Help! Husband refuses to eat fruits & vegetables

aleswitch · Sep 10, 2006

Hey Guys 
Was wondering if you could hep me out with this dilemma. 
It wasnt so much of a problem before i turned veggie that my OH will not eat any fruit or veg. When I cooked dinner (usually a meat and carbo affair) Id just add a portion or two of veg for myself and that would be fine. 
However now Im on a lacto-ovo diet I have to end up cooking two meals, veggie for me and meat based for him. 
Basically his diet consists of, bread, breakfast cereal, potatoes, meat, orange juice, rice, pasta, pre-made sauces for curry and pasta (he wont touch home made!) crisps, chocolate, fish (very rarely), butter/margarine and cow's milk. 
It worries me that he will be severely lacking in a lot of essential vits and mins and i've tried the 'you should take a supplement' route but he doesn't do it, even when I bought the supplement for him. 
Agreed he'll eat pasta and sauce without meat in it but that really is it. As much as i love it I can't live on pasta and sauce for the rest of my life! 
I've tried cutting veg very fine and liquidising sauces with veg in them, but he just wont eat it or picks out the veg. 
As for fruit he has never eaten a piece of fruit, he's had a smoothie once and refused to try it again. He drinks litres of orange juice but won't drink other fruit juices!! 
ARRRRGh!! any advice for breaking him into the fruit and vegetable world gently?? 
I've even thought about giving him a blindfold taste test!! Just to get him to try something!! 
Anyhoos any advice much appreciated 
Ales xx

kpickell · Sep 10, 2006

What's an OH? 
If he's over 18, I'd let him be. 
Maybe look into fortified foods that he'll eat, such as orange juice.

bstutzma · Sep 10, 2006

I was wondering too, kpickell, and let my mind race over the possibilities, hehe. I think it must mean "Other Half". ;-) 
I agree with kpickell, if he is over 18, the only thing you can do is make your meals smell so good, that he ask to try them. But you can't force him, or he will make your diet even harder for you than it already is. I agree cooking two meals is tough, can he start to help with the cooking?

Tesseract · Sep 10, 2006

Or "Omni Husband." 
If it were me, I'd tell him, "I'll prepare the bread, breakfast cereal, potatoes, orange juice, rice, pasta, pre-made sauces for curry and pasta (he wont touch home made!) crisps, along with my vegetable dishes, and I will put a delicious and nutritionally complete meal on the table nightly, but if you want meat with it, you buy it, you cook it and you clean up the mess." Most nights I would make something that he can easily put meat alongside, but one or two nights a week, I'd make something with veggies mixed in, and tell him he can eat it or fend for himself. Of course, if you've established a prior pattern of serving him whatever he wants, this can be a tough sell.

Katt Fink · Sep 10, 2006

I'd love to hear everyone's advice, too. Bleh... I have no advice to offer, because I have the same problem and my bf is vegan. His diet consists entirely of processed bread products (mostly nasty white bread and sometimes pastas/lo mein) and faux meats and cheeze. Oh, I forgot the ocassional fried potato product. He eats absolutely. nothing. else. And I can't get him to learn to like anything that might even hint at being wholesome. I've gotten him to try a few things once or twice, but he'll never eat them again. It sounds awful but I am just wating for him to drop dead of malnutrition... he smokes too <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="/images/smilies/sick.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="

">

Vegan Joe · Sep 10, 2006

Guacamole Dip. Throw in some finely chopped celantro, spinach. 
Pesto Sauce, for his pasta. Has pine nuts, fresh sweet basil. 
Corn on the cob? 
A good vegetable soup? 
Grind a vitamin up, and sprinkle on (in) his food. 
He if don't ask, don't tell him. 
It's your secret herb and spice mix? 
When the kids were growing up, I would often not tell them of some of the ingredients I put in the food, because I knew that if they knew they wouldn't eat it. 
Or flat out confront him: Look if you love me or else!

isowish · Sep 10, 2006

Does he know why you're so worried? Maybe you should tell him. If you're trying to make him eat more veg now that you're veg, he might think this is just part of your vegetarianism. Maybe if he understands you are worried for his health he will TRY to like vegetables. Maybe show him some information on how harmful it can be to not eat enough fruit & veg?

snownose · Sep 10, 2006

<div class="quote-container">Quote:
<div class="quote-block">Originally Posted by Tesseract <a href="/forum/post/0"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style=""></a> 
Or "Omni Husband." 
If it were me, I'd tell him, "I'll prepare the bread, breakfast cereal, potatoes, orange juice, rice, pasta, pre-made sauces for curry and pasta (he wont touch home made!) crisps, along with my vegetable dishes, and I will put a delicious and nutritionally complete meal on the table nightly, but if you want meat with it, you buy it, you cook it and you clean up the mess." Most nights I would make something that he can easily put meat alongside, but one or two nights a week, I'd make something with veggies mixed in, and tell him he can eat it or fend for himself. Of course, if you've established a prior pattern of serving him whatever he wants, this can be a tough sell.</div>
</div>
 
I agree with Tesseract. I would make him cook his own meat.

Iria · Sep 10, 2006

Lol. I'm from Ohio, so for me OH means my home state. I clicked on this thread just to see what you actually meant for it to stand for. 
I don't have much advice for you. Some adults do stupid things to their bodies, and because they're adults, you can't do much about it. Of course, you don't have to cook for him. He's got to know it's a strain on you to cook two meals, so it's not unreasonable to ask him to cook his own food.

raw jess · Sep 10, 2006

<div class="quote-container">Quote:
<div class="quote-block">Originally Posted by Vegan Joe <a href="/forum/post/0"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style=""></a> 
Guacamole Dip. Throw in some finely chopped celantro, spinach. 
Pesto Sauce, for his pasta. Has pine nuts, fresh sweet basil. 
Corn on the cob? 
A good vegetable soup? 
Grind a vitamin up, and sprinkle on (in) his food. 
He if don't ask, don't tell him. 
It's your secret herb and spice mix? 
When the kids were growing up, I would often not tell them of some of the ingredients I put in the food, because I knew that if they knew they wouldn't eat it. 
Or flat out confront him: Look if you love me or else!</div>
</div>
 
I disagree with this simply because he is not a child. He is an adult. He can do what he wants. 
I agree to let him fix his own meals then.

GhostUser · Sep 10, 2006

I wouldnt hide vitamins in his food..

Tesseract · Sep 10, 2006

Yeah, Vegan Joe's suggestion is all well and good for dealing with picky kids, but this person is an adult who needs to take some responsibility for his own health.

aleswitch · Sep 10, 2006

OH = Other Half 
Yeh he is an adult, but he has a family history of Cancers (his mum died last year) Heart disease and other circulatory disorders, obesity (although he's not obese yet) and he smokes like a trooper. 
I admit YES he is an adult and is responsible for his own health and wellbeing, however i'm not going to sit by and let him pass up opportunities to improve his health and wellbeing when he could do smething as easy as changing his diet. 
I don't want to resort to shock tactics (eg. you're gonna end up like your mum) but this does worry me. 
What annoys me is thet he flatly refuses to eat fruit and vegetables although he's never really tried them. 
I wasn't looking to turn this into a serious discussion, but was looking for light hearted ways to maybe include some fruit and veg in his diet thats 'easy' for him to take. 
Sorry if i gave the wrong impression.

Tesseract · Sep 10, 2006

Oh well, then maybe picky-kids type advice is exactly what you need. You might try poking around in the Raising Vegetarian Children forum, because trying to get picky 'uns to eat their veggies is a pretty common problem with the parents.

rabid_child · Sep 10, 2006

My omni bf eats whatever I cook for dinner, or he can make himself dinner. Guess which one he always picks?? 
Granted, he's very cooperative, and not too picky, and will try anything at least once, even if it's something he says he doesn't like (i.e. eggplant, which he does actually like now) However, the rules would be the same regardless of his willingness to eat what I'm cooking. He's an adult and I'm an adult and I'm not his mommy, so as much as I love him, I'm not going to trick/coerce/beg/reward to get him to eat a healthy diet. He fended for himself for several years before I moved in with him and it wasn't pretty!! But he ate. He had a cholesterol check done at his doctor's this year, and that wasn't pretty either, and they gave him all sorts of pamphlets on diet and things so I think that helped sober him up a bit to what he was doing to himself. Perhaps send the "OH" to the doctor for a physical, or to a nutritionist, and then see if he's any more open to eating better. In the meantime, he isn't a kid, he isn't going to starve to death, and I don't think you need to enable him by continuing to cook meat/carb every night.

Ayrlin · Sep 11, 2006

I have no idea how this will work for you but once in awhile I will fix my husband who is an onmi some meat but most of the time when I cook dinner and this goes for the whole family. 
Husband and kids they either eat what I set down or they do not eat. 
My husband could fix himself a differant meal but I know he wont. 
I got lots of funny faces and grumps at first but now he just eats. 
I know many people think you should treat the other adult special or blah blah blah, but face it if you are the main cook in the family then you get to chose whats for dinner. Your other half coud A fix himself a differant meal from you or B he can eat what you eat. 
But you should not have to fix two seperate meals.

Michael · Sep 11, 2006

<div class="quote-container">Quote:
<div class="quote-block">Originally Posted by raw jess <a href="/forum/post/0"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style=""></a> 
I disagree with this simply because he is not a child. He is an adult. He can do what he wants. 
I agree to let him fix his own meals then.</div>
</div>
 
Exactly. If you don't approve of his eating habits and he won't change them the only thing you can do is to stop encouraging them.

~Wonder · Sep 11, 2006

You could mash some cauliflower into his mashed potatoes. You could make more fruit based desserts, crisps are good and it is apple season. They also have breakfast cereals that come with freeze dried slices of strawberries in them. Maybe you could get him to try a homemade or store bought fruit sorbet. They're very delicious and because it's a dessert, it might fool him. If you make him a meat dish, you could stuff it, like a chicken kiev but instead of butter, put in broccoli & ch(r)eese, I know they sell premade chicken with broccoli & cheese. 
If worse comes to worse, you could just keep making 2 meals, but make his taste like crap. You could claim that since you don't eat meat, you can no longer properly season/cook it. Then when he gets sick of bad food he might wander over to your plate for a taste. Or you could just pour various juices into his mouth while he sleeps. 
HTH, 
~Wonder <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="/images/smilies/dunce.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title=":dunce:">

kpickell · Sep 11, 2006

The problem with hiding vegetables is he'll feel like he's being treated like a child. 
He's an adult and can eat what he wants. You're an adult and can cook what you want. If he doesn't want to eat what you cook, he can cook something else.

aleswitch · Sep 11, 2006

Thanks for all your advice guys there's some in there i'm definately gonna try. 
apologies for the confusion over the OH heading. OH is a commonly used short verssion for Other Half!, which refers to partner. Sorry Ohio state, I promise I wasn't moaning about you!!<img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="/images/smilies/cool3.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="

"> 
I always forget that veggiboards is worldwide !!<img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="/images/smilies/doh.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title=":doh:"> So if any british 'turn of phrase' looks a little odd, just let me know and i'll sort it out lol 
Thanks Again

Help! Husband refuses to eat fruits & vegetables

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