Weddingbee boards

When we first moved in together, FI ate nothing but crap.  There wasn't a green veggie in sight, fast food all the time, etc.  When we moved in together, I did most of the shopping and bought what I was going to make.  He stopped eating fast food, dropped fifty pounds and I got him to like kale!

To be honest, though, I cooked what I wanted and made him deal with it.  I don't buy soda, buy two or three types of in-season fruits per week, and if he doesn't like it, tough.  Another kink was that I'm lactose intolerant and wasn't used to buying dairy products.  I've finally gotten to the point where I remember the milk (but only fat-free), but cheese...forget it.  Cooking with cheese is too hard for me, and too hard to keep out of my food, so he just foregoes it.

*One thing that did motivate him (about six months after we started changing the diet), though, was his mother getting really sick (stage IV cancer), and the place she was getting treatment focused a lot on diet as well.  So, we started adopting more of their dietary beliefs.  Two years later, mom is doing great, and our kitchen has changed substantially.

Oh, I feel you! Mine doesn't like tomatoes, onions, lettuce, peppers...basically he will eat corn, green beans, and mushrooms(?!). Try cooking without ONION, it's so hard. He's also the type that orders chicken strips when we go out to dinner...like a 6 year old. I on the other hand...will eat just about anything and am one of the least picky eaters, ever. Dieting with him is nearly impossible!

@kala_way: I'm chuckling right now, because I was your husband! When I first started dating my husband, he got so fed up with my standard order at every resturant that he made a rule: if we revisited the same place I had to try something new OR we had to go to different resturant. That solved the chicken fingers problem (then again, we lived in a smaller town with only so many dinner options)

I don't know exactly how it happened, but it's 7 years later and I eat much healthier (although still not as healthy as my husband would like). I am willing to try nearly any type of food and cook well-rounded meals for dinner. I still need to work on eating more fruits, but that's more of a problem for me to figure out where to put them into my eating routine.

I remember being really annoyed that he was judging my eating style and harping on my lack of healthy, non-processed foods. One day he just told me, "I love you and I want you to be alive for a long time, which is more likely to happen if you eat better food." That was a big part of me changing what I ate. Also, I realized that I was hesitant to eat foods that I "didn't like" because I never had them before. As a kid, my dad was a picky eater and if daddy didn't eat it, why should I? That might also motivate your husband.

To answer your questions, you should definitely cook healthy versions of things he likes (my husband did most of the cooking and if he made it, I ate it), with veggies snuck in. Add salads on to every meal. If you shop, don't buy soda or whole milk or extra junk food. If it's not there, he can't eat so much of it (although, he will probably eat those things/buy a soda when he's out of the house).

It's kind of a hard line to walk. For me, I needed DH to give me some hard-handed "peer pressure" to help me make the change, but it could be overwhelming at times to feel like I was "forced" to do things. I say, when you're eating together you should push him to make healthy choices (at home or in a resturant), but don't harp too much on what he eats when you're not together. Once he realizes that he does like certain healthy foods (I promise you, he does like them, he just doesn't think he will), then he'll start making better choices on his own.

This is the struggle that I have with DH. He has gotten a *lot* better over the last year. I knew he was an extremely picky eater before we moved in together (more picky than the kids I sat for). He doesn't like *any* vegetables, except for corn and potatoes. I told him that I woldn't force him to eat peppers or mushrooms, but everything else was fair game.

He also doesn't like spicy food, ethnic food, fish, tofu and I can't eat red meat and was not terribly fond of pork (I've grown to deal with it, because I can't survive only on chicken).

I try to balance as best I can making food that he'll like. But sometimes, I try new things. He'll eat everything I give him ... sometimes he makes faces (but he has learned to stop now, because it pisses me off ... I worked hard at making that meal, like or not, you can at least appreciate it).

I'm trying to get him to slow down on his juice consumption, he drinks a lot. I've got him to cut down a lot on his diet pop consumption. We go through 2L a week as a couple (I'll have a glass or two), and he has one can a day with lunch. He used to go through 3 or more bottles a week when he leaved on his own. Plus all he drank at lunch.

My fiance didn't like veggies either, but I think not giving up on him is key. We discovered that he didn't like them because he hadn't tried them since he was a kid. I basically 'dared' him to try everything I made and teased him for being so closed-minded. But then, he's very susceptible to that kind of pyschology, so it may not work as well for you. We also found out he didn't really object to veggies so much as the texture most people cook them to. He hates anything mushy, so I make an extra effort to keep cooked vegetables crisp. He is even a reformed tomato hater. What he hates the most is the slimy seeds - so if I am making something it will be hard to pick tomatoes out of I deseed them for him.

@Tunacupcakes:

Those were great suggestions.

If everything else fails. Definitely try mixing in fruits and vegetables. You could try unidentified and undisclosed foods into your regular meals. Foods that blend well together. Then after you notice his taste buds adapting add more of the healthy.... Little by little. 

*****

My Husband pretty much eats everything. Although he does have such a disdain for white bread/flour/etcetera. Anything with High Fructose and highly processed foods to boot.

In that sense ..it's hard on me! Some of the things I was used to, I haven't eaten since cooking for him. Like white rice. Hahaha, not that I ate much of it...

..we compromise for the majority. 

I'll put kidney and black beans into spaghetti ..use lentils in this or that. His Mom and I were talking once about picky eaters and she told me how when her children were young she'd hide vegetables anytime she could because they hated them. Like corn in spaghetti. LOL. I had never heard of that in spaghetti... 

I love whole milk and can't stand 1% or anything close. So every few weeks whole and every few weeks 2% (being what he'd prefer.)

I love baking ....so compromise in the ingredients I use. He asked for sugar cookies and snickerdoodles once and had no clue what went into them exactly. ...When he saw me combining everything he was floored. Which was hilarious. What did he think those things were made out of? ....Well no more cookies of that nature either. 

No more Jamba or Robek's ...we make our own smoothies (his request)

...Anyway, I've grown accustomed to wheat bread with no high fructose syrup and the plethera of bad for you ingredients most foods have. It's not a stretch to what I used to eat just a bit stricter. I am sooo glad he's into organic and the like. I thought that'd be a battle because of costs. I want him to live long and healthy while he's at it.