How To Eat Healthy When Your Family Doesn't

hotmrsedwards2016

My biggest issue is that my fiance and brother who lives with us don't want healthy foods for dinner. It gets expensive buying seperate meals and its tiring after a long day at work to cook two dinners. What are some things i can do to stay on track? Are there any good easy frozen dinners that are low in sodium that I can just pop in the microwave? What do you all do when your family doesnt want to eat the same stuff?

afatpersonwholikesfood

Calories! You don't have to do separate meals. You can do a separate side for yourself or portion control on the ones you really want, but try adding low-calorie stuff to bulk up the rest of your dinner.

Example: You guys decide to do ribs. High in calories but delicious. You figure out what size piece fits both your calories and your hunger. Maybe everyone has a baked potato and salad. You instead skip the potato and skip toppings like cheese, croutons, and high-cal dressing on your salad. Maybe you add a serving of fruit. Maybe you get some exercise in because you want a bigger portion of ribs. Depends on your priorities and must-have foods.

ClubSilencio

Tell them to prepare their own *kitten*. (Oops, not actual kitten... their own food rather. Hopefully not kitten.)

There are low sodium frozen meals though. I reckon this won't help your budget though. If it's not troublesome for you, you could food prep for the week (rice, meat, veggies). Do it one time and teach them how to do it. Good luck.

kwalker5276

What afatpersonwholikesfood said make logical sense... it's what I was planning on doing with my husband and three kids....but curious of what other people will say

BarbellzNBrotein

What do you mean by healthy? I'm successfully cutting eating the same things I would be if I was bulking.

alyssa_rest

My fiance is supportive, but also doesn't like half of what I would want to eat (I'm a veggie lover and he's not). I make what he likes, I just make less and substitute some different ingredients (whole wheat breadcrumbs vs. plain). It's not all about eating "healthy foods", it's about portion sizes and how many calories you're eating. I cook enough for his dinner, my allotted calories, and lunch the next day. I make sure I make his plate up before mine, then portion out and pack enough for my lunch the next day. It helps me when there isn't food sitting in front of me on the table. I tend to pick without realizing it.

Also, steamfresh has a ton of easy, quick frozen veggies and they even have a brown rice and veggie mixture. If I make him some sort of side that doesn't fit in my caloric goal for the day, I'll pop one of those in the microwave and use it as a side. Takes 5 minutes and then I can use the leftovers later in the week!

Hope that helps some.

ForeverFitnessPT

What I typically do is try to make a main course that we can both eat (and this might mean I get a smaller portion). I can then make a few different sides, some for them and some for me. This overlap makes food prep easier.

Another strategy is to prepare a batch of meals on the weekend and refrigerate/freeze portions that I can easily warm up while cooking for the rest of the family. Again, I try to make the base foods similar so I don't have to worry with duplicate food purchase.

Allan Misner
NASM Certified Personal Trainer, Host of the 40+ Fitness Podcast

LuckyNumbers

Lol - I agree with both of the previous posters. Either have smaller portions of whatever it is you're cooking, or just make your own dinner and have them fend for themselves. Either way, it's less stress for you and you get to eat what you want.

anniebanana100

What an excellent question. These were great ideas. Thanks for this stream. I'm going to try all of these ideas.

VeryKatie

Just make dinner for you and let them fend for themselves. If you're the one cooking, they either eat what you make or make something themselves. That's what I do with my husband. But he has learned to be a lot less picky. He never used to eat vegetables or leftovers. But now he just wants some of what I am having if the alternative is always cereal.

The real problem is going to be finding a method your family can live with for the rest of your lives. Because this problem doesn't stop once you reach goal. You have to maintain at that weight, but that would be hard to do if you go through yet another diet (type of food) change, especially if you go back to what you ate before.

But there is merit to just adjusting portion size. It won't work with everything though. You might be too hungry if the macro breakdown doesn't work for you.

Lounmoun

hotmrsedwards2016 wrote: »

My biggest issue is that my fiance and brother who lives with us don't want healthy foods for dinner. It gets expensive buying seperate meals and its tiring after a long day at work to cook two dinners. What are some things i can do to stay on track? Are there any good easy frozen dinners that are low in sodium that I can just pop in the microwave? What do you all do when your family doesnt want to eat the same stuff?

They can fend for themselves and you can cook for yourself. They can eat the frozen dinners or a sandwich while you eat a home prepared meal if they don't want to cook.

However, healthy foods means food with nutrition that meets your needs. It does not have to be restricted to plain chicken, broccoli and brown rice. It does not have to be expensive, unusual or require intensive preparation. It can be tacos, burgers, pasta, stir fry, eggs, soup, pizza, grilled meats, potatoes, sandwiches, salads. It can be yogurt, cereal, beans and rice, or oatmeal. You can probably find foods you can agree on eating that meet your needs.

Your plates do not have to look identical. Your calorie needs are different. Take smaller portion sizes, share the main item and have more vegetables or salad on your plate.

JenHuedy

afatpersonwholikesfood wrote: »

Calories! You don't have to do separate meals. You can do a separate side for yourself or portion control on the ones you really want, but try adding low-calorie stuff to bulk up the rest of your dinner.

Example: You guys decide to do ribs. High in calories but delicious. You figure out what size piece fits both your calories and your hunger. Maybe everyone has a baked potato and salad. You instead skip the potato and skip toppings like cheese, croutons, and high-cal dressing on your salad. Maybe you add a serving of fruit. Maybe you get some exercise in because you want a bigger portion of ribs. Depends on your priorities and must-have foods.

This is how it works at our house. For example, we're having roast pork loin with potatoes, carrots and broccoli. I'm going to skip the potatoes and have a double helping of broccoli tonight so I have calories left for strawberry pie!

cwolfman13

hotmrsedwards2016 wrote: »

My biggest issue is that my fiance and brother who lives with us don't want healthy foods for dinner. It gets expensive buying seperate meals and its tiring after a long day at work to cook two dinners. What are some things i can do to stay on track? Are there any good easy frozen dinners that are low in sodium that I can just pop in the microwave? What do you all do when your family doesnt want to eat the same stuff?

I'm the cook in my house...if someone doesn't want what I'm cooking they are more than capable of preparing their own meals or they can go hungry. I'm not a short order cook...and this isn't Burger King...

I'm curious as to what your views are on "healthy" though. A lot of people tend to equate healthy with bland and boring...healthy doesn't have to be bland or boring. Last night I had a perfectly healthy grilled steak with a side of baked potato and a sauteed veggie medley...it was pretty great...and very healthy.

dfranch

I lost a considerable amount of weight when my wife was not interested. I'd plan my meals around what was for dinner. If dinner was high calorie, I cut back the rest of the day. if dinner wasn't too high, I'd splurge at lunch, or actually have ice cream for dessert.

pattyandthemoos

I totally know the feeling! I have been making separate meals practically my entire 20 year marriage. I was a vegetarian for 10 years so back then it was all separate. Then I started eating meat again, but my husband and kids just flat out refuse to eat anything healthy. I have tried so many times and now I just don't care. I cook a little meal for me and then cook something for them. It's kind of annoying but I guess I'm used to it. Or some days when I can, I'll make a meal where we can do part of it together - like burritos and make mine with chicken and black beans and theirs with beef and refried. Mostly, though I cook our meals separately.

ericatoday

I do the grocery shopping and i cook dinner so they eat what i eat. Yeah i buy seperate breakfast and lunch stuff but dinners no effing way. Im not making and buying two dinners. But i have learned to make dinners my whole family loves without making them feel like theyre eating healthy

MCTay23

Make them grown *kitten* people cook for themselves if they arenr supporting you

fitgoals23

While I definitely think the people who have recommended just cooking for yourself and letting others fend for themselves make a valid point, if you are really interested in cooking for others, I have some experience I can share:

1) Find the techniques that make cooking healthy food delicious. Trying to cut down on white rice & pasta? Substitute quinoa or cauliflower rice cooked with quality vegetable stock and aromatic vegetables like onions & garlic. Want to avoid fries? Toss potatoes, carrots, parsnips, etc. with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper, then roast in the oven until golden, crispy, and oh-so tasty. I could go on for ages. Focus on making healthy food tasty instead of making tasty food healthy.

2) Try mixing things up. Experiment with new recipes and cuisines and don't introduce the meals to the others as "healthy". Just say you made an exciting new dish. If they are unfamiliar with what an "unhealthy" version of the dish, they won't notice if yours is healthier.

3) Keep salty/sugary/fatty sauces and dressings on the side. They can heap on as much as they want and you can take your own appropriate portion.

4) Seriously just tell them that if they don't like your cooking they can fend for themselves. It is completely ok to prioritize your health over the picky tastebuds of others.

Francl27

I learned to cook and make tasty meals that don't taste 'healthy'.