Suggestions for staying on diet page

[jmacs87]

I've recently started on the diet and would like to continue, unfortunately, my wife and son aren't joining me. Has anyone else been able to stay with the lifestyle when the rest of the family isn't interested?

I'm able to stay on it about 70% of the time at the moment.

[thedoglett]

Yep, been on it 2.5 months now and I've been following it pretty much 90%. At first it was a bit difficult but now everyone knows to give me lots of veg (broccoli, cauliflower, long green beans) instead of potatoes (they bloat me), or if we have some 97% sausages I'll have a parsnip or two, chopped up like chips and roasted in the oven.

At home, instead of having rice with a thai/indian curry I just leave it out and treat the meal as some type of 'stew', which is good because I can give myself extra peppers, onions and chicken/lamb!

Going out can be awkward - with restaurants I tend to say I have an 'intolerance' to potatoes so they're pretty good on replacing with fresh veg. At lunchtime, places that mainly sell sandwiches can be very problematic though, so sometimes I'll get some salad to go with the meat and bin the bread or (worst case scenario for me) grab a baked potato with tuna. Most often these days I'll just treat it as a mini fast and wait until I get home.

One thing I've found is that the family are slowly starting to change their habits, using butter instead of margarine, cutting back on bread etc, so perhaps in a few months they'll make the primal change completely!

[Damiana]

Do your own cooking and shopping if you can. You can hardly complain if your wife is unwilling or unable to prepare two different meals. You can't change someone who doesn't want to change. Maybe she'll join you once she sees how healthy you are becoming, but don't preach.

[Quarry]

When they start to see the changes in you, as well as witness your delicious food, they will take notice.

[lorichka6]

My husband doesn't eat paleo and I do. He eats what I call paleo plus - my food + crap As someone said, if your wife is cooking its kind of crappy to ask her to make 2 meals. But, you could ask her to make real food + sides and you just skip the sides. We make a lot of burgers (he has it on a bun, I have it on a salad), pulled chicken and pulled pork (tortilla for him, salad for me), I make myself mashed cauliflower a lot, he makes instant mashed potatoes... The "centerpiece" of our meal is the same, we just have different sides. We both cook our sides at the same time. If you and your wife and son don't currently spend time together making meals this might be a nice way to change that Also, check out some of the paleo blogs specifically for paleo parents - maybe your son will see something on there he will want to eat!

[banananutmuffin]

My husband doesn't eat paleo and I do. He eats what I call paleo plus - my food + crap

My husband eats the same way.

We split the cooking duties 50/50, and inevitably when it's his turn to cook he ends up making something like hotdogs (processed crap) and frozen french fries. I don't think he's trying to sabotage me, it's just what he likes. Ugh.

My solution is to always, always, always have a quick-to-throw-together Paleo meal in the fridge, so when something like that is on our household menu, I can easily grab something of my own. Sometimes it's just reheated leftovers. Sometimes it's a big ass salad. I also always have single servings of Paleo soups or stews frozen in the fridge. I plop the icecube-soup into a pan, heat it up, and boom. Instant Paleo meal when the rest of the family is eating garbage.

My kids are still little, so when it comes to how they eat, I have a fair amount of control. They eat Paleo most of the time. But I don't restrict them if they want to eat what their father is eating, or if we're out at a restaurant or party. Even though they're small, they're still their own people. I just try to model good nutrition for them, explain in kid terms why I eat the way I do, make as many meals Paleo as possible, and hope in the end it all sinks in.

To interest kids in Paleo foods, I have found the best way is to engage them in the kitchen. Let them help you cook and prepare foods. My kids are WAY more interested in eating Paleo if they've helped make the dinner.

[MattyH]

I think this pretty much mirrors my experience - in my family we also have a mix. I make a main meat/fowl/fish, I add a lot of veg, and then I make a starch side for the kids. Both rice and mac/cheese can be made in bulk and frozen in small servings, I can boil and mash 1 potato. We also have nuts, berries and apples around for snacks, no junky snacks in the house, but almond butter/honey/bread/milk are available for hungry teens just in from football practice. For dessert (a constitutional right of all american teens) I make small batches of cookies (won't buy commercial stuff), or pudding/junket/jello which also can be made in small portions. No cakes or big containers of ice cream, the kids understand that it would just go to waste, and they'd much rather have the money for gamestop.

On another thread, someone made a very insightful comment - in my house, paleo food arrives at the table with the introduction "here's dinner", not "here's some special diet health food that I'd like you to start eating."

Good luck!
Matty

[specsAreGrok]

Do your own cooking and shopping if you can. You can hardly complain if your wife is unwilling or unable to prepare two different meals. You can't change someone who doesn't want to change. Maybe she'll join you once she sees how healthy you are becoming, but don't preach.

I've found that most meals don't require you to prepare two "different" meals. When my wife makes soup that she wants to add noodles to (she is about 60% primal now). She'll make the soup, seperate my portions, then add the noodles at the end. Same goes for any pasta dishes. Then other meals the non-primal stuff are just side dishes, so I just skip those sides and she makes a bit more meat or vegetables.

[sbhikes]

I put the spaghetti sauce on a sweet potato. I put the burrito fixings on a salad. I put my burger on a salad or just eat it with a fork. When I cook, I try to make enough for leftovers. Then when the Man cooks, he can just make leftovers. I go ahead and eat the Indian food he likes to make. Some chickpeas and lentils aren't going to kill me.

[jmacs87]

I really appreciate the great advice from everyone. I'll keep plugging along and see what happens. I really feel better when I'm eating this way.