Husbands and healthy food.

Thia is a tricky one and I have a similar problem with my own DH. My late FIL ate everything he shouldn't all his life and lived to the age of 95.

My DH does all the food shopping and sneaks sweet stuff into the trolley whilst in the supermarket and hides the receipts.

If anyone's DH has a family history of high cholesterol or diabetes, etc then it may be be easier to dissuade them from ruining their health.

I'm thinking of trying another approach whereby DH is allowed to have one treat per week. That way he won't feel deprived.

Another solution is to make healthy versions of the unhea;thy stuff, but I'm not sure if this is a good idea.

Just now:

DH "What shall we have for lunch"
Me "not sure, perhaps an egg or perhaps I should skip lunch today, what would you like?"
DH goes off to kitchen, sound and smell of frying bacon wafts from that direction.

ps his cholesterol level is lower than mine.

My h had and still had a stomach ulcer it's taken years to get it under control. He has to be carful what he eats but he does like cake and biscuits especially chocolate ones so I don't begrudge what he eats.
He has never tried a curry or anything spicy won't very often eat fry up. If I cook bacon for a sandwich it's got to be grilled.

what about a deal eg - healthy eating during one week, if doesn't like, he might return to usual habits or spending a week-healthy holiday abroad

Everyone 'knows' someone who overeats, smokes 'like a chimney' or soaks up the alcohol like a sponge and lived to 100! Therefore, they think it 'will never happen to me' - until it does.

Then there's the other scenario of the slim athlete, who never touched 'a drop' or smoked who dies, aged 35, of cancer/heart attack/bubonic plague, so there's really no point in trying to live a healthy lifestyle.

Personally, so long as they aren't bankrupting the NHS (they are) or taking up HD beds (they are) or making waiting lists even longer (they are) or A&E even more dysfunctional (ditto) or distressing their loved ones then it's entirely up to every individual how they live their lives

Same problem. Oh overweight high blood pressure and diabetes. He knows what he should eat and when I cook he gets the right stuff. If left to his own devices fry-ups, cheese in large quantities and other unhealthy foods take over. I am sick of hiding cheese and having no biscuits or cake in the house as I can eat them. It's a problem I cannot resolve. He knows the score. I have to accept that he holds his fate in his own hands.
By the way to hide food in the fridge, cut off the bottom of a LL milk carton or similar and store cheese in it?

Midge I like your style

My DH was I'll with a gastic bug in Jan & blood tests showed his blood sugar was very high. He is type 2 diabetes & has always ignored it eating total rubbish despite all my efforts to feed him healthy food. He eould keep a supply of today drinks, sweets & crisps in his car. This was a wake up call & he agreed to go on low carb diet. This is the man who refused to eat any veg except peas & carrots. Never salad at all. He has lost 3 stone & is now eating salads, green veg, cauliflower rice etc. He has had to agree he feels great & is wearing clothes he had sorted out for charity shop that he thought he would never get into again.
Sometimes they need a kick up the bum to get them to see sense.

Egg and Bacon are one of the best breakfasts a diabetic can have . It doesn't spike the sugar levels like bread and cereals .

Thought I had got mine eating healthily after his heart attack, but I was bemused by the consumption of mints and the number of times he was having to go to a local DIY store for bits of wood, screws etc until I accompanied him one day and he was greeted warmly by the owner of the fast food van in the car park! Have started a diet myself now and he is blissfully unaware he is eating Slimming World recipes at the moment!

Whats all this about cholestrol? Its now not so bad for us after all just good for the pharmacutical concerns! Apparently we don't need it lowering and its better for old people to have some .Ask you GP if he knows his cholestrol level. Most doctors don't take statins, but they like to have something to prescribe.

My DH has heart problems, type 2 diabetes and high cholesterol amongst other things. He has been told by 2 different specialists in the last 2 weeks that he is dangerously overweight, must lose weight and exercise. He has always been a very fussy eater and everything he likes are the wrong foods, chips, bread, biscuits, cakes, crisps. He will eat sweets non stop. I've tried not buying junk food but he just gets irritable if he can't have what he wants so I've given up!

If DH was left alone ,he would eat toast and marmalade,toast and jam ,and toast and marmite ! I despair when I go out and come home to find he has not bothered to eat the casserole nicely bubbling away in the crock pot . I eat no butter except when baking and I have to buy two packs a week as it's about an inch thick on all this toast ! He had a stent put in after a heart attack ten years ago too. If there is no butter in the house he will pop up to the corner and buy more at great expense . He also eats miniscule amounts of veg and just the odd piece of fruit . I have given up now as it irritated me so much and caused dreadful rows ?

I think that at the end of the day they're adults and we shouldn't be treating them like children,My OH was put on statins after his heart attack,he had awful side effects and his GP changed the brand...still no help with the muscle pain ,fatigue and mulytiple other side effects so we did some research online and bought ubiquinol ,a form of COQ10 thats easily absorbed ,has no side effects and kept his cholesterol level low ,as I said before he is active walks miles every day is doing the Kiltwalk in April ( a walking marathon in a kilt) and has cut back the things he loves like cheese .If he wants to binge on chocolate now and again I dont say anything .The one thing in my favour is that he has always been image aware so the belly is an issue for him.

Nothing wrong with butter and cheese.

Thanks MargaretX that has cheered me up no end!

Now, I must go and ask DH what he had for lunch today whilst I was out

And thanks Anya - I had a cheese scone with butter and a latte in M&S (I need the calcium )

I'm with Anya on this one. I also suspect that the whole 'let's all lower our cholesterol' thing is probably based on the flimsiest of evidence and jumped on by all the producers of cholesterol lowering foods. Profit is usually at the bottom of most of these campaigns.

Not sure about the cheese scone Jamina - too many carbs!

My DH is 77 now and has been eating a high-fat diet all his life. We now do our own cooking (I'm a veggie and he's a meat fiend) so it's up to him what he eats. Bread and butter looks more like butter and bread and the frying pan can be out twice a day.

Some years ago I wrote to the Guardian personal page and asked whether I should be doing anything about it. The best response (I thought) was the advice to me, "Get a life".

Too late now, I ate it!

Keeping a food diary together for a month may offer a reality check about what/how much is really being consumed. Might be worth a try.

A food diary is a good idea - I like that one. Though it could not include anything scoffed in secret!

Elegran