New and On an Life Changing Mission

Hi my name is Patricia and I'm on a mission to change not just my eating habits but also my family's eating habits and the way we think about food. I'm a traditional Southern girl who was taught that everything (and honey I do mean anything) can be deep fried and covered in either gravy or powdered sugar and grew up with grandmothers who believed that anything from a scrapped knee to a broken marriage could be cured with food. My husband grew up the same way. So now at 29 (I'll be 30 in less than 3 months) I've gotten to watch my mother have a heart attack, my father die from diabetes and stroke related consequences, my father in law have a quad bipass and with 2 kids (7 and 10 months) I'm at 185 lbs with high blood pressure. We need to change our lifestyles and we need to change it NOW. So any ideas, helpful hints or just general kicks in the butt would be greatly appreciated.