Packing Derek lunch is an Olympic challenge. Scoring a
perfect 10 is easy rare. More times than not, his lunch bag will come home just
the way I sent it, without him having touched a thing. To successfully know
that he will eat what I pack him requires strategic planning! This morning I thought
I would try again. Aside from last night’s leftovers I added
a few snacks inside his bag, peanut butter crackers and a cheese stick,
secretly hoping they would find their way into his belly. I knew
better…
“Babe, if you pretend the snacks are unhealthy I might eat them.”
*Sigh*... he wasn’t feeling those today. Yes,
I have fought the good fight with my picky eater and just learned to embrace
his cinnamon roll loving, BBQ Pringle snacking, don’t-give-me-veggies-everyday
fighting ways. I still love him!
If you’re like me then before you were married one of your
many daydreams was about cooking meals for your man-but, envisioning making the
foods WE like. I just thought that Derek would savor every dish that I made, no
matter what! That didn’t play out so well when I figured out quickly that Derek’s
veggie corner only included (if he’s in the mood) broccoli, peas, baked potato,
and green beans. Let’s not forget he only likes green apples, oranges, and
grapes on occasion.I almost had a heart attack that he wouldn’t touch carrots,
any type of squash or sweet potato, eggplant, kale, onions, etc. GASP! To be fair, I had some sneaky
wins though. For example, I successfully tricked him out of eating beef in
spaghetti and switched over to ground turkey. He didn’t figure this one out
until he saw the package in the trash one day. Haha. A less successful try was thinking I couldn’t finely dice up
onions for the sauce and not get caught. Fail.
The advice and opinions I received early on to remedy this
new challenge weren’t exactly helpful: force him to eat it, don’t give him
options… I’ll spare you from the rest.
The truth is that I want Derek to look forward to eating at home, knowing that I’ll
take his likes into consideration and make us both happy at meal times. I do
believe that a couple can talk it over and come to a mutual understanding on
leading a healthy lifestyle but you, pretty wife, don’t need to dictate with an
iron fist. Choose your battles. He’ll
be more willing to adapt to new and healthier changes when you’re willing to
work with him too.J
Here are some tips for you when deciding to let go of the battle with your
picky eater:
1)
Figure out
what your spouse already likes- there’s no way of knowing where to start
and build from if you have no clue that he hates something from the get go.
Derek still doesn’t like
bananas…
2)
Introduce
major new items simply- if your spouse feels forced to try something new then
chances are he won’t even sniff it, let alone try anything new from you in the
future.
Derek loves pita and hummus now! Yay!
3) “His and hers”- sometimes you just have
to be willing to customize a dish to your and his individual likings. An easy place
to start this is with spaghetti. There are tons of recipes that can easily be tweaked
to make two separate dishes. Have fun getting creative. You might even be
surprised if he ends up liking your dish better! Oh, the art of compromise.
I like olive oil, Derek prefers
dense sauces on his pasta.
4) Allow yourself to enjoy HIS foods too- Listen, I am all about clean eating
and wanting to maintain your weight. I get it! But, there are the occasional times
where you just need to have fun. Derek sometimes gets embarrassed when I blot
pizza grease with a napkin or skip dessert, but he doesn’t bother me about it
because I can easily enjoy a meal splurge with him on date night.
Krispy Kreme is one of his favorite
places!
5) Mind your body first- Be careful how you present healthier
changes to your honey. If your reasons come across as poison in criticizing his
physique, you might have a whole new issue at hand than just trying to give him
fruit.
I encourage Derek to eat healthier for his health, not to drop weight. Weight
loss is a benefit and perk of a healthy lifestyle anyway!
6) Trickery is allowed- it’s ok to make
simple changes to dishes that your spouse won’t even catch on to. Sometimes I substitute
coconut oil for butter; he never knows. I have used Greek yogurt as a base for
a pasta dish too instead of heavy cream and the plate came back clean. ;)
Smile if you get caught. J
It takes patience to feed a picky eater, but take the
mini-wins! Never be forceful, and see how much easier it is for your honey to
adapt to a healthier lifestyle. It’s ok to let him enjoy his Golden Oreos and
tall glass of milk as a snack, get over it. I did. J xoxo.
P.S. Get some ideas from The Sneaky Chef!
