For the Guys (and wives that cook)

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awal2069
awal2069 Posts: 101 Member
I am trying to eat a cleaner diet and have been trying now for going on three weeks. This being said... I am trying to get hubby involved too. Problem: We live in the South, and he eats meat and potatoes - NO VEGGIES.

Any ideas?

He eats no: veggies at all except cucumber, no whole wheat pasta, no brown rice, and no fish.

I could use all the help I could get as I would like to do this journey with him instead of against him... LOL. Yes, he is trying too and I appreciate it. Just worried I am gonna run out of options. He is getting sick of chicken made twenty different ways and sweet potatoes.

Yes, I could make myself a seperate meal. But, he wants to eat better too and regonizes we are not getting any younger and our bodies need better.

Ideas? Help??
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Replies

  • chrissytrivette
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    My husband is the same way, he won't go near veggies! I've adjusted the recipes for the stuff he will eat to make them healthier. Some of my go to meals that can be made healthy are tacos, sloppy joes (you can find lots of recipes to make your own sauce), burgers (we usually do no buns so we can have sweet potato fries), fajitas (I cook the peppers and onions separate), bbq or buffalo sauce chicken tenders and roasted red potatoes. Last night we had shake n bake chicken tenders and buffalo chicken rice. The rice wasn't brown rice, but I feel like it is ok to use white rice occasionally, and half cup prepared was only 24 carbs.
  • lilbpixie
    lilbpixie Posts: 51 Member
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    i play Hide the veggies if you cut them up small enough you can hide them in almost anything! crock pot recipes make it a lot easier. CleanEating.com has some great recipes too. Purple Turnip tastes just like potatoes and you can prepare it the same way (make sure you take the skin off) My husband HATES chicken but when I stuff it with ricotta cheese and spinach and wrap it in prosciutto it tastes like cheese and bacon but a whole stuffed breast is under 400 cal. Its all about masking the flavor and when he asks whats in it just say take a bite and I'll tell you. When he say OMG this is great smile and never tell how much veggies you put in it.

    edit: forgot this web sight it makes using veggies easy http://www.fruitsandveggiesmatter.gov
  • chrissytrivette
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    Your husband must not be nearly as picky as mine. He has to be able to tell what everything is in his food or he won't touch it, so hide the veggies doesn't work for me. :) He doesn't even like when I add herbs because they look like veggies. He is also picky about stuff other than veggies. Ricotta cheese - no way.
  • sbrBirdy
    sbrBirdy Posts: 224 Member
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    Southerner here... although my husbands eats everything I cook...

    Could you cook a common meat, fix his starchy veggies (potatoes, rice, whatever), and then fix your green veggies? Why are you only eating chicken? I would get tired of that...

    Right now, I'm eating a 1" thick grilled pork chop, green beans and broccoli. Rest of the family also had candied yams and black eyed peas.

    ETA: If he WANTS to eat better, it is possible to retrain your taste... I was extremely picky as a child, and now there are only one or two things I still can't stand. But if it's not something HE wants to do, there's not much you can do about it.
  • roachhaley
    roachhaley Posts: 978 Member
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    If he likes fruit try making him a fruit and veggie smoothie.

    You can also mash cauliflower into "mashed potatos". If you add butter he might not mind the difference.

    Spinach can go into just about anything once you cook it a bit.
  • lilbpixie
    lilbpixie Posts: 51 Member
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    Your husband must not be nearly as picky as mine. He has to be able to tell what everything is in his food or he won't touch it, so hide the veggies doesn't work for me. :) He doesn't even like when I add herbs because they look like veggies. He is also picky about stuff other than veggies. Ricotta cheese - no way.


    Yikes! He would be cooking his own meals at my house! :) I follow my moms rule: if you don't like it you don't have to eat it but your not getting anything else :):drinker:
  • docktorfokse
    docktorfokse Posts: 473 Member
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    if he doesn't want to eat right, he won't. simple as that.
  • NNAhuja
    NNAhuja Posts: 669 Member
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    When it comes to rice, you can phase it out. It worked with me and I'm a VERY picky eater. I would make white rice and brown rice together in a rice cooker. Started off with 3/4 white and 1/4 brown. Worked down to half and half and now I'm down completely to straight brown. White rice even tastes funny to me. lol
    As for veggies, has he tried the green giant steamers? They tend to be deslish. Here's another idea. Make a meatloaf (Paula Dean has a great recipe, I sub half turkey half beef) and mix in corn. Great way to sneak it in!
    Dr. Oz's wife also has a cookbook with different recipes that she hides veggies in. Look into it :)
  • TinaCleg_cancel
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    I'm in the South too :) I find myself making something for my husband and son that I just don't eat. I do cook a lot of chicken, but I will also use lean ground turkey instead of beef for tacos. I have gotten to the point that I cook what I can for the family and if they don't want to eat it, they have to "fend for themselves." I am lucky that my eleven year old son is not a picky eater.
  • seanwebster
    seanwebster Posts: 83 Member
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    If you want to incorporate more vegetation, maybe start firing up the grill. I live in the South too, and in my experience even the most old-school meat-and-taters people will eat vegetables if they're cooked over a raging-hot fire. Next to meat, of course. It's a caveman thing.
  • chrissytrivette
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    Your husband must not be nearly as picky as mine. He has to be able to tell what everything is in his food or he won't touch it, so hide the veggies doesn't work for me. :) He doesn't even like when I add herbs because they look like veggies. He is also picky about stuff other than veggies. Ricotta cheese - no way.


    Yikes! He would be cooking his own meals at my house! :) I follow my moms rule: if you don't like it you don't have to eat it but your not getting anything else :):drinker:


    I knew his eating habits before I married him so its not really a big deal. A lot of the stuff he doesn't like he couldn't eat anyway - he had to have his colon removed so he has a hard time processing certain foods. I plan my food for the day so that I eat stuff he wouldn't for lunch. I don't eat many carbs during the day because I know dinner will be a meat and carb.
  • knittnponder
    knittnponder Posts: 1,954 Member
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    My husband was very, very picky when we met. The man had only ever eaten canned corn, canned peas and canned green beans! Shudder.

    I LOVE vegetables! And since I cook he has the choice of eating what I've made or going hungry because I'm not going the rest of my life without a vegetable just because he's picky! Plus they're good for you and we have four kids who needed to eat their veggies. It's now been almost 23 years together and he's gradually grown to eat a variety of vegetables. He eats fajitas now (with peppers and onions) and will even eat pizza with veggies on it. There are nights where all we have for dinner is a ginormous garden salad with some grilled chicken tossed in it. He eats it and he likes it.

    But then I'm a bigger brat than he is so YMMV. ;) Good luck!
  • tifalva
    tifalva Posts: 220 Member
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    My husband and I go back and forth on veggies. There are things he won't eat and things I refuse to eat so we usually separate out the veggies so he can have his and I can have mine. My husband is a very meat/starch person, he'd be fine with no veggies at all most of the time. He is beginning to ask for salads more often with dinner (JUST lettuce and croutons lol) and then I add my carrots, celery, cucumbers and beets to my own salad. When it comes to cooking I can have the onions and peppers in the same pot, but if they are cut big I won't eat them so the trick for me is to make them small enough it gets hidden in the bite of food. If I want green beans or something I have to make my own because he won't touch it.
    I guess it is just all about getting creative with cooking and maybe try cooking together. That is when my husband really bought into the whole "eating healthier kick". For the longest time he wanted to know what recipe I was making and if there were "icky" things in there he wanted to make sure I didn't put them in. I have gotten creative over time and can now hide spinach in the meatloaf because if you cut it up enough it looks like the other herbs and spices in the mix. He had no idea until I told him.
    Another good veggie option is Ragu pasta sauce. I believe its Grandma's Garden Recipe or something like that. Its a half cup of veggies per serving and is REALLY GOOD. Team that with whole wheat pasta and a grilled chicken breast or lean pork chop and its a really good dinner with tons of healthy stuff in there too :)
  • amybrauch
    amybrauch Posts: 250 Member
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    My husband will luckily eat asparagus & green beans, but if there is a veggie that i want to eat, that he doesn't like, such as broccoli or cauliflower. I just make that for myself to eat in addition or instead of the side items that i make for him. We will both have the same meat but maybe not the exact same side dishes. Here lately though, whenever I grill zucchini, he always steals a couple of pieces, which was not always so. Maybe you guys could try one new veggie a week. He may end up finding something he didn't know that he liked. My husband never tried zucchini until he was almost 30 yrs old.
  • JensterPenster
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    If you want to incorporate more vegetation, maybe start firing up the grill. I live in the South too, and in my experience even the most old-school meat-and-taters people will eat vegetables if they're cooked over a raging-hot fire. Next to meat, of course. It's a caveman thing.

    ^^ Great idea! ^^
  • Sidesteal
    Sidesteal Posts: 5,510 Member
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    Offer various sexual favors in exchange for him eating broccoli and spinach?







    not srs





















    actually semi srs.
  • cmaxmor
    cmaxmor Posts: 231 Member
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    Try grilling the veggies! Shishkabob is a good way. That way the veg kind of gets the flavor from the meat. Also-meatloaf. If he eats pasta then make your own sauce. Put any veg you want through a food processor and mix it with tomato.
    My husband would starve if he didn't eat veggies. I don't really cater to him or the kids when it comes to meals.
  • AeolianHarp
    AeolianHarp Posts: 463 Member
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    I am trying to eat a cleaner diet and have been trying now for going on three weeks. This being said... I am trying to get hubby involved too. Problem: We live in the South, and he eats meat and potatoes - NO VEGGIES.

    Any ideas?

    He eats no: veggies at all except cucumber, no whole wheat pasta, no brown rice, and no fish.

    I could use all the help I could get as I would like to do this journey with him instead of against him... LOL. Yes, he is trying too and I appreciate it. Just worried I am gonna run out of options. He is getting sick of chicken made twenty different ways and sweet potatoes.

    To clear a few things up:
    - Brown rice is not better than white rice
    - Sweet potatoes aren't better than white potatoes
    - Fish isn't better than red meat
    - "Clean" is an awful, ambiguous, arbitrary word
    - Red meat isn't bad
    - Red meat is just as good as chicken

    Hopefully I didn't miss anything.
  • weepoorsoul
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    2 Can Play the Stink Face Game

    Does your husband ever prepare meals? Maybe if he understood the time, effort, and planning involved in making meals he would appreciate what you do. I suggest that he should be responsible for food prep and clean up a few times a week. If he makes meals that are nutritionally lacking, give him the stink face. You also have certain requirement and standards for your meals. Let him work to please YOU. I found that my own kids were more willing to try new things when they were able to be involved in planning and cooking. Get him out of the "disatisfied customer" mode and into the "active participant" mode.
  • dpwellman
    dpwellman Posts: 3,271 Member
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    Can't relate.

    I love veggies, especially broccoli. Most what I do veggie-wise ends up being quasi Italian-ish (quasi primavera), sometimes Asian-ish (Hunan or Thai)

    A lot of times it's just dump a bag of frozen in a skillet, a dab of EVOO (or coconut oil), kosher salt, heat, and eat.

    Green beans with balsamic and garlic is good.