You don't have to turn your life upside down to make your diet more healthful. Start with a few easy substitutions and work up from there! Keep in mind that you're looking for higher fiber, lower saturated fat and cholesterol, and above all else, NATURAL!!! Here are a few suggestions:

1. Steam, boil or bake vegetables. For a change, stir-fry in a small amount of vegetable oil. Consider buying a steamer insert for a pot so you can easily steam your vegetables.
2. Season vegetables with herbs and spices rather than with sauces or butter.
3. Avoid margarine altogether – natural is better than synthetic any day.
4. Try lemon juice or Bragg Liquid Aminos on salad or use limited amounts of natural oil-based salad dressing (I recommend Annie's Naturals).
5. To reduce saturated fat, use butter made with canola oil in baked products. When possible, use vegetable oil instead of solid fats or hydrogenated shortenings.
6. Limit baked goods made with large amounts of fat, especially saturated fats, such as croissants, doughnuts, muffins, biscuits, and buttered rolls.
7. Try whole grain flours to enhance flavors when baking goods with less fat. Try applesauce and other fruit purees in place of fat.
8. Replace whole milk with low-fat milk in puddings, soups and baked products and for use as a beverage.
9. Substitute plain low-fat yogurt, blender-whipped low-fat cottage cheese or low/no fat sour cream in recipes that call for mayonnaise.
10. Choose lean cuts of meat and limit or omit bacon, sausage and ribs.
11. Trim fat from meat before and after cooking. And drain fat from cooked ground meats before serving or mixing with other ingredients. Avoid deli meats as they are often quite fatty and loaded with sodium and preservatives.
12. Roast, bake or broil meat, poultry, and fish so that fat drains away as the food cooks.
13. Remove skin from poultry before cooking. This eliminates the temptation to eat it along with the meat.
14. Use a nonstick pan for cooking so that added fat will be unnecessary; use a vegetable oil spray for frying.
15. Chill meat or poultry broth until the fat solidifies. Spoon off the fat before using the broth.
16. Eat a vegetarian main dish at least once a week. Include fish (cooked without much added fat) in the diet once or twice a week.
17. Choose fat-reduced ice cream, low-fat frozen yogurt, sorbet and popsicles as substitutes for regular ice cream on those hot summer days.
18. Try angel food cake, fig bars, and gingersnaps as substitutes for commercial baked goods high in saturated fat.
19. Now, this is a hard one, but limit high-fat cheese intake like American and Cheddar – try Mozzerella.
20. Read labels on commercially prepared foods to find out what type of fat or how much saturated fat they contain. Better yet, avoid packaged foods whenever possible – they are loaded with preservatives and fillers.
21. Use applebutter, low-fat cream cheese or sugar-free jam, jelly or marmalade on bread and toast instead of butter.
22. Buy whole-grain breads and rolls. They have more flavor and do not need butter to taste good. The dietary fiber present is an added bonus. Better yet, make your own delicious, home-made bread (consider investing in a bread maker and release the "I don't have time for homemade bread" excuse)!
23. Think about the balance of fats in the menu. If a meal contains whole milk, cheese, ice cream, a higher-fat meat, or poultry with skin, use alternatives, such as unsaturated vegetable oils for your spreads and dressings. Small amounts of butter, sour cream or cream cheese can be included if other menu items are low in saturated fat.

Special list courtesy of:
Perspectives in Nutrition
by Gordon M. Wardlaw.
Thank you.