We've all heard the terms – reduced-fat, sugar-free, low-sodium, gluten-free, lactose-free – and it's because an increasing number of people have special dietary needs. If you're one of them, it can be easy to fall into a rut with what you eat. But now there's a way to find out more about more choices. Wherever you shop, be it a large chain grocer, specialty store like a Korean market or a big-box warehouse club, check online are use the sort feature. So far, you've probably relied on word of mouth or wandering the aisles to read product labels to find what you need. But there is a quicker way to do it.

Your secret weapon in finding all the products that meet your needs is the search function on your favorite grocer's website. Before you know it, you'll be scrolling through every product that meets your needs, and it's a given you'll see ones you haven't tried. The other good news is that more items come on the market every year to meet particular dietary preferences. There are also variations such as reduced-fat and fat-free, depending on how far you need to go. Food processors and manufacturers have also become more skilled at replacing ingredients with others that preserve taste and texture.

You can also make ingredient substitutions in your favorite recipes to help them suit your needs and preferences. If you haven't already tried, ask the internet about the best substitutes for nearly any ingredients you can imagine. There are also nutritional gains in many substitutes, such as using plant-based protein (tofu) to replace some dairy products. If you check the nutrition facts for tofu, you'll see it is rich in many healthy things to eat. You can also try new things like making crispy tofu bites at home, so you're making your own more nutritious snack foods. Your family will love their taste.

If you need to eat sugar-free, some newer substitutes can be used more successfully in recipes than their predecessors. It's the same with baking if you need to avoid gluten. More recipes are being developed using rice flour to replace wheat, meaning that you can again begin to enjoy some baked goods. Filtered milk products recently hitting the market are making improvements in lactose-free milk products. They take the success of earlier versions and make improvements that you'll notice. But finding out about all of the products you can use begins with a search on your grocer's website.