Healthy Eating for Busy People - Dietriffic.comHealthy Eating Advice from a Professional

Do you have a guy in your life who simply won’t eat healthy foods?

Many women are trying to encourage their men to follow a healthier lifestyle, but if he’s particularly set in his ways, it can be a major challenge!

What can you do?

Apparently men like to fix things, so why not ask your man for his advice?

• Don’t place any blame on him.
• Let him know you’re concerned about his health.
• Ask for his suggestions in resolving the problem.

#1 Make it your business to know what he likes

If he likes particular foods, such as salads, vegetables, and nuts, then be sure to serve these regularly, and try to encourage more variety by cooking new foods often.

#2 Make healthy snacks accessible

We all know how easy it is to reach for the chocolate chip cookies, rather than taking time to prepare a healthy snack when hungry. So, if you want your guy to eat healthy, make sure you keep a supply of healthy, ready-to-eat foods, such as grab-and-go granola bars.

Fruit

• Make up a large bowl of fruit salad with oranges, kiwi, grapes, mango, apples, strawberries, raspberries, or any combination you prefer.
• Try freezing bananas, grapes or berries for a different twist to the normal snack.
• Serve up fresh fruit smoothies for breakfast.
• Ensure that your fruit bowl is always stocked with fresh delicious looking fruit.

Vegetables

• Experiment with a variety of raw veg such as carrots, corn, fresh cherry tomatoes, and red peppers served with low fat dips, or even peanut butter.
• Liven up your salads: blanch broccoli, green beans, or snow peas in boiling water for 1-2 minutes, then plunge them into cold water; drain and toss with a little extra virgin olive oil, a spoonful of balsamic vinegar, and some toasted sesame seeds.
• Try different cooking methods such as steaming, grilling, BBQ, or roasting as the method of cooking will alter the taste, and may make veggies more acceptable.
• Puree vegetables, or chop or grate them finely to disguise in baked goods, curries, stews, sauces etc.

Grains

• Spice up breakfast by adding cinnamon, chopped apples, raisins, and flax seeds to oatmeal for a completely different meal.
• Choose multi-grain breads, muffins, and wholegrain pasta where possible.
• Experiment with whole barley in casseroles and curries.
• Try using brown or wild rice instead of white.

Proteins

• Try adding peas, beans and lentils to soups, stews, and curries.
• Serve lean meats (turkey, chicken, beef) and fish regularly (salmon, mackerel, tuna).
• Try marinating lean meat, fish or chicken in honey, olive oil, then make kebabs with red and green peppers, onions, mushrooms, sweet potato, and grill or BBQ.
• Top natural yogurt with fresh fruit, and a little honey drizzled on top.
• Provide snacks of mixed, unsalted nuts.

#3 Take it one step at a time

Gradual changes work better for most people. So, bit by bit increase the number of healthy foods eaten, while at the same time gradually removing unhealthy foods.

#4 Does he like to cook?

If your guy likes to cook now and again, why not set aside a night when you make new recipes together, it could be a fun experience for both of you!

#5 Set a good example

You can have a huge impact on your partner, and your kids, by simply following your own advice to be healthier! So, lead by example, rather than preaching to your guy about what you want him to do!

Granted your partner will need to be open to changing his eating habits. If he’s not ready, you’ll need to recognise that, and step back to allow him time to come to that decision by himself.

I’d love to hear from the guys - what tips do you have for us ladies? How can we encourage our men to eat healthier foods?

Connect with me!

You can stay in touch with Dietriffic for free by subscribing to receive my latest articles via email or RSS feeds.

I’ve recently joined Facebook, and created the Dietriffic Group where you can add your own thoughts, leave an interesting link, and find out what’s happening at Dietriffic. Or, you can follow me on Twitter.

I’d love to hear from you!

Photo source

Did you enjoy this article? Please be kind enough to share it -

You may also like to read the following:

• Fantastic Lunch Box Ideas for Kids!
• Pre-Workout Snacks
• Healthy Snack Ideas