My Meat and Potatoes Husband

Hi All,

I mentioned in my Three Bean Chili post earlier last week that my husband, Kevin, had been enjoying quite a few of the meals made in my new pressure cooker.  For those of you who havent followed my blog for very long, my husband is not a nutritarian and dislikes vegetables in general.

A few weeks ago, for my works health care program, we had our weight, blood pressure, cholesterol, and glucose checked.  Thankfully my work pays for all of this and comes into our office to administer the tests.  By doing these health checks, it allows us to earn money back on our health premiums while working towards health goals throughout the year, such as eating more vegetables and exercising.

Kevin hates hates HATES needles, but he came in anyways for the screening.  Happily, I had excellent numbers other than my triglycerides were higher than last year (but that was probably due to spending a weekend drinking in Leavenworth for Oktoberfest just prior to the blood test).  Kevins numbers, particularly his cholesterol were not ideal.  (For the sake of his privacy I wont say what it is.)

After being married for 2 years, I have all but given up the game of telling him "you should eat better", "what about your arteries", and "should you really be eating that whole pizza?".  All I told him after the health screening was that I was concerned for his health and wished he would take steps to eat better so we can be together for a long and happy life.

This same week I got my pressure cooker in the mail.  I proceeded to make Chickpea Soup Italiano, which, to my surprise, Kevin ate.  Then he requested that I make a jar of chickpeas to send with him to work along with a banana and handful of almonds.

OK!  This is something I can totally get behind!

Over the last week, he has been eating bean soups, plain chickpeas, and quinoa and grain dishes.  He even has had oatmeal with me three times over the weekends as long as it had fruit and nuts in it.  Are there a ton of veggies in all of these things?  No....  But are there animal products and horrible fats, sugars, and preservatives like in his normal diet?  NO!

Im so excited that he is taking little steps to eat better.  However, he has been on a business trip to Chicago over the last 5 days.  Im sure he hasnt been eating well like he would have if he was home, but hopefully he is ready to jump back into eating better with me.  Wish us luck!

(Also, dont tell him this, but he liked my homemade vegan caesar salad dressing.  Im picking him up some lettuce tonight on the way home from work so that I can pack him a salad for tomorrow for his first day back.)

Health and Happiness,

Amy

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Carnivorous Husband Health Challenge and My Gym Challenge Day 1

Hello Readers!  It has been way too long since I have posted!  I realized I was on day 3 of week 5 of my 6-week Eat to Live health challenge the last time I posted, and for those of you who have been following.... To sum it up: I cheated and let things slip, I tried my best to stick with it, but then certain events came up including my birthday, having house (apartment*) guests stay for nearly a week, having a large basketball tournament downtown and eating on the go, eating out often with friends and family, and then a trip to the other side of the state for 4th of July weekend and staying with the in-laws. Id like to think that I made the best choices I could in the situations I was in, but those choices ended up becoming further and further away from the Nutritarian lifestyle.  This is sad for me to admit, but we all have mistakes and setbacks and this was one of mine.  What do you tell yourself when you fall off the wagon?

In other news.... I have some pretty crazy news that I never thought I would ever hear: my very meat and potatoes carnivorous husband is going to try the Nutritarian diet.... For one week.... With a catch.... I will have to do everything he says at the gym for the week.  The reason this "deal" came about was when we had gone to our small apartment gym yesterday after not having worked out since all of the commotion that led me off of my 6-week challenge. I wanted to go because I was needing to read a bunch of blog emails and was going to power walk on the treadmill while I did. I thought I was being quite productive since I would normally sit my lazy booty in the back porch and do the same thing. Kevin, who went hard on the stationary bike, told me that when I go to the gym I should be dripping in sweat and pushing myself to work hard and improve. That is all fine and dandy, but not something I would normally do. 

Later on that evening Kevin decided to make me a deal: he would eat however I wanted him to for a week as long as I would do whatever he said at the gym for a week.  One week of hard working out to get my husband to seriously try eating Nutritarian?  IM IN!  So this is what brings me back to blogging after my shame of not completing my 6-week challenge: documenting my husbands first tracks in Nutritarian shoes!

We started all of this today, and I have to say that it didnt go half bad. Here is how Kevin (and I) ate today:

Breakfast: Dr. Fuhrman Antioxidant Rich Breakfast Bar (find the recipe in Dr. Fuhrmans Member Center), 1 apple

Lunch: large romaine (me, spinach) salad with broccoli, cucumber, chickpeas and OMG Walnut Dressing (recipe from My Beef With Meat), 1 apple

Dinner: corn on the cob, Broccoli Mushroom Bisque (recipe in the Dr. Fuhrman Member Center), Better-Milk Biscuits (My Beef With Meat), sugar snap peas, and blackberries

Overall, Kevin was a great sport other than thinking the soup was way too bland, but he liked it with the biscuits I made. He said this was so much more food than he was used to eating (volume-wise), but that he liked the fruit. He was disappointed that today happened to be Free Slurpee Day and he wasnt allowed to have one. As for my hard work out, I was definitely sweating much more than I am used to at the gym, but feel energized and ready to go for tomorrow. 

Im looking forward to the rest of the week and taking on new challenges at the gym and in the kitchen. My husband will not be the easiest person to cater for while eating Nutritarian, but I will make it work, and hopefully he has a longer list of vegetables and Nutritarian dishes that he likes by the end of the week.

Do you have any recipes you would suggest for a meat and potato guy going Nutritarian?  He loves broccoli, romaine lettuce, and cucumbers.... But not too many other veggies. 

Oh, and here are some fun pictures from our shenanigans over the last few weeks since I have posted:

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Husband Health Challenge Day 2

Day two for my husband, Kevins first week eating Nutritarian.... Went fairly well. We went to help with my churchs Last day of Vacation Bible School and we happily ate fruit for breakfast, but when lunch time came around and our church started to set up for a community BBQ, the tempting smells of fried and grilled meats started wafting towards Kevin. 

In his words: "This is just torturous!"  To my surprise, Kevin was the first to crack into the soup and biscuits I had packed for lunch and made the day before. He didnt even take time to heat up the soup, but it was actually pretty good chilled, so we went with it.  

Since Kevin had to work in the late afternoon and early evening, I was on my own for going to the gym today. Kevin wrote down what I was to do on a scratch pad, and apparently he wanted to torture me just as badly as he was tortured at the BBQ (in a good way). Here was my workout:

10-15 minutes of stretching

30 minutes on the stationary bike doing the fat burner setting

100 jumping jacks

10 minutes resting and stretching

30 minutes MORE on the stationary bike doing the strength building setting

80 calf raises

250 crunches (sets of 50)

10 minutes stretching

In the end I was sweaty and exhausted, but felt more energized for our evening out dancing with friends. My abs are sore from yesterday, but it is nice to feel the muscle building there. Now Im looking forward to what else he has in store for me for the rest of the week!

Here was our general meal plan for today:

Breakfast: bananas and apples

Lunch: chilled leftover broccoli mushroom bisque, veggies, fruit, baked beans, blackberries

Dinner: Mexican Quinoa (recipe below) and black beans in butter lettuce "tortillas", apple slices, fresh broccoli

Mexican Quinoa

Ingredients: 

1 small onion, chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 fresh jalapeño, chopped

1 tsp minced garlic

1-15 oz can diced tomatoes

1-4 oz can diced green chiles

1 packet of taco seasoning

1/2 tsp liquid smoke

2 cups dry quinoa, rinsed

Directions: 

1.  Sauté the onion, bell pepper, jalapeño, and garlic until tender. 

2.  Placed the sautéed veggies and the rest of the ingredients (except the quinoa) into a high speed blender, and blend until smooth. Add enough water to bring the sauce up to 4 cups. 

3. In a large saucepan, stir together the rinsed quinoa and sauce.

4. Heat to a boil, then cover and simmer on low for 15-25  minutes, stirring every 5.  Take a taste to make sure the grain has cooked, and then remove it from heat and keep it covered for 5 more minutes. 

5. Serve with your favorite Mexican toppings and with or without taco shells (we used butter lettuce instead). 

Amys Notes:  This recipe makes a lot.... A LOT!  This is great for having leftovers or feeding a big crowd. I added 2 cans of black beans to my recipe, but feel free to have yours plain or with any type of bean you like. Enjoy!

Have you ever tried quinoa before?  What is your favorite way to eat it?

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