This spring, when a clever North Dakota pharmacist prescribed a bottle of "monster spray" for a young child who feared the Wild Things lurking under her bed, it took just three nights for the menace to be driven from her room!

If only he could devise a "snacking spray" that would keep the monstrous tidbits lurking in your kitchen from attacking your willpower!

According to an interesting new study, it's those extra, in-between bites of fat- and sugar-packed snacks that lead to overweight and obesity, setting you up for everything from insomnia (monsters aren't the only things that can destroy a good night's sleep) and GERD to heart disease, diabetes, sexual dysfunction and dementia.

If you, like most North Americans, watch five-plus hours of TV daily, snack attacks (usually sweet beverages, chips, cookies, ice cream and candy) will find you. And what you mindlessly pick at ends up accounting for half of all the time you spend eating. Those snacks also load you down with 25 percent more calories.

How can you fight back against the snack attack?

First, become aware of what and how much you're eating by keeping a food diary. Put it next to the remote.

Then banish packaged, fried, sugar-added snacks from your shelves and fridge, and stock fresh berries, grapes, cherries, walnuts and almonds, carrot and celery spears, 70 percent cacao chocolate (that's 1 ounce a day) and unsweetened iced tea and water. That will provide added nutrients, and fuel clear thinking, energy and a positive outlook.

© 2014 Michael Roizen, M.D. and Mehmet Oz, M.D.
Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.