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Thanks Jerzee: he already started eating a bowl of oatmeal with berries in the evening instead of his beloved icecream. He has always eaten 2-3 pieces of fruit throughout the day; I will just have to alter his sandwiches a little, and get more salads on the table at dinner. Good for both of us!

From what I am reading, he may have to cut back/eleminate the espressos and just drink filtered coffee. At least the new $800 machine will get put on hold!

High quality ingredients and portion control.

For example, as I'm sure you know, a little bit of real fresh grated Parmesan tastes totally different (and much stronger) than the stuff in the can. When I use the stuff in the can I find myself eating about 1/4 cup per serving of pasta, whereas when I use freshly grated or am served it at a restaurant, a couple tablespoons delivers the same amount of flavor (or more.

There are also some pretty cool whole grain and high fiber pastas out there (Barilla Plus and Whole Grain, for example) that taste pretty much like regular pasta but are much more nutritionally helpful.

I also found that once I started exercising on a regular basis (I run 2 miles a day 4-5 times a week), the foods I craved were better for me...I actually craved fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and I found I almost completely lost my cravings for cheese (I used to be able to eat about half an 8 oz. brick of Kraft cheddar cheese at one sitting, all by myself...).

@Jerzee Tomato, I love oatmeal, but only with brown sugar and a touch of cream - I hate the phoney sweetners - I am diabetic (type ll) and need to watch the sugar and so I tend to avoid morning oatmeal now. I used to make the Scottish oatmeal that cooks for 20 minutes.

Will you share your oatmeal sqaure recipe, or does that come with lots of sugar?

I also need to limit my fruit intake because of sugar content.

Moderation is key. Limit your bacon and sausage to one fabulous weekend breakfast per week. Have your favorite, heavy foods - but have them play a minor role on the plate; instead have most of the meal be healthier options. Watch your salads: iceberg with loads of blue cheese dressing is NOT a healthy vegetable dish.

Use olive, canola, vegetable oils instead of butter in most cases. (A tip: add a smidge of butter for taste).

Try substitutions. We often replace heavy cream with cream cheese or soy sour cream, for example. Low-fat, plain yogurt is a great alternative to mayonnaise and sour cream. They won't work in every case, depending on the chemistry required, but they work surprisingly often. Switch to 'no salt added' versions of items (such as canned tomatoes) and add salt to taste - you'll probably add less. Same is true for pre-sweetened items.

I don't recommend going wild on "low-fat" and "lite" variations of items. Read labels. Sometimes they actually cut down the fat, but often, you're just getting extra sugar or mystery chemicals - and the taste my not be as good.

As for cookbooks, this may sound crazy, but Weight Watchers has some good ones. They have many books - browse through them and find one that has 'real' recipes that you will actually cook. (I say 'real' because my only complaint about WW is that they can encourage use of man-made substitutes in place of natural ingredients, which is a personal bias).

Agree with pp re: switching to whole grains, focusing on flavor rather than fat and salt, and exercise. Regular physical activity will go a long ways to lowering your cholesterol - plus it gives you wiggle room in your diet.

Me again...I really should get back to work...

The other thing I've found is that when I switch to lower-calorie and/or healthier options, it tends to mean I can have a LOT more food...which I like.

For example, I had a HUGE bowl of cream of chicken noodle soup (Campbell's Healthy Request) for lunch, and it still didn't equal in calories or fat the small (3 oz?) sliver of chocolate cake I had earlier. I enjoyed both, but I'd be ravenously hungry if my lunch had been the size of the chocolate cake. Now, though, I ate enough quantity-wise that I won't be tempted to snack on TOO many cheese crisps later on this afternoon. And I'll still have enough calories left to eat dinner.

I track my calories and exercise on Fitday and it really helps me keep things in perspective.

I love Aidell's chicken sausages...great flavors. Apple, sundried tomato, chipotle...

Slice, saute with peppers and onions, serve over pasta/rice/couscous/whatever.

Way! Oooops sorry...this wasn't one of those.

I think it's not only possible to be happy and healthy - but one gets you the other. As long as you limit bad fats and sugars and consume the right amount of food for your body's needs - you should be healthy. As long as you treat yourself to the foods you love, sparingly if they're highly caloric or fat - you should be happy.

I'm happy. I'm healthy. I exercise. I eat. There you have it.

Flax seed oil vitamins, 3 a day.

Yes, of course! You can create a lot of healthy flavor with herbs and spices. I Adding olives, nuts or avocadoes creates a lot of flavor without adding unhealthy fat. I would look up some cookbooks (Supernatural Cooking, maybe? I've also heard nice things about Olive Trees and Honey) and some healthy eating blogs (I really like fatfreevegan.com) to get some ideas and inspiration. Ethnic recipes are another way to go – they tend to use a lot more vegetables and whole grains than Americanized meals. Watch the oil, though. I find that I can usually reduce the amount recipes call for.

Exercise...excercise..exercise...will help get the cholesterol, blood sugar etc down and also make you feel more energetic..Also oatmeal--I favor the SteelCut oatmeal and also the ready made oatmeal, both of which I get at Trader Joes..I also live on non fat Greek yogurt mixed with fresh berries....and also eat about 5-7 fruits and veggies a day---I agree all with what Jerzee tomato wrote........
I love the summertime produce....I wish I had a farmers market near me--I would be there all the time...
I got some great ideas and advice from reading all the blogs too...I, myself, just got married and my husband hates fruits and veggies so I find I have to sneak veggies into anything my husband eats.....The ONLY veggie he eats are peas and a regular green salad....Got some great tips from above.....Thanks guys! And Good luck to you, Cary!!!!

@ Cary - Congratulations!

I see you like really good food--I say eat it! Just in moderation.
Control your portions and you'd be surprised!
PeachyPear said it well. There's absolutely NO reason to stop eating bacon and butter it's part of the circle of eating.

Excersise and eat whole and well-rounded, and you'll be fine, trust me.

Don't try to change everything at once, or it will be too much of a shock to your tastebuds. Small, incremental changes add up. And if you make small changes, they're easier to get used to, and you will be able to stick with the changes.

When one change becomes a good habit, move on to changing something else small. Decide what one bad thing you want to give up/reduce, then add something new that you should be eating. One little thing at a time.

If you go from eating one way to something completely different, it might be interesting for a short while -- like when you go on vacation and sample a new cuisine. But then you start craving the food from "back home." Which is fine when you're on vacation, but bad when you're trying to make lifestyle changes.

Substituting things may be easier than eliminating things. So use more olive oil and less butter. Or use turkey sausages instead of pork (if you like the flavor). Learn portion control. You can still have the bad stuff, but in moderation. Bigger salads, less cheese.

Try some completely new recipes that fit the healthy profile. Sometimes it's easier to incorporate a new dish (and ethnic dishes are good for this) than to try to revamp an old favorite into something that it shouldn't be. So trying to make a light version of mom's meatloaf might be a total failure, but a vegetable curry might be a smashing success. You can still have the meatloaf, but maybe not as often as before. Or serve the meatloaf with tasty and interesting side dishes, so you can eat less meatloaf and still be happy with the meal.

I don't know what you have available to you, but in my neck of the woods, upstate NY, I found a very good 75% reduced fat cheese from Cabot. I'm a big time cheese eater, and this stuff is very good, so if you just can't go without cheese, give it a try.