara Bar, Maya Bar (same company), Think Organic Bar, or Whole Food Bar by Garden of Life or the brand new Macro Bars on the market. And who says you need to eat the whole thing? Conscious eating, lovely ladies and gents: a few bites eaten slowly and actually chewed can make the mouth happy and often be plenty.

I ate a cupcake, so I might as well just polish off this entire tray of brownies. How do you help someone with black and white thinking?

That is how I thought when I binge ate--for about 15 years. The bottom line is that you are not a black and white person, so stop with the black and white thinking. My personal experience, as well as working with numerous clients, has taught me that a person caught in that line of thinking over and over again has lost all faith in themselves. "I suck, I can't do this, etc." But why? I doubt you are stupid. I doubt this is an issue of self-control; sorry, I don't buy it. The real issue is that we have to get to the bottom of what is truly fueling that way of thinking. Example: an element of your joy is out of whack (soul satisfaction), you are really craving a hug instead of another brownie or the pattern of your life is
making you feel exhausted and empty at night. Any takers on this? This topic is loaded--we may need a whole website for it!