You wonder why it is so hard.
You’ve tried new recipes and asked your partner to eat healthier with you, but they don’t seem as excited as you for this new “healthy eating” thing.
It’s difficult when you want to eat better and your partner is not on the same boat, but it’s not because the healthy options aren’t tasty or because you haven’t tried hard enough.
Why they’re not that into it
The real reason your partner is not joining you is because they are comfortable where they are.
Change is difficult, which is why we tend to stay inside our comfort zones. The thing is, some people’s comfort zones include burgers, sodas, donuts, and candies.
Your partner is reluctant to eat healthier because to them it’s just easier to stick to their current diet.
What the real solution is (no tricks involved)
Only inner motivation makes people embrace change.
Remember what made you want to eat healthier. Was it to lose unhealthy weight? To prevent disease? To achieve optimal health? There is something that matters to you enough to get out your comfort zone and seek a better diet.
To get your partner to eat better, stop trying to make them.
The most effective thing you can do is pique their interest and spark an authentic desire to eat healthier.
This is not as difficult as it sounds. It’s about switching the “I want you to do this” attitude for a “You want to do this” attitude. And let me tell you, from experience, that it doesn’t involve nagging.
These are strategies and tips that will build a true interest in your partner to eat healthier:
1. Don’t criticize their food choices
Trying to get your partner to eat better by criticizing their food choices is a terrible approach because it makes them less receptive to your advice. It’s important you don’t judge their choices, even if you don’t like them. Why? Because you don’t want to make food an issue.
Just like you have your pleasures, be it dark chocolate or almond butter, their treats are also acceptable, it doesn’t matter if right now that is m&m’s, skittles, fries, sodas, or cookies. If you are looking for new ways to cook dinners you can buy new appliances from https://www.kitchenistic.com. You can help them improve the quality of their meals with a friendly, positive voice that doesn’t create shame or guilt.
2. Share your reasons to eat healthier
An easy approach is to simply share your reasons to eat healthier. Tell them what you recently learned, the recipes you want to try, and your personal reasons to make that change.
By explaining your plan and motivations to improve your diet, you’re introducing the topic in a friendly and helpful way and you’re getting their attention. Of course, this might not be enough to get them to do the same, which takes me to the next point.
3. Make healthy eating relevant to their life
It’s ok if your personal motivations don’t resonate enough with your partner. Everyone has different drivers. Find out what aspects of their life matter the most to them or what problems they’re having, and suggest healthy eating as a way to help them.
For example, if they’re into running or doing a sport, give them healthy eating tips that can improve their performance (like eating almond butter as a pre-workout snack). If they’re really passionate about their job, suggest healthy ways of enhancing their productivity (like drinking tea instead of soda for energy). If they complain about heartburn or bloating, give them eating tips that can help them (like eating smaller portions).
4. Ask them to join you with small changes
Working little by little is the best strategy to build better habits. Once you’ve given them reasons to eat better, ask them to join you with tiny changes to improve your overall health as a couple.
These changes can include:
- Agreeing to try a green smoothie you made.
- Agreeing to switch soda for carbonated water or low-sugar fruit juice.
- Being open to try new restaurants that are not fast-food.
- Changing the side of fries at restaurants for a small salad, puree, or fruit.
- Taking a reusable water bottle from customwater.com to work to stay hydrated and avoid overeating.
- Agreeing to take one healthy snack to work, like an apple or a granola bar.
5. Make healthier versions of the foods you both like
A surefire way to increase his or her interest in eating better is making healthier versions of the foods they love. This will get rid of the preconception that healthy food is not as tasty.
You can find healthier (and tastier) recipes of many foods:
- Ice cream alternative: Even if you don’t own a churner you can still make healthy chocolate ice cream, vanilla ice cream, and strawberry ice cream.
- Conventional fruit-flavored yogurt alternative: Buy full-fat plain yogurt and stir in strawberry syrup to get a fruit-flavored yogurt tastier than store-bought.
- Fries alternative: you can quickly make a crispy batch of baked sweet potato fries in a couple of minutes.
- Hamburger alternative: You can use quinoa or black bean patties to create delicious plant-based hamburgers.
6. Make healthy substitutions in the kitchen
Replacing unhealthy foods in the pantry with cleaner versions is a fool-proof way to improve your and your partner’s diet instantly.
These are simple changes that have a great impact:
- Whole-wheat tortillas, bread, rice and crackers instead of the refined versions.
- Dried fruits instead of candy.
- Sea salt instead of refined salt.
- Stevia, honey or coconut sugar instead of white sugar.
- Grass-fed butter instead of margarine.
- Olive oil, garlic, and lemon instead of bottled salad dressing.
- Unsalted nuts instead of salted ones.
- Tofu or poultry sausage instead of red meat sausage.
- Carbonated water instead of soda.
- Raw cacao and coconut sugar instead of a boxed cocoa mix.
7. Highlight your partner’s good choices
To encourage better habits and keep motivation up, acknowledge the positive changes they make. If they decide to grab a bowl of fruits as a snack instead of chips, congratulate them. If they start reading the labels of products, tell them they’re being smart.
Giving compliments to your partner for his good choices not only keeps the relationship strong, but it also gives them another reason to stay interested in the topic. Next time they make a good choice, acknowledge it aloud.
8. Share motivational content
If you saw a motivational image about eating clean, or an article about brain foods that interested you, send it to your partner. Sharing knowledge and ideas will keep you both motivated and learning.
Be careful with how you do it, though. Don’t actively look for articles to send their way unless they ask. Do it only when you saw something that you honestly liked, like a comic about food that made you laugh, or a video that pumped you up. It’s not about being preachy, it’s about supporting each other.
9. Have them participate in grocery shopping and cooking
Pick your produce and other edibles together, reading labels and making better choices. This is a perfect moment to give them tips, for example, that it’s best to avoid products with added sugar, or that artificial sweeteners don’t make a soft drink healthier.
If they won’t go grocery shopping, ask them to help you prepare a meal. Making a wholesome dinner from scratch will ensure a healthy, proportioned meal, and by participating, your partner learns how to combine nutritious ingredients and appreciates the food even more.
10. Share your results
Sharing the results you get from a better diet can be an excellent way to drive your partner to do the same. Showing them the benefits you’re seeing in yourself is more meaningful and tangible than only reading or hearing about it.
If you lost two pounds, improved your acne or increased your energy, share it as a personal win and point out that healthy eating can help them achieve their health goals too.
11. Indulge with them
Finally, it’s important to debunk the myth that eating better is boring or too strict, and what better way to show them that healthy eating is not about depriving yourself than by enjoying a treat from time to time?
Indulging on an occasional brownie, ice cream cone or pastry with your partner, but eating whole foods the majority of the time is an excellent way to make the point that eating better is about building a nourishing lifestyle that doesn’t limit you. The only difference is that you enjoy treats in moderation and mindfully, not in excess.
And the best part of all? There are drool-worthy treats made with healthy ingredients, so it’s not all about indulging on processed sugar and high-fructose corn syrup.
Stop forcing it and let it happen naturally
Getting your partner to eat healthy with you is not about pushing them in, but inviting them in.
You can do this successfully by appealing to their interests, showing them different and delicious possibilities, asking for participation and taking down prejudices they might have about healthy eating.
The important thing to remember is that this is about them enjoying a healthier lifestyle, not about them doing what you want. So let yourself and your partner enjoy the process of learning and eating better together, with balance and love for each other.
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