New kid on the block - engaged to a chef. Help! :)

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suzi_quzi
suzi_quzi Posts: 35
in Introduce Yourself
Hi all! I just laced up my tennis shoes, did a quick workout in the first time in FOREVER, and signed up for MFP. Side note, I'm trying to plan out my meals for the next week... I had no idea I was eating so many calories!

Here's one of my (many) challenges:

My fiance is a chef at a fancy restaurant. He works crazy hours, so I cook dinner most nights, and we eat together when he gets home (usually 11:30pm - Midnight). I always eat a good lunch and generally just snack at the time normal people have dinner - and I really try hard to keep those snacks healthy, but sometimes I go overboard and snack way more than I planned to. And the one or two days a week he's home, he likes to cook for us... which is DELICIOUS and more likely than not full of heavy cream and butter. Which sometimes I like to use when I try to cook...

If anyone out there is dating/married to a chef, do you have this struggle? Late-night dinners, unhealthy food always around the house... it's crazy. Should I just purge our fridge of all things fattening and force him into a healthy Chopped-esque challenge? Eat my dinner at a regular time and make him eat microwaved leftovers for the rest of our lives?

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  • jenberg777
    jenberg777 Posts: 8 Member
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    Hey girl! I can't say that I'm married to a professional chef, but my husband can throw down in the kitchen. He used to make fun of me (in a very friendly way) about how I used to cook......He'd say "Anyone can make food taste good by using cream, butter, salt, sugar.....a real chef can make healthy food taste amazing." My personality sort of took that to be a challenge.......bigtime. It sounds like you both really like to cook which is sweet! You could get on pinterest and pin some paleo or south beach recipes....try them out and as you get used to making familiar dishes 'healthified' - you can start to get creative on your own.......use the healthy fats like olive, canola and coconut and replace cream with skim, almond or coconut milk........the south beach diet book has some amazing recipes.........also, the philosophy of food in that book is a way of life, not a diet.....

    I hope this helps and doesn't come across as preachy?!

    In it with you,
    jen
  • suzi_quzi
    suzi_quzi Posts: 35
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    Thanks Jen!!

    I've been experimenting with replacing cream with greek yogurt. Pro tip: don't add it to anything boiling, it won't mix well and end up as white, chunky goop.

    I haven't tried cooking with almond or coconut milk. Great idea!!
  • brookemart81
    brookemart81 Posts: 62 Member
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    Former line cook here. I've been out of kitchens for years now but I definitely developed a taste for butter, cream, and so on in everything and carried that into my own cooking. My husband used to have to leave the room sometimes when I was cooking dinner because he was unsettled at the amount of butter I'd throw into things.

    I don't actually have advice for you though! For me, it took a bunch of years of eating like that and gaining a little weight from it to finally decide I needed to pay more attention to what I cook and eat and not treat every meal like it needs to be the a restaurant level calorie-bomb indulgence. So I'm working on it.

    It's definitely hard when you like good food and good food is around you all the time. You don't have to cut the decadent food out entirely, though. If you know he's going to be cooking something awesome you can eat extra light that day to reserve calories for it. And portion size is hugely important- weighing and measuring things now I'm realizing I was eating WAY to much of things before- I think many of us do. Just logging has been the main thing that's helped me, though- actually seeing what each ingredient means for my totals and seeing meals tally up has been motivating me to make things healthier and make better choices.
  • suzi_quzi
    suzi_quzi Posts: 35
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    Portion control is great advice - I'm noticing that just from my food diary today! I think I can handle reserving calories when he cooks (which is twice a week, tops). Thanks!
  • tayboo2
    tayboo2 Posts: 13
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    In one year of living with a cook i gained 50lbs. A big thing for me was letting him know how important weight loss is for me. After that we started to work together to eat healthier.... but every know and then he makes the fattest foods.
  • suzi_quzi
    suzi_quzi Posts: 35
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    Ha I feel your pain! My guy knows I have weight-loss goals, but I think the rare times he's home to cook, he just get excited about making something yummy and forgets. We'll get there!

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