bland food help

OP there are lots of ways to make family meals less caloric for you, and not make your husband/kids feel you are taking things away from them. What kinds of things do you eat as a family now?

Here are things my family likes:
Taco Night - lots of ways to make tacos, use ground turkey instead of ground beef or a blend. Make fish tacos. Wrap yours in lettuce leaves instead of shells (I never do this but I know others do) or just put all your toppings on top of lettuce like a shell-less taco salad. Less cheese and sour cream on yours.

Spaghetti - again, lots of ways to make this more calorie friendly and/or increase the nutrition by adding things to the sauce (more veggies).

Stir Fry - my kids don't like a ton of sauces and spices, so what I usually do is cook the protein (chicken usually) and veggies (carrots, snap peas, green beans) in the wok and take theirs out, then I add in the stir fry sauce for my husband and I. They eat the chicken, veggies, and plain white rice.


It kind of sounds like you feel like you can't eat any of the same things you were eating before. That's simply not the case. You can eat the same things, including the bbq sauce, the dressing, and the butter. By weighing/measuring and accurately logging your food you will get a better handle on where things really add up and then you can look for ways to make some substitutions, but you really don't need to cut entire foods out in order to lose weight.

Need2Exerc1se wrote: »

courtneystricker wrote: »

we all go shopping together and its hard for me to take away everything my kids and husband like to eat it makes me feel like im forcing everyone to eat like me and i made the choice for myself to eat healthier but my kids didn't and neither did my husband

As a parent, why would you let children decide to eat unhealthy? Seems like teaching good eating habits should be part of the parenting process.

That said, eating healthy does not mean giving up all treats. It simply means eating a balanced nutritious diet and not over or under eating. Treats can absolutely be part of a healthy balanced diet.

I don't know, she said her kids like fruits and vegetables but that they also like butter, cheese, and salt. I don't know how old her kids are, or what their weight is like, but there really isn't a need to have your children avoid butter, cheese, and salt that I'm aware of, if they are at a healthy weight today. Most kids don't pour on the salt, so I am guessing the implication was that they want salty foods, probably potato chips. Just a guess though. If they are eating fruits, vegetables, dairy, and protein - I wouldn't have a problem with my kids eating a serving of potato chips with lunch.

I basically handle all the food in my home, where I take care of my sick mother (newly diagnosed diabetic+hypothyroid+lifelong heart problems) and my teenage sister. They've both been raised to eat whatever's "easy" and so they've developed a taste for greasy, salty, cheesy, fatty foods. That isn't to say those kinds of foods are "bad" in any way, but they've become accustomed to those flavors and textures in their food.

BUT

I love to cook, and I've basically turned the kitchen into MY space and they eat what I cook almost exclusively. It was not easy at first in the slightest. There was a lot of "that's not my favorite" "it needs more salt" "it tastes bland" etc etc....now that's not the case in *at all*. Just like they developed a taste for junk almost exclusively, they were able to adapt and learn to love new flavors and types of food.

OP, you can do this. Your kids will be the easiest because they're young and aren't as set in their ways as you and your husband may be. Just keep making minor adjustments, expirement, and don't be too hard on yourself if it doesn't go over the first few times.


P.S. my trick is never to comment on the health aspect of what I'm serving, and instead saying things like "doesn't this smell great?" "doesn't this look so pretty and colorful?" You can get them excited for the meal before it even begins without feeling forced to eat a certain kind of way.