Dr. Jonny Bowden: Addicted to Oil, Addicted to Sugar

Solving difficult and arcane political problems is beyond my pay scale. What I do know is that in life and in health, the truth is sometimes tough to hear and even tougher to act on. But if you want to lose weight, if you want to get healthy and if you want to live long, there isn't a "simple" and "painless" and "effortless" way to do it. You have to give up your addictions. The rewards come (and they do come) further on down the road, not a location Americans are particularly fond of.

Giving up addictions- be it to oil, cigarettes, junk food or the jewel-encrusted Paris Hilton edition of the iPhone that maxed out your Visa- isn't easy at first, especially for the most entitled generation on the planet. But it can be done.

The inconvenient truth is that kicking addictions comes with a price: it's not easy, it's a pain in the ass, it's occasionally uncomfortable and it requires some sacrifice. But in the end it works. The question to ask is not whether it can be done painlessly. The question to ask is whether it's worth it.