Putting On The Brakes
My husband decided to do a little unsanctioned grocery shopping this weekend. He went for a haircut and came home with cans of (dog crap) chili, bags of potato and tortilla chips, beef jerky, Top Ramen, artificial everything "ice cream" and a case of Coke.
I've given up caffeine recently, at the suggestion of my OB-GYN
who thinks that maybe, just maybe I don't need any help achieving
orbit, and that my recent episodes of Incredible Hulk-type rage over,
say, a folded load of laundry being dumped onto the floor, were related
to caffeine. I also don't do soda any more. I don't buy it, don't order it, don't... oh my GOD hand me one of those cans right now.
I sucked down three Cokes in the space of an afternoon. And yesterday, my left (injured, but still) leg swelled up like a balloon. It was horrible, and painful and ugly and I'm blaming it on the Coke. Because really, why else would that happen? No more soda for me.
Nothing says "I support your effort to feed our family healthy, non-dog-crap foods" like five bags of pure dog-crap. I am not mad about it, but it is frustrating that so far, all of us still really crave the bad stuff. I'm doing well with avoiding it, and I know that my tastes are truly adapting to embrace whole, real foods. But I do wish that the family would be as sold on the Fat Fallacy eating as I am.
Take last night, for example. I made a beautiful Cobb salad and warm french rolls, with homemade chicken soup. (Photos over in SmallSlice) The kids ate some of the chicken soup, and the rolls, but wouldn't touch the salad. Well, they ate some bacon and boiled egg, and some of the avocado, but they didn't want anything else. I chopped and fussed and chopped and fussed for an hour on that damn salad.
I'm thinking I really need to simplify my menus, and prepare simple, non-mixed dishes for the kids. Chicken. Broccoli. Apples. Rice. Things that don't take any sales-pitch.
Comments
I just have a husband, no kids, and the diet dichotomy drives me crazy! I still buy him cookies and hershey kisses and bagels and cream cheese, but I make him eat whatever main dish I'm cooking. If I'm just eating veggies as a side, I'll make him a separate side dish as long as it comes out of a bag or box and requires no more than some added milk, butter, or olive oil.
I've given up forcing him to eat right!
Posted by: jaime | June 20, 2006 10:04 AM
And last weekend, I sent him to the store for some potato wedges and he came back with a pan of frosted brownies! Calling my name! I made him take them up to his office.
Ok, I think I'm done now.
Posted by: jaime | June 20, 2006 10:06 AM
Hi! I just wanted to take a moment to say hello and tell you how much I enjoy your entries. You inspire me to do better!
Posted by: Carrie | June 20, 2006 10:31 AM
Oh sweet baby Jeebus, if only I had a nickel for every freshly-folded-laundry-now-in-a-pile-on-the-basement-floor nuclear meltdown.
The smoke comes right out my ears. It really does.
And I can't even blame caffiene.
Posted by: EverydaySuperGoddess | June 20, 2006 11:41 AM
That sounds like a good plan. (My husband does the same thing!)
Posted by: Mel | June 20, 2006 1:37 PM
My husband is exactly the same. The fact that he doesn't gain an ounce but can eat all the crap he likes is hard to take. Keep up the efforts -they'll thank you in the end. You are an inspiration
Posted by: Sher | June 21, 2006 10:30 AM
You speak the truth!
There was an article in a recent Self or Shape that discussed how "men make us fat" or in other words, order out pizza and have late night binges that then force us to use super human self control!
From my own experience, being a mommy on a diet takes the involvement of the whole family! If your husband can't bear the idea of a diet... well, healthy food is something to be consumed, weightloss or no weightloss...
Good luck!
Posted by: Stacy | June 21, 2006 11:57 AM
My husband does all the grocery shopping. He also makes the weekly menus. (YES, I know how lucky I am. This is the second marriage, the one where I do it right!)
But he does bring home too much snack stuff. He has, at my request, stopped with the potato chips, which I can NOT resist, no how, no way.
But still with the cookies and macaroons and chocolate-covered granola bars - which we all KNOW are just candy pretending to be healthy. Mostly the sweet stuff is not such a problem, but sometimes... *sigh*
You can blow three days' good behaviour with one box of choccie granola bars, you know?
Posted by: Laura | June 21, 2006 6:42 PM
It is really hard to stop eating the dog-crap stuff. Coke is my particular weakness.
Posted by: K. | June 22, 2006 4:41 AM
The soda thing WAS hard to kick, but I know it helped alot once I did. I still have my coffee and tea, but with Splenda.
I've found that the cravings will die down after a while, but it is HARD jenn. You don't realize that you were addicted to this shit until you start to ban it. I feel that way about sugar. Once I get a little, I'm gone.
P.s. Don't weigh yourself at the pediatricans office while you are on your period. That will also send you into a Hulk like rage.
Posted by: Dawn | June 22, 2006 7:56 AM
My husband does crap like that, too. I ask him to pick up some milk and bread, and he comes back with chocolate donuts as well (I can't call anything so plastic-y "doughnuts"). And processed nacho cheese dip. But then he complains about how we need to eat better, and acts as though my meal planning is the reason we are gaining weight/don't have enough energy/get upset tummies.
Posted by: MamaKaren | June 22, 2006 12:03 PM
You know what would work? Hiding the broccoli in cookies. Just saying...
Posted by: Beth | June 22, 2006 5:21 PM