Do you cook differently for your family?

My boyfriend likes tacos, microwaved pizza, and veggie burgers, and spaghetti and some other fake meat products. (he's vegetarian not vegan) I cook differently for him. I feel terrible because he likes unhealthy things and doesn't want my veggie dishes but yes, I usually cook two different meals.

Can you make both stuff that you can have and stuff you can't have? I'm a picky eater so it makes it easy for me to make things that I can't have that I also don't like. Maybe by adding something you don't like into something you shouldn't have it should make it easier to avoid that. I try to do that when I bring treats to work. I bring stuff that I don't like anyways and so it's easy to avoid it.

Yes!! This is the hardest part of parenting for me! My kids are McDonalds, pizza, meat and potatoes addicts. I am a health nut, borderline vegetarian. They won't eat my food, so I end up taking them to the drive thru. I know that's bad parenting, but they will not eat my food, so I just gave up on them a long time ago. All three are active and healthy weights, so I don't worry too much. Maybe my habits will rub off on them when they are older. Maybe. For now it is just very inconvenient. Not to mention, no one is ever home at the same times to even think about having a family meal. I feel like I run a taxi station.

As for my husband, we hardly ever eat together. He works nights, and he is Korean, so spam and rice and kimchi are his staples. No thank you! He makes his own food, lol.

Lol. That's a good tactic, Amonroe.

As you know, I'm veg*n and my husband is an omni. He has been told that he can eat whatever he wants when (1) he cooks it, or (2) we go out. If I am cooking, he eats what I cook. (I'm sort of glad he doesn't cook, meat in my kitchen grosses me out.) I do make some allowances/modifications to his meals, such as using cheese in his food (but Daiya in mine). I also make more carbs for him than I do myself--which is dangerous, I just have to really watch my portion size, but I'm only sometimes successful.

When I buy him snack food, I purposefully buy stuff I will not eat, for example beef jerky, or non-vegan peanut butter crackers.

I don't cook seperate meals. I want my family to be as healthy and active as I am, there's nothing I cook that I wouldn't feed to my family. If they want something else, they can work that out amongst themselves (they are hubs @ 34 and son @ 2). However, we do eat a variety. 3 nights ago we had pesto crusted rainbow trout and veggies, last night we had leftover trout and tater tots. Nothing wrong with a tater tot.

Yes!! This is the hardest part of parenting for me! My kids are McDonalds, pizza, meat and potatoes addicts. I am a health nut, borderline vegetarian. They won't eat my food, so I end up taking them to the drive thru. I know that's bad parenting, but they will not eat my food, so I just gave up on them a long time ago. All three are active and healthy weights, so I don't worry too much. Maybe my habits will rub off on them when they are older. Maybe. For now it is just very inconvenient. Not to mention, no one is ever home at the same times to even think about having a family meal. I feel like I run a taxi station.

If they are hungry enough, and you don't give in, they will eat it.

There are fantastic websites and blogs that lighten up otherwise high calorie, high fat dinners. Try those out, and come to a compromise. My favorite websites are skinnytaste.com, emilybites.com and eatingwell.com

I just make myself healthy veggie based choices and then add an animal protein for my family. I try to keep the options for them healthy too. I generally serve fruit or fruit with whipped cream for dessert.

What are the trigger foods you struggle with?

My situation is that I have two picky teens who don't like most of the foods I make for myself. They complain 'there's no food in the house' when they look in the refrigerator. They like a lot of kid-food--pizza, mac & cheese, fettuccini alfredo, fries, burritos, potato chips, taco chips and salsa, veggie versions of chik'n nuggets, cheese burgers, etc. So, I end up buying and/or making those things for them.

Usually, I resist, but in weak moments, I can get pulled into eating these rich foods, and see red in my food diary.

There's nothing wrong with these foods specifically, but if that's all they are eating, what do you expect them to do as grown ups? This isn't "kid-food" this is "unhealthy food, on the aggregate, if eaten at every meal." Teach your children to eat thoughtfully, that's the best lesson you can teach them about food. And every teenager looks at the cupboards and thinks they are bare, get used to it.