Our eating habits are the easiest factor to affect our health. Actually, along with physical exercise, healthy eating can be one of the most successful paths to improved health. How do we start making this important change in our lifestyle?

My favorite starting point is vegetables. Even if you are a very picky eater, there are so many varieties of vegetables that it just won't matter. There are vegetables available, somewhere that you can enjoy, regardless of where you live, whether it's the wrong season, or how you want them prepared.

In our youth we had no understanding of the dangers linked to poor eating habits. We didn't even care if we were eating right. Now, even I am beginning to notice the results of improper or no exercise, my bad eating habits and their affect on my health. I just began retirement and my awareness of my own health is increasing. I am coming up with more questions each week as to whether something I like is good for me or not. I think I and my wife are more concerned than our parents or grandparents ever were about getting healthy, staying that way and how the diet choices we make influence our health.

We can not refuse to eat vegetables because of having few choices available. Do you want high fiber or low fiber? Do you want vegetables with a high rating for anti-oxidants, or flavonoids or beta-carotene? Do you just want the ones that have a fantastic flavor? What color do you prefer? Do you want leafy or bean? Do you want them cooked? Do you want them fresh picked, rinsed and raw? That's my favorite.

I already know that vegetables are good for me but what if I want a good tasting snack, something that really tastes absolutely great? I am still in luck. Give me a platter of fresh raw carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, radishes or celery and I am all over it. With a little ranch dip on the side and a little peanut butter for the celery, I will have a treat fit for a king.

Don't let yourself forget about dill pickles. They are so popular today you can even buy them in convenience stores individually wrapped or in the big jar on the counter. Continuing on we again have carrots, onions (I love spring onions) and sweet potatoes. These can all be prepared in so many different ways it would take forever to cover them all.

My wife and I, and most of our families originate from the Midwest. For us it is hard to beat a baked sweet potato as a snack or side dish. Don't cut short a regular baked potato either. It isn't real healthy to go into excesses but a little melted butter, a tad of salt and a little sour cream and we in angels delight again! Or mash them up and prepare them as twice baked. Don't forget, there is a powerhouse of nutrients in the skin of the potato also. Raw, mashed, baked, twice baked, scalloped, peeled, unpeeled, a gratin, etc, etc. There are so many ways to prepare a potato it has to be one of the most flexible vegetables of all. Oops, did I forget fried and French fried?

It hasn't been too many years ago that I was first introduced to a "bloomin' onion". I thought, "You've got to be kidding right?" Nope. Not only are they a treat all their own, especially with a good dipping sauce, they are served in many restaurants all over. But while we're on onions don't forget that they can also be cut into rings, covered in batter, deep fried and served with your favorite dip. Quite often you will find Jalapeno peppers filled with cheese and served battered and fried.

Now if you are looking for something that really tastes good, is full of anti-oxidants and flavonoids and beta-carotene, then you have to look at one of the healthiest finger foods around: the carrot.

Enough said. I know these are favorites for our family, and a lot of the Midwestern families and they prove one point: There are so many options available for vegetable snacks, that healthy snacking and an overall healthy eating diet can now become a normal way of life for you.

This is my favorite healthy eating vegetable diet ebook.