by Kristie Ponce

Created on: February 24, 2009

Welcome to America, land of the free, home of the obese, where even our children are at risk for developing diabetes. The experts shout out advice from every corner, all with the same basic message: "Back away from the french fries and TV screens! You need to eat healthy, and get some exercise!"

Easier said than done. Face it, eating is part of our culture. Family gatherings, tailgate parties, holidays, church picnics....We are a society that associates food with fun and companionship. How can anyone expect us to give that up? They can't, and that's why so many Americans fail when it comes to re-working their diet. They think they have to sacrifice flavor for health, and after a few days or weeks of trying to force themselves to ingest food that isn't fit for a rabbit, they give up, and go back to their cheese burgers and french fries.

As a mother of two young boys and the wife of a man with a family history of both diabetes and heart disease, I have a lot of incentive for finding ways to make a healthy diet palatable, and I would love to share some things I've learned over the years.

1) Make all changes gradually. For instance, my family loves white rice. After learning that white rice is a simple carbohydrate, with a high glycemic index (meaning it causes your body to secrete large amounts of insulin, which turns blood sugar into fat), I decided to try to switch everyone over to bulgar. Bulgar is cracked wheat, high in fiber and higher in protein than processed wheat. I started by mixing bulgar in with fried rice. Fried rice has some color to it, so no one noticed. Then I began mixing it with steamed white rice. My husband said, "Hey, this tastes like fried rice!" It wasn't long before white rice had been replaced with bulgar as a staple in our household.

2) Change one thing at a time. Our tastes can be re-trained, but it takes time. If you try to convert your fat-and-sugar-loving family (or yourself) to a high fiber, high protein, low fat, low sugar diet all at once, they will rebel. Change from white bread to a whole grain bread (I like Brownberry's "Grains and More", myself). Once they stop complaining about that, switch from regular to whole grain pastas. A few weeks later, transition from white rice to wild rice or bulgar. You see where I'm going with this? It may take a year, but eventually you and your family will transition painlessly to a healthier diet.

3) Get sneaky. Vegetables are incredibly important. They are loaded with fiber, which keeps our arteries

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