I get this from clients all the time, and you might even relate: they want to lose weight, they want to eat better and introduce more foods into their everyday – if only for the picky eaters in the house.

And I’m not talking about their five year olds.

Many women I see have husbands who cannot get out of the steak and potatoes routine they have lived in most of their lives. I started doing a little digging because it is a conversation I have had enough times with enough women.  It becomes the brick wall that they can’t see over.  As long as they are feeding their husbands, it is the land of meat and potatoes they will be forced to live in.

I understand this.  My own husband, who is now more than open to eating anything I put in front of him, grew up in a large household (youngest of six kids) and meat and potatoes were the order of the day.  My mother-in-law, to this day, has her five signature dishes that the kids still love and request at family functions.  Left to his own devices, my husband would be making those dishes over and over again in his own house.  It’s how he grew up and it’s what he knows.  

He’s not really considering the health benefits of his food.  It is about comfort and satisfaction.

Not that there is anything wrong with that. But there comes a time when we need to realize the power that food has over our health, our energy, our weight and wellbeing.  Food is medicine, it can heal and it can harm.  

But back to the picky husbands who might not be concerned with all the science behind food.  As a chef and a nutritionist, my food not only has to be good for me, it must taste good too.  If I am sucking down kale and beet smoothies everyday, I might not last long on this health kick either.   I have a feeling your husbands feel the same. Shifting food habits might feel like “diet” jail.  Something they have to grin and bear for a few weeks.  

Not so. If your husband is like my husband, who didn’t know what the word kale was until he married me, you can ease in with some very nutritious but delicious recipes that he can even relate to.  Like the other day, when I made my Turkey and Red Bean Chili.  Tonight I plan on making this Corn and Avocado Salsa with grilled chicken and this weekend I am going to try these Cauliflower Buffalo Bites to bring to a party. My husband can more than relate to the words “chili”, “salsa” and “buffalo”, how about yours?

Do you have a picky, resistant husband? Share your story below!