Help me help my husband

[susan423]

Ok, I've been on Atkins now about 6 months. I'm now ready to put my husband on Atkins (I'll be home more to cook for him, Ect) He needs to lose about 80 pounds. The problem is, I'm not sure how to feed him. Basically...veggies. The only veggies he likes is iceberg lettuce, tomatos, and bell peppers. He's a little worried cause I told him he'd have to give up his bananas. He likes those for a quick grab and go snack but I figured since I'll be here more I can take care of that. I'm more worried about tyring to get in his 2 or 3 cups of veggies. And then on rung 1 it will get even more chalenging. Anyone have any ideas? I have tried before to sneak veggies in but he usually can taste it and then won't eat eat.

[spazzyhilo]

Re: Help me help my husband

One thing Ive noticed about Atkins is how much your tastebuds change. When you cut out all the sugar and high carbs you are then able to taste the natural sweetness of other veggies. Red bell peppers, radishes, and jicama being amongst my favorites.

As for salad veggies I love raw spinach - very tasty and very high in nutrients! Or romaine lettuce is also really good and has more nutrients than iceberg lettuce. imo iceberg is the rice of the veggie world - very little nutrients.

Mushrooms are also a favorite as there are a million ways to make them - they tend to be a fairly savory veggie for me. Sauteed mushrooms and onions are pretty much a staple.

Try a bunch of veggies a bunch of different ways. Raw veggies as opposed to cooked. I almost prefer raw over cooked cause they taste really sweet. Dont be afraid to try new things no matter what rung you're on!!

[Hudson]

Re: Help me help my husband

Well one thing that happened to me might happen to him. Before Atkins in ate corn, potatoes, green beens, and onions. I did not like any vegetables at all. After a little while on Atkins I began to notice that many vegetables were actually quite good. Without the sugar in your diet other less desirable foods begin to taste good. For me sugar messed up my taste buds. I eat green vegetables all the time now - including a lot of broccoli and spinach both of which I hated for most of my life.

[IrishSarahHB]

Re: Help me help my husband

what about sauteed mushroom & onions? Does he like that?? doesnt EVERYONE love that ?? ;-)

i think you can make him a salad every day and he will be ok on the veggies.. 3 cups

[Franklin Lee]

Re: Help me help my husband

I’ll probably get flamed for this buuuuuuut – Start him out with meat, cheese and eggs,(you can make a million great tasting things with eggs – they are the ultimate food) and some meaty salads… steak salad, ham and cheese salad, salad with grilled chicken – as he get rid of his sugar addiction, his taste buds will change - introduce broccoli and cheese, before long veggies will taste much better to him…

[Franklin Lee]

Re: Help me help my husband

He should work into the 3 cups a day by the way - I am just talking about the original detox mode... plus you can sneak them into salads and omlets as well. Remeber cheese make everything taste good!

[MrsBrittney]

Re: Help me help my husband

I might be able to help - but it all depends on the resistance your hubbie gives you when it comes to at least TRYING new vegetables.

My husband likes very few things and is even less willing to try new ones. We're talking broccoli, lettuce, potatos, corn, string beans and the occassional onion. Before Atkins, you could nearly toss me into that category. Even as a vegetarian, I simply wasn't a "vegetable" person.

Here are some great start veggies for veggie haters:

- Steamed broccoli topped with salt, pepper and grated cheese. Do a SMALL serving, have him test it out.

- String beans. You can even nab 'em in a can. Toss some butter on, salt & pepper, there ya go.

- I don't like cucumber but I dice it in SMALL bits and toss it with tuna and mayo - and now I can't have tuna & mayo without that crunch!

I agree with Franklin. If you can't force 3 cups down his throat, introduce them slowly. Salads are the easiest method. Lettuce tossed with grilled steak, bacon pieces, maybe some diced zuchinni or cucumber - toss it with a creamy dressing and he won't be phased. I find blander veggies are easily accepted.

I would also reccomend the Spaghetti Squash Alfredo recipe - my hubbie was sincerely wary but now its on his list of favorites!

[kate58]

Re: Help me help my husband

Here are some ideas for getting veggies into non-veg eaters:

1. Make sauces.

Here is a sauce base:

One small cauliflower
1 small onion
2 large sticks celery
1/2 a sweet pepper

Put the cauliflower in about a pint of water or, preferably, chicken stock in a saucepan and put on to boil. Gently fry the next three ingredients (all chopped) in some butter until the onion is transparent, then add to the saucepan. Simmer for about 20 minutes, then but into a blender and blend until smooth.

This comes out creamy and delicious on it's own, but you can add anything you like to it in the way of flavouring. Cheese is good, spices, a little tomato puree (no added sugar variety), sauteed mushrooms, chives, curry, anything really. It also works as the liquid in a stew or casserole also. Dilute a little and you have soup - again with any flavours you like.


2. Cheesy coated crispy veg

This is particularly good with cauliflower, but also works with courgette (zucchini) and aubergine (eggplant).

In the case of cauliflower, break the cauliflower into small florets, and boil for about 3- 5 mins, just to take the rawness out of them. Drain and allow to cool.

Beat an egg with some seasoning (again, whatever you fancy, I like a mix of cumin and black pepper). Finely grate some cheese, parmesan is good but any hard cheese will do. Dip the florets into the egg, then the cheese to coat them. Dont worry if it's a bit messy. Put on a baking tray and put into a very hot oven and roast until the cheese is brown and crispy.

3. Roast the veg

There is something about roast veg than everyone likes! A mixture of cubed turnip (lightly boiled first) with onion, a couple of cloves of garlic and red pepper tossed in olive oil and seasoning and roast in the oven until well browned is sweet and delicious and acceptable to people who would never eat a turnip normally.

4. Add Bacon

Not too much, but just a little can make otherwise unappealing veg very yummy. Fry cubes of bacon in a pan until crisp, remove and set aside. Return the bacon fat to the pan and gently fry very finely shredded cabbage or quartered brussel sprouts (this avoided the sogginess that many people hate about these veg and also takes away any bitterness that can linger when they are boiled). When the veg is just becoming soft and is nicely browned, toss with the bacon cubes.

[mystic]

Re: Help me help my husband

It struck me when I read your note that maybe a better way to help him do this is to let him read the book and make the choices for himself. It's okay that you're able to help prepare the food and support him with the wisdom you've gained, but I would have a hard time believing he's going to seriously commit to this when he's not actually making the choices and doing the work himself.

After he reads the book, let him dictate his food - if he's successful at losing the weight, he owns his success. If he fails to lose the weight, then he may be more willing to change what he's eating in order to succeed. At that point you'll have more flexibility as his support buddy

[Dotultimate]

Re: Help me help my husband

I think (and i know you're all going to yell at me for saying this)...

I think that if your husband wants to lose weight, he needs to start eating vegetables anyway. It doesnt matter if he dislikes them, hes not a child and he also dislikes being overweight. People shouldnt cut corners because they 'dont want to eat some things'. The reason everyone is overweight is because we all made food decisions based on what we WANTED to eat. Its time for everyone to grow up and decide whats worse - being fat, or eating a cup of vegies with dinner.

If he refuses to eat vegetables then he isn't in the right headspace to lose weight, and you should break your back encouraging and supporting him if he ultimately isnt prepared to change his habits.

I do wish you and your husband the best - i just think the first step towards weight loss is attitude change and people really need to realize that.

[brandywine1241]

Re: Help me help my husband

Does he like pumpkin pie? If so, you can mix some cream cheese, sweetener, pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice. Also, if he likes mashed sweet potatoes, you can use pumpkin, butter and cinnamon. For salad veggies, jicama is great for non-veggie lovers. You can freeze it to soften it then cook it slowly with cinnamon and sweetener and it tastes very much like apples. You can also slice it and sprinkle it with lemon juice and sweetener for a nice crunch. You can also deep fry veggies. You can search Linda's site and the food forums here for a variety of coatings.

[montanaman]

Re: Help me help my husband

Well, I didn't like much for veggies when I started, and I still don't...lol. I do have salads daily, and I'll add in some days with some raw sliced cucumbers or tomatoes. I can't stand cauliflower or broc, so that limits what I can do. In addition, I just recently tried jicima (sp?) for the first time and was pleasantly surprised. This was big for me since I am not the type that tries new things. Anyway, it was a winner. Made it like fried pototoes. Tasted like a potato with a pear or apple background taste. The key is just trial and error. The worst thing would be to force something that he doesn't like since he won't stay on this WOE that way. Best of luck.

[susan423]

Re: Help me help my husband

I think (and i know you're all going to yell at me for saying this)...

I think that if your husband wants to lose weight, he needs to start eating vegetables anyway. It doesnt matter if he dislikes them, hes not a child and he also dislikes being overweight. People shouldnt cut corners because they 'dont want to eat some things'. The reason everyone is overweight is because we all made food decisions based on what we WANTED to eat. Its time for everyone to grow up and decide whats worse - being fat, or eating a cup of vegies with dinner.

If he refuses to eat vegetables then he isn't in the right headspace to lose weight, and you should break your back encouraging and supporting him if he ultimately isnt prepared to change his habits.

I do wish you and your husband the best - i just think the first step towards weight loss is attitude change and people really need to realize that.

Thank you for your post. It made me realize that life is too short to not enjoy your food. I don't eat food I don't like and I'm not going to make my husband either. By the way, I have tried new veggies on him. I fried some jicama in butter and cinnamon. I thought it was yummy. He said yuck. I made a lagsana with eggplant instead of noodles. Didn't tell him how I made it. He said yuck.
I have decided to cook low carb and whatever he will eat, he will eat. I will make him a salad with iceberg lettuce, tomatos, bell pepper, cheese and some chopped egg. He''ll be happy, I'll be happy and I'll love him anyway

[APanthesilia]

Re: Help me help my husband

A couple of other things that I have been doing- I didn't really like celery much but I have found good ways of getting it in. I have mixed up a bit of cheese, mayo and baked till crispy pepperoni and then filled the celery with the mixture- you can barely taste the celery but it gives the whole thing a nice crunch and a counter to the rich tastes in the filling. Also, sauteing celery with onion and green bell pepper as a base to soup or just to use separately is so very good! I have also cut up really thin pieces of aubergine and fried them- almost like potato chips but better!

I agree that changing our WOE is about choosing food that maybe we don't want as much as other food (say broccoli instead of chocolate) but at the same time if we hate what is going into our mouths we just won't stick with the plan. Maybe you could start just mixing in some better lettuce with the iceberg? Just a bit at first and hide it with some cheese and salad dressing if you have to! After he's been doing this for awhile he might come around and want to branch out into some different veggies. Good luck!

Also...it is very good of you to cook for him and try to get him to eat right but just remember that it is a personal decision for him and he has to make it for himself. I can't tell you the number of times my mom and I started this WOE together but one of us was more committed than the other. It can be really frustrating! I think concentrate on you mostly, while still trying to help him, but don't take it personally if he strays from the plan!

[not2late]

Re: Help me help my husband

Ok, I've been on Atkins now about 6 months. I'm now ready to put my husband on Atkins (I'll be home more to cook for him, Ect) He needs to lose about 80 pounds. The problem is, I'm not sure how to feed him. Basically...veggies. The only veggies he likes is iceberg lettuce, tomatos, and bell peppers. He's a little worried cause I told him he'd have to give up his bananas. He likes those for a quick grab and go snack but I figured since I'll be here more I can take care of that. I'm more worried about tyring to get in his 2 or 3 cups of veggies. And then on rung 1 it will get even more chalenging. Anyone have any ideas? I have tried before to sneak veggies in but he usually can taste it and then won't eat eat.

Lettuce, tomatoes and bell peppers are all Induction friendly veggies. So let him eat those vegetables.

Meanwhile, you can cook legal veggie side dishes for yourself like faux mashed cauliflower "potatoes", broccoli and cheese, etc.

I agree with the others about this: when your husband loses his added sugar sweet tooth, his sense of taste may improve to the point where he will like to eat other vegetables.

Another thing is that many times people don't like vegetables because they have never had them properly cooked. I used to hate Brussel sprouts because they were mushy and bitter (in other words, over-cooked and nasty.) But then I followed a recipe for them by Julia Child and they were wonderful. So go to your local library and check out cookbooks that teach you basic cooking techniques like how to cook vegetables properly, like any of the Julia Child books, books by Jacques Pepin, Barbara Kafka, The Cook's Illustrated series, Delia Smith, Marion Cunningham, etc.