My DH says he will do SB with me but, I have been looking at all the recipes that I have compiled and I don't think he wil like many of them. I am also trying to get my cholesterol down so, I HAVE to do this. I have alot of chicken dishes and he doesn't like to eat alot of chicken. Does anybody have any advice...do you make 2 meals? I still want to cook for him, (he doesn't cook) I just don't know how I am going to afford to do both!

Thanks!

My husband isn't doing SB with me. He always says he will but he can't go without his cereal in the morning and some type of sandwich for lunch. This time around it actually is working out because I work 2nd shift. I make my lunch and dinner to take to work and make him something else. I'm actually not spending any more money than I used to because a Taco Bake will last me most of the week for dinners and I can make him a casserole that will last a couple of days too.

Mine WAS doing it with me and lost about 80 pounds... he's got about 200 more to lose but he's prancing along in P3 now.... but WHEN i make dinner he eats what I put in front of him. I'm blessed that way he's not picky.

i would not make two meals.

tell him

this is what's for dinner... if you don't like it you can learn to cook for yourself....

i mean... what happens if you ever are incapaciated and he doesn't know how to cook? will you both starve?

there is nothing wrong with a man having some decent kitchen skills.

and trust me I love to cook and care for my husband and i'm an old school middle aged wife, raised by a SAHM who taught me MEN DON'T cook or do housework...

Tom eats what I cook unless he gets off his butt and cooks for himself, which means that my sworn carnivore of a husband has consumed more tofu in the past two weeks than he has in his whole life. He knows it's because he's lazy. I wouldn't mind if he cooked for himself, wouldn't be insulted or anything, but I have three kids to take care of all day and a house to maintain so I do not have the time or energy to prepare separate meals for everyone.

The kids eat what I cook for them or they don't eat. Same rule applies to the "big kid". Sorry if that sounds harsh, but it's not like I'm cooking up a big pot of poo. It's good food!

(Just as an aside, in case anyone was concerned, they do get their share of grains and fruits, even when they're not on plan for me. But the main dish that I make for each meal is consumed by the whole family.)

Kara

Kara... that's exactly how I did it with the girl child (she's 15 now) she gets what I cook... if it's fish she eats fish. if it's chicken she eats chicken.

at 15 she's even learned how to prepare a few of our standard meals.

Thanks guys! I will just have to put my foot down. I'm home all day with a toddler and it's hard to even get one meal cooked. DH works 2nd or 3rd shift-most of the time but, when he is here, I like to make dinner as a family.

I'm gonna have a talk with him....

My husband is not doing SBD with me, he doesn't need to lose weight. But he is loving it because he really likes having a real-food, cooked meal every night. He is into meat and veggies, which is what I cook now most nights. If I got rid of the meat, then we might have a problem. I usually add some rice or other starch for the kids and sometimes he'll eat some of that too. He loves salad way more than I do. Anyway, I only cook one meal, and I try to be sensitive to everyone's likes and dislikes, but cooking for five, somebody's unhappy pretty much every night. Oh well, that's the breaks, go make yourself a sandwich! As my husband says, we're not running a diner!

Hee Kara, the way they act sometimes, you'd think that is what I'm cooking!

Anyway, I find that SBD is flexible enough that my meals don't look like "diet" meals, just healthy meals.

I do pretty much what Schmoodle is doing. I cook a meat and veggies dinner for myself and add a starch to the plates I leave for my husband and son. We all work different shifts and everyone was eating fast food because nobody would cook, until I started SB. Now I buy frozen Stouffers mac/cheese, cheesy potatoes or whatever to split between the two of them and leave them each a plate in the fridge with lovely SB foods and a side order of "heart attack". They are both pretty decent cooks but L-A-Z-Y. My husband even thanked me for stopping him from eating "crap", as he called it, for dinner.

L

My husband is diabetic and since I've known him we have been carb counters. DH has been doing really well eating what I eat and then he'll add toast, yogurt and something else if he is still hungry. He is really great of being supportive of my efforts. SB food isn't diet food anyway. It's real food and you just make smart choices.

My Dh for the most part eats what I eat. I usually add in white rice for him and the kids. Yes, white. My DH refuses to eat almost anything without rice. Being from Hawai'i though I guess that's expected. MY DH wanted to start SB with me when I went to P1 again this past week but I refused to help him. He's 5'11" and 185lbs. It took me nearly 10 years to pack 40lbs on him and I'm not going to have him lose it all in 2 weeks. His metabolism is crazy fast. He's also weight training which requires more carbs and I felt SB was just not for him. We both decided that he would eat the lean meat dishes and veggies that I cook for SB but add grains and protein shakes for him so he can bulk up.
When I first started SB I had to make 3 breakfasts, 2 lunches, and 2 dinners. It was a total pain. I think that if you find different ways of making the chicken he probably won't really notice the difference. I mean something like chicken cacciatore and baked lemon chicken taste totally different and can both be prepared SB style. You could also try talking to him about your concerns I mean you are trying to lower your cholesterol after all. If he is willing to do SB with you I imagine he's being supportive and if he needs to will eat the chicken.

My husband's not on SB, but he's very supportive of it and likes that it means we're eating such healthy, home-cooked food. I do as some others here have said, I cook the lean meat and veggies for me, then add either rice or potatoes or bread to the table for him and my kids (if I find I'm tempted, I put out a kind I don't like, but generally it's not even tempting for me).

If your husband is really not going to eat chicken, you might be able to have more of your own chicken-based dishes for lunch, and have more of your dinners be fish or other lean meats.

Or you could try to make extra and utilize leftovers... i.e., cooking an extra few portions of chicken for you when you make a chicken-based meal, and an extra few portions of beef for him when you make a beef dinner, and each of those meats could be reheated and served alongside the rest of the dinner (veggies, salad) on another night.

Good Luck!

I told Tom last night what I had written in this thread and he laughed so hard! He said that's so true, and that I should have added after "...has eaten more tofu in the past two weeks than he has in his whole life," "...knowingly and unknowingly!"

He's so funny!

Kara

My husband and I usually cook different dinners and eat at the same time. He likes more monotony (he'll call it "consistency") in his diet than I do . . . he'll have pasta and garlic bread five or six nights a week. Once or twice a week we'll cook something together like Indian food. This has made SB very easy for me, as I'm basically cooking for myself and then getting to eat the leftovers for several days.

My husband is skinny as a rail...so is everyone else in this house, but they are all doing SB cause I'm the one who cooks. (I have one son still at home and the older two drop by a lot when they are in town so I never know who will show up to eat..especially on Sunday)

I haven't had any complaints on the food (in 2.5 months). My youngest eats NO vegetables..he got to be a weird picky eater when he was about 3, so I've had to deal with that for the last 16 years.But, he's been happy with all the meat and fruit we've had and when I know I'm going to fix something he doesn't care for, I always have tortillas, cheese and frozen chicken strips, so he can just fix himself that or I pick up a roasted chicken for him.

As for your husband, let HIM choose what you are going to eat for a few meals a week by printing out or showing him recipes in online or in the cookbooks. That way it will be his choice and he can't complain. I've also found ways to adapt my "old standard" recipes so my family can still have their favorite meals, just modified a little. My husband is pretty much of a "foodie" and has really gotten hooked on the Food Network when nothing else is on he wants to watch. (he calls it the P*O*R*N channel cause it something that you watch that you can't have right now!) And I've seen and tried lots of recipes on there that are easy to adapt to make SB friendly.

I keep white bread in the house and sandwich meats and other stuff they like in the house and I do try to still make dessert treats for everyone a couple of times a week, like brownies, cookies etc. I didn't at first because I thought I would be too tempted, but now it really doesn't bother me anymore. Now if I could just find a way to adapt Creme Brulee...!! I know my husband will sometimes get non SB things to eat at work, like roast beef poboys etc and my son goes out with friends for his beloved chicken wings/pizza and when we go out to eat, they get stuff I can't have, but no one has complained here about the food...and they have no choice unless they want to start doing the cooking.

Being from New Orleans, white rice is a staple and we had it at least 3 or 4 nights a week, along with rich sauces. Cooking white rice here is an "art form" and home cooks and restaurants are judged by how perfect their rice is..no kidding. Mamas make sure their daughters learn how to make it at an early age and every kid/husband knows you NEVER touch Mama's rice pot and raise the lid while it's cooking or you could lose a finger..And yep, mine was always PERFECT. Using "instant rice" here is a cardinal sin! So needless to say,I had a little trouble with the no white rice bit!..that and no french bread and butter.

I had tried cooking brown rice a few times before and it never turned out yummy and fluffy..it was either "crunchy" or "mush". It went into the dog's bowl. I was watching Alton Brown one night and he did a baked brown rice so I tried it and it is really really good. Even picky husband and son liked it and said they didn't mind the substitution at all. You may want to try it and see how he/kids like it. I just substituted olive oil for the butter in the recipe and it was great/fluffy.