Dinner wars: My healthy eating plan versus my husbands low carb diet

lwright311

I cook dinner almost everynight. I usually make a healthy well rounded meal that includes high fiber carbs, lean protein, and lots of veggies. It is often a casserole or one pot type meal and I use lots of recipes from Cooking Light and Eating Well. My food philosophy has always been portion control with no off- limit food. My husband recently started (his own) low carb diet which is very restrictive and expensive. Plus, he wants high fat protein and no high fiber carbs. If he gave me a specific number of carbs per meal, it would be easier for me but he aims for zero carbs which I think is unrealistic. Any ideas or opinions?

TavistockToad

get him to cook his own dinner?

Laurend224

TavistockToad wrote: »

get him to cook his own dinner?

Yep.

FIT_Goat

His goal is not unrealistic. It's not easy, and he may not be able to stick to it. But, it's certainly doable.

Honestly, unless he's looking for a wide variety of dishes (in which case he can cook them), it's the simplest diet in the world. Just sear a steak in some butter with a little seasoning. If you're making him chicken, cook some bacon to go with it to up the fats.

There's no reason he can't cook his own meal. The meals are insanely easy to make. I usually do my own cooking. The only frustration my wife has is that we may not eat together because my meal takes minutes to prepare and unless I wait until she's almost done making her dinner, I end up done before she starts.

Morgaen73

TavistockToad wrote: »

get him to cook his own dinner?

I'm with Tavistock. I cook on our house my rule is simple, if you dont like what I make then make your own lol

HeySwoleSister

Zero carbs? So, meat, fat and no veg. Ffs.

Assign him his share of the food budget and let him shop and cook for himself. And, don't stress. Very few people manage to sustain that diet for long.

cebreisch

I couldn't do a no carb diet - no way no how!! I think it's unrealistic, but hey....if it's something he wants to do and he can maintain it, more power to him.

My husband and I have different approaches to food as well. He started doing P90X and his "allotments" of different foods are different than mine. So for meals, we just do our own things most of the time. We do not eat the same foods at all.

There's things like Clif bars that he really likes, and chocolite protein bars that I really like...but none of the stuff we get is horribly expensive....just real, regular food.

It's all about finding out what works best for you (or what works best for him).

acheben

If you're willing, you could prepare the veggies, meat, and high fiber carbs separately, instead of as a casserole/one pot meal and that way you can grab a little of everything while your husband limits his carbs.

martyqueen52

Buy your husband: http://www.amazon.com/Lean-Muscle-Diet-Customized-Nutrition/dp/1623364183/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421245968&sr=8-1&keywords=lean+muscle+diet


Let him read, and see, carbs don't determine weight loss.

glowgirl14

Sometimes my dinner ends up looking nothing like the rest of the family's dinner. I have learned to keep my ingredients as separate as possible when cooking, and combine them differently for myself and them. (ex - I'll have 4x the meat they will, but no pasta/rice). Or I make a casserole, and want less sauce for myself and more veggies...I just make a one pot meal into a two-pot-meal. You're already prepping the ingredients, so if you want to work with his restrictions, then throw all the good stuff into your pot, and the lonely little chicken/bacon/cheese thing into his pot...

Ok, the chicken/bacon/cheese thing now has me hungry. :-/

williams969

TavistockToad wrote: »

get him to cook his own dinner?

This. If I were to go on a diet plan vastly different than the rest of my family, I sure as heck wouldn't make my husband do the cooking for me PLUS all of the cooking for everyone else.

ETA: Or, I suppose to be a jerk, I'd be one to just serve him pemmican every day (essentially dried meat/fat pressed into a bar). Fits his specifications

yopeeps025

Laurend224 wrote: »

TavistockToad wrote: »

get him to cook his own dinner?

Yep.

+2

Sabine_Stroehm

yopeeps025 wrote: »

Laurend224 wrote: »

TavistockToad wrote: »

get him to cook his own dinner?

Yep.

+2

+3

dbmata

Special diet? Cook it yourself.

Can't cook? Nothing sadder than a man who can't or won't cook.

Lourdesong

I'd probably attempt it, just to support him.

My hubby gave up meat for a month for me when I wanted to try going vegetarian.

abatonfan

TavistockToad wrote: »

get him to cook his own dinner?

Agreed 100%. I need to limit my carbs for medical reasons, while the rest of the family does not want to change their meal plan to accommodate my dietary needs (some of my family members are really picky). It doesn't take that long for me to grill some chicken, microwave some vegetables, or heat up a frozen dinner on nights when they're having something I know I cannot have.

luvbwfc

Im restricting carbs. My wife cooks for herself and the kids, I make myself something later when I get home from work. Simples.

MelRC117

There is nothing unhealthy about low carb either.
Have him cook himself. I eat low carb and have a family. I take out my portion and go on with cooking, or I cook a meat portion, veggie, and then add a carb portion if its needed.

If he wants to try, let him try it. He might really enjoy that way of eating. He might not.

Also, he might need to give himself a little bit of a break. Zero carbs would mean no cheese, no veggies. Even keto dieters eat carbs.

Branstin

Laurend224 wrote: »

TavistockToad wrote: »

get him to cook his own dinner?

Yep.

Double Yep!

HaggisWhisperer

I eat fairly low carb and do all of the cooking (a moan for another thread) - my husband eats a more traditional level of carbs. I usually do some kind of stir fry for us both e.g. chicken thigh meat with a couple of veg cooked in coconut oil. I'll do extra veg for myself (maybe cougette/zuccini noodles cooked in the microwave or french beans) and then boil some rice for him. Sometimes I make a curry and I'll serve mine with a load of veg and his again with rice. Bolognaise sauce - his with pasta and mine with zoodles or a veg. Although I do often use fattier cuts of meat, if I use the leaner ones I'll just add some extra butter to my veg or something similar to compensate.

From what you say in your original post, you are cooking a lean meat and veg anyway - just give him extra veg and stick some butter or olive oil and seasoning on it! Sorted

jasonmh630

Low carb is one thing... But zero carbs is completely unrealistic.

dbmata

jasonmh630 wrote: »

Low carb is one thing... But zero carbs is completely unrealistic.

I could probably make it happen for a meal or two.

But get gummed up like the turnpike at rush hour.

12 oz. of Steak
Served with clarified butter, and 4 oz of chicken breast.
Follow that up with a rusty bone, which is a shot of olive oil, a shot of cod liver oil, and all blended up with roasted bone marrow.

See, no carbs.

SueInAz

There is no such thing as a no carb diet unless one is eating only meat and fats. Eggs have carbs, cheese has carbs, veggies have carbs.

I have done the low carb thing from time to time. It works well for me for a variety of reasons. My husband and son don't eat like that, of course, so what I always did was make a balanced dinner, that was moderately lower carb, and then I just didn't eat the stuff with carbs. In other words, I'd make a lean protein, a steamed veggie, a green salad and sometimes a side dish of rice, pasta or potatoes. I'd eat everything but the high carb side dish.

If that doesn't work for you, and your husband doesn't like what you are making for dinner, tell him he can make his own. He's a big boy making his own choices.

cyndit1

My husband is the cook in the family and gets very frustrated and refuses to cook multiple meals claiming the whole family meal thing...which I don't totally disagree with. so to keep the peace, I will eat generally whatever he cooks and deal by using portion control. If he is cooking a starch i don't want, I will make a sweet potato for myself but the veggies and protein I usually can make work. Eating out is another animal all together. Family pizza night usually means I need to get creative with some grilled chicken something from the pizza parlor.

dbmata

.

JoRocka

get him to cook his own dinner?

yes

I'm with Tavistock. I cook on our house my rule is simple, if you dont like what I make then make your own lol

yes

dbmata wrote: »

Special diet? Cook it yourself.
Can't cook? Nothing sadder than a man who can't or won't cook.

truth.
I second all of these things.

lwright311

Thanks for all the comments. I told him if my meals do not meet his requirements, he can get his own dinner and I will just cook for me and the kids. He also does not try portion control and is stuck on eating only a few foods (celery, peanut butter, canned chicken ). I don't think he even knows how many carbs he is eating. I don't think 40 carbs for an entire meal is high which is about as high as I go with my dinner. He seems to think I should be more accomodating!

SueInAz

lwright311 wrote: »

Thanks for all the comments. I told him if my meals do not meet his requirements, he can get his own dinner and I will just cook for me and the kids. He also does not try portion control and is stuck on eating only a few foods (celery, peanut butter, canned chicken ). I don't think he even knows how many carbs he is eating. I don't think 40 carbs for an entire meal is high which is about as high as I go with my dinner. He seems to think I should be more accomodating!

If he's not counting his carbs, you're right, he probably has no idea. Personally, I think 40 grams of carbs for an entire meal is high; it's certainly not "low" carb. Most low carb diets are about 20-40 grams of carbs per day with most of the carbs coming from vegetables.

Peanut butter actually has quite a few carbs and it's high in calories. He should take a look at the label. You still have to worry about calories when eating that way, regardless what a lot of people think.

JoRocka

Tell him you think his' thingie should vibrate too- but we can't just have everything we want in life and we either make do with what we have- or we go buy what we want.
-
should handle it.

MelRC117

What kind of peanut butter? Peanut butter is much higher in carbs than he probably thinks and unless if he is weighing it, he is probably eating more than he thinks. Really, the only think I would think is taking out a portion of the cooked meat if you're make a casserole. Then he can make himself some steamed veggies or a salad.

I like eating low carb, it works for me and is how I choose to lose weight. Low carb can honestly be enjoyable for some people. But what he is doing sounds miserable. I don't even know if I would call it low carb. If he had any interest in MFP there are some good low carb groups that have a lot of information and ideas.

Ninkyou

Get him some


and then tell him to make his own meals if he wants to be unrealistic.