How can I get my husband to eat better/healthier?!
Question: For the last year it's been really hard to ween him off junk. I tried compromising with him but after my daughter needed 2 root canals I have BANNED soda, kool-aid, and candy from my home. I told him if he wants it he can have it elsewhere I don't want our kids to be tempted. He's been doing well with it now It's just getting irritating that I can't get him to like healthy food. I usually prepare healthy meals for all of us and he wants me to cook things like FRIED chicken, rice, and foods that make me cringe...I've cooked for him the past few months because if I don't he'll leave and pick up fast food!! So I figure it's healthier if I fry food for him at home.
How can I help him like healthy food? I've tried broiling and boiling meat for him and he does not like it! He's worse than my toddlers!
Answers: For the last year it's been really hard to ween him off junk. I tried compromising with him but after my daughter needed 2 root canals I have BANNED soda, kool-aid, and candy from my home. I told him if he wants it he can have it elsewhere I don't want our kids to be tempted. He's been doing well with it now It's just getting irritating that I can't get him to like healthy food. I usually prepare healthy meals for all of us and he wants me to cook things like FRIED chicken, rice, and foods that make me cringe...I've cooked for him the past few months because if I don't he'll leave and pick up fast food!! So I figure it's healthier if I fry food for him at home.
How can I help him like healthy food? I've tried broiling and boiling meat for him and he does not like it! He's worse than my toddlers!
Eating healthy is imortant because it can lengthen his life. Start off by telling him that you love him, and want to grow old with him. You care about him so you want him to be healthy.
Try whole grain rice and baked chicken. Or you can fry it in cancola oil (which is low in saturated fat) Buy fat free milk. When you make food such as lasanga use part ricota and pat light cottage cheese (you can barly tell the diffrence). Low sodium pasta sauces are also good for laganga because the cheese also has sodium in it. Crystal light is a good drink choice because it tastes good and is sugar free. You can make hamburgers at home with 90% or 95% lean ground beef that taste really good. Try whole grain bread or multigrain breads. Hope this helps. Good luck.
He may have an emotional connection to certain types of food that stems from childhood patterns. Have you ever heard of "comfort food"? It's a hard habit to break and some may never lose the craving, but trying some new foods and making things exciting with spices and presentation might help.
I've been in your place before. The challenge is not getting him to like all healthy foods, its finding the healthy foods he does like and preparing meals with something you know he enjoys and something he may not. As far as the preparation of the meat goes, do not disclude baking! You can add a coating of well seasoned bread crums to chicken and bake it and it taste just as good as the fried stuff with very little of the fat.
He IS acting like a child. What I mean is that he is resisting eating healthier because he feels like you are pushing it on him. My suggestion is that you get a good low-fat, healthy eating cookbook that makes over traditional dishes. Then gradually start incorporating those recipes with the ones you ordinarily make. Eventually, you'll hit upon some recipes he'll really like and want you to make again. Also, sneak in some healthy stuff in place of the higher fat ingredients that he won't notice, for example, ground turkey in lasagna, reduced fat cheese, etc. Keep making some of his favorite dishes. He'll be less resistant if he doesn't think you're trying to change everything all at once.
You need to make the healthy food taste better. There is nothing worse than boiled meat..... Spice up the food, trick him using things like low/no fat sour cream. You can make a lot of the comfort food in a healthy way. Try breading and baking chicken - if you do it right it seems like it's fried.
Try potato wedges, brushed with olive oil baked in the oven - in particular sweet potato wedges.
Tell him "Healthy food or no sex..!"
Desperate times call for desperate measures..
=)
Scare him! The way science has proven many things, it seems you may have to do the same. Allow him to see pictures of clogged arteries, stomachs bloated by tumors, etc. Nothing turns one off more than seeing an example of what may come.
If that doesn't work, try appealing to his emotional side. Tell him you want to be together forever, but his unhealthy habits seems like he cares nothing for your marriage/ family. Guilt is okay if used for the right reasons.
Just remember:
-You can not make him LIKE anything.
-Stay resolute!
-Withdrawal symptoms make people lash out. Don't take it personal.
well, here's my take on this whole thing.: Follow me now, you want your husband to eat healthy, start by thinking about the foods that taste good to you both. with that in common, you can start to find things that you have a good idea he'll like.
The family will like !
talk to a dietician (without hubby), and find out what foods would be good, and how to mix them in without the word healthy coming up again. :)