What does your SO think of primal? page 12

[hockeyfan7]

DH is starting to eat more Primal because he sees what it has done for me in just 3 short months. We actually threw out bread that molded last week. He still eats pasta and other non-Primal things, but if I cook a Primal meal, he eats it without complaint. Our son pretty much chooses to be Primal most of the time. That kid could live on fruits and veggies. And he's not quite 4.

[sbhikes]

My BF is 15 years older than me so I've started to realize that it is hopeless that he'll ever join me on this. He can blame everything on his age and attribute any success I get to my youth.

He absolutely HATES anything that even smells like preaching. He knows all about everything and there's no changing his mind. With 15 years more experience in life, not to mention 15 more years of reading stupid magazines like Discover or Nature, plus success getting his cholesterol down a million years ago when he followed the 8 Week Cholesterol Cure, there's simply no arguing with him when my resources are internet blogs and diet books.

He doesn't like to eat so much meat. He believes saturated fat is going to kill him. I make separate meals when it's my turn to cook. So, to try and make it obvious, I get steak and vegetables while he gets frozen pizza. Bwuahahah! I hope he sees the irony. My food is real and has like 3 ingredients. His comes out of a box and has a million ingredients with unpronouncable names in the crust alone.

Even though he's allowed to throw big hissy fits at me about anything and everything, I'm not allowed to do the same, not even complain about the hissy fits and tantrums he's allowed to throw with impunity. So I eat the pork chop he cooked with gratitude but not the baked apples with brown sugar and cinnamon underneath it and hope and pray that that omission on my plate doesn't cause an outburst of whiny pouting (it didn't). I go to bed hungry sometimes if the meal he made had hardly any ingredients I could eat. Whatever. I'll live. Maybe someday I'll kick his ass. We'll see.

I'm just waiting for the day he finally bursts into a tirade about the house smelling like bacon all the time. I do a million dishes and take my trash all the way out to the outside can so he doesn't get mad about bones and meat wrappers in the house. I hide the more offensive ingredients in the fridge so maybe he won't have to look at it. Meanwhile, there's a whole cupboard that explodes with corn chips whenever I open it. Gosh I hate all the tip-toeing I have to do, but he's a prissy little tyrant with a sensitive side. He actually is trying to be supportive even as he doesn't realize how badly he's failing. I mean, he did make me pork chops for gods sake and they were delicious.

This morning I had ground beef, bacon and eggs for breakfast while he had cinnamon swirl toast with almond butter and diet 7-up with tart cherry juice for breakfast. He, I'm sure, felt health-conscious and superior. But I'll tell you one thing, I ignore his complaints about arthritis and getting old. My frozen shoulder vanished on this diet and I don't limp out of bed as much anymore (due to hiking injuries that are finally clearing up after two years). I can't wait until I'm total arm-candy. Maybe that's the day he'll change his mind. Or maybe that's the day I'll kick his ass.

[honeybuns]

Whoa. Are you sure this mans attitude is what you really want in life?

[namelesswonder]

Those were my thoughts as well, but I know that I often come onto this board with negative thoughts about my boyfriend. To the point that people here wondered why I was with him, but to me, there is no one I'd rather be with. We're not perfect and he's not what I expected I'd end up with, but we work really well together. Maybe it's just perspective, but regardless, I hope she kicks his ass!

[RitaRose]

Whoa. Are you sure this mans attitude is what you really want in life?

I was thinking the same thing. Actually, I married that. Now I've got an awesome, supportive, sexy and intelligent one that would do damn near anything if he thought it would make me happy. And he still has a spine too!

They do exist, though it did take me 45 years to find one.

[sbhikes]

Oh, it's not as bad as I made it sound. Sometimes I just want to vent.

[CattyB]

There's an old joke... "Men are like parking spaces -- the good ones are taken and the rest are handicapped!"

Once in a while, like with real parking spaces, you get a good one (like RitaRose and I did) -- you might just have to circle the lot a few times!

[Maureen M]

Okay so my BF and I, every single time I bring it up, we get into arguments about it. Now to be fair he is only 22, we're both living with his incredibly CW parents (like three different kinds of "butter substitutes" in the fridge, because of high cholesterol and WW) and he is lazy when it comes to food. To be honest, I'm pretty lazy about food too (i'm getting better) I would rather just take something out of the fridge than make something tasty. But now that I have oodles of energy making food isn't so bad. Anyway, I really do despair for my BF tho which is why i think we argue about it. I'm ridiculously concerned for his health. He was born with a slow heart (bradicardia???) and he's had a pacemaker since he was three. He smokes cigarettes and has for a long time. He drinks beer like its water. And has crazy IBS problems....like thirty min on the toilet is normal for him. He and his sister actually made me cry (granted I was pmsing) teasing me about how i was "too fanatical about my fad diet" and the fact that I can no longer eat cheese without feeling like I ate some methane later. They actually said i had "made myself allergic to cheese" by not eating it. I'm still pissed off at his sister for that, but at least he apologized. He just spouts the everything in moderation and that dairy and bread are fucking awesome and I could never give them up, but then he looks at me with these sad eyes when I mistakenly thought his new red stretch marks on his belly were from playing with the dog. He says he's going to quit smoking in the new year start eating less and drinking less and I can only hope he can do it. I even asked him after watching some fitness commercial on tv, ME: hey babe, if I ever get that ripped on this diet would you consider doing it with me? HIM: nope I dont think so I love bread and cheese way too much.
Sigh.
I know if he started exercising he would lose weight MUCH faster than me, cuz he's that guy....but again with the laziness. I'm lazy too, but I think I have more will power than he does. Watching him try to quit smoking is like watching a beached whale struggle to get back in the water. Extremely painful to watch and you want them to succeed so bad but you know he's probably not going to make it. Its kinda depressing. I'm hoping my success will spur him to lose weight one way or the other, but I want him to be healthy too. He wont listen to me tho. He cuts off my arguments about how we're not supposed to eat this way with "bread has been around since before jesus, i think our bodies have adapted by now." usually I'm so frustrated at this point that i can't come back with a cogent argument. I've told him about how its like resetting your body to see what your body likes and then we get into an argument. I mentioned that I did good this week staying about 80/20 and he laughs and reminds me of all the times i cheated. (oooooooo i blew up on him on that one. Thanks baby for pointing out how often i fail!! really appreciate it!) The one funny thing is, we both hate whole grain stuff. He wont eat it cuz he thinks its nasty (as do I) but he loves him some white bread. lol I think we have decided to just not speak of it. His mother offered me some meatballs in marinara the other night and I had to ask "whats in it?" she said "well whatever is in the can of marinara" I had to explain that if it comes from a jar or a can, I probably can't have it. His dad then jokingly makes a comment about how I'm getting as bad a Iyla with food. ( a former strict jewish in law who would come over and complain that no one had made her kosher food. Like seriously this girl wouldn't eat it if it wasn't in a rabbi-blessed tupperware container) And I responded, well at least I dont ask you to make me food. If i want something special I will make it myself. He laughed and I was say booyah! on the inside. I think i deserve a little praise for being primal in a house where there is no regular sour cream, only light, no regular cream cheese, only weight watchers cream cheese, and crystal light out the wazzoooo. I brought home some sparkling water because lord do I miss soda.....and his dad told me there is tons of lipton and crystal light if you want some. I had to explain it was chemically and bad and he just kinda nodded and proceeded to salt his already salted food with his special "low sodium/low calorie/low something" salt. That he keeps next to his recliner. How on earth do you make low sodium salt?
Sorry rant over

[Issabeau]

My husband is 10 years older than me. He grew up on beans and ketchup (because his mother was a party animal and had no interest in cooking). All the money was spent on weed and booze. So there was never any money for candy for this guy, so when he grew up that was the first thing he changed because all of his friends during childhood always got candy and he was jealous.
I had never met a guy in my life that could chow down a bag of chips and then a bag of M&M's all in 1 sitting. He was in the military, so all these calories got burned off. Finally, he could afford what his mother never could, fast-and junk food.
Once out, he became sedative and started to gain weight, a LOT of weight. He managed to drop 40 lbs eating less...but he is nowhere his normal weight.

I grew up with a mother who was health contious (for its time) and knew that candy would ruin her childrens health. She explained why we can't have candy all day long, every day. The 'candy' of my choice became chocolate which wasn't all that bad because at the time, HFCS didn't exist yet.

I am now primal for almost 2 years and have been literally preaching to my husband...but only the scientific facts. He is quite fearful of death and disease in general and the lectures have worked to a point. He cannot and will not quit eating his stupid cereal for breakfast. Everytime I turn around, all he does is munch on something sweet. Candy suckers (because they say 'organic'), 6 apples, 2 bags of popcorn, cereal (corn puffs) twice a day....BUT: No bread, no pasta, no bagels, no frozen pizzas, or anything else that contains wheat. This guy cannot get off the dang sugar!
I've noticed his lower legs have changed color, they are turning reddish/purple in skin color and I've told him it's a sign of diabetes. He gets pissed, runs into the bathroom and wants to start crying. He doesn't know what to eat to get over the sugar addiction, he just can't do it.
I've told him many times, that he is just delaying the inevitable. If you knew ahead of time that you will be insulin resistant and need to be on insulin and poke a needle in you twice, or three times a day...and you have the recipe to avoid this? Would you take advantage of it and use the recipe given to you?
I know he wishes he could be more dedicated, but he has NO willpower strong enough to get over his carbs cravings.

Why can't some people simply not quit this addiction?

[namelesswonder]

Getting out of the cycle of addiction is fucking hard. I really sympathize with people like Issabeau's husband and Maureen's boyfriend. It sounds so petty once you're past it, but I've had an ongoing battle with self-harm and it is HARD to stop. I can do all I want to lessen the thoughts, but they're still always there. Be a good example, but they have to find their own cojones.