It can be done. People do give up smoking. They stop taking sugar in their tea. They give up coffee.Changing our habits is a very very possible thing to do. With the information that is bombarding us from every side telling us what's good for us most of us now have at least subconscious goals. We want to lose weight. We want to eat more fruit and vegetables. We would prefer organic food. We want to exercise more. We don't want our children to be obese from eating junk foods. The transition is the hard part. Someone in the family has to spearhead the change. It is usually the task of the family cook and shopper. He or she has to accept the fact that it will be an unpopular move. When the cupboard no longer contains sweet biscuits and the refrigerator is empty of sugary drinks there will be accusing eyes and wailing voices. Be strong. Make sure there are substitutes so that the cry "there's nothing to eat" doesn't ring in your ears. Give them chilled strips of carrot and celery always on tap. Have delicious fruit cut up and ready for the after-school onslaught. Be inventive about snacks. Cook books always have answers. If we cut sugar down to a minimum and use whole food ingredients snacks are possible. If you are trying to be a vegetarian household do it gradually and don't necessarily tell them the lentil hamburgers have breadcrumbs instead of mince meat. Chances are they won't notice on a plate packed with vegetables and sauces. One woman disguised her nutritive sauces by saying in answer to a suspicious':What's that!" "Pink stuff," and then changing the subject.

It is hard to change eating habits particularly if the normal diet has had a lot of salt in it. It is essential to make the substitute fare delicious and worth eating. One nutritionist wrote recently that after years of pleading with his family to change their diet he tried asking them to do it just for 24 hours. When they did they found themselves feeling much better and grudgingly agreed that he might have a point. But if we love our families we want to head off diabetes and cancer and all the other horrors that come with eating the wrong food filled with additives and salt and so we need to persevere. If it's too hard to do it all at once then try it on alternate days until you gradually change entirely to the diet that is healthy Afternoons and late evenings are the times when most snacking occurs and it is almost always involved with television. So try to eliminate that habit too. Try taking children to a park in the afternoon for a game that you can enjoy too. Or take them to swim or skate but not anywhere selling ice creams or drinks. At night try a board game that will intrigue them away from the advertisements going on relentlessly on television. The payoff comes in slimness and health and a great sense of achievement and satisfaction. And lo and behold your old habits have gone!