Tips to Get Your Red Meat & Potato Lovin' Man to Eat More Veggies

I was a vegetarian when I met the husband and he was an "everything BUT vegetarian" when we met.  Just let that sink in a moment.

While I didn't eat meat- I also didn't eat a lot of veggies.  My idea of being a vegetarian was eating potatoes and pasta.  So yeah, not good.  The husband on the other hand ate as much red meat as he could and showed NO signs of ever stopping.  Clearly we both needed some work in the diet department.

We continued on this path for several years and I eventually started eating meat again because it was easier to just make one meal for us both than two separate ones.  Let's face it- the husband certainly wasn't going to give up eating meat so my only choice was to start eating it again.

Then the kiddo was born and my view of food changed drastically.  It no longer became about buying and eating what was cheap and tasted good but rather about food that would nourish your body.  I slowly began changing our diet and converting the whole family to a plant based whole foods lifestyle.  But as any wife with a picky husband will tell you- this was a serious struggle for the husband.  He understood the why, his brain knew the logical reasons and the methods behind what I was doing but his heart and his stomach just weren't in it yet.

Fast forward over 7 years later and the husband is now eating completely vegetarian meals at home Monday through Friday as well as at least one vegan dish during the weekday.  In addition, he's making better food choices when eating out and staying away from most fast food options that he used to love.  You can click here to read about how this journey has personally affected his health but for this post- it's all about HOW this has happened.

How do you get your red meat and potato lovin' man to eat a plant based, whole foods diet?  Seriously, how?!?  Below are some tips on how I've accomplished the impossible and they can apply to anyone in your family, not just your husband.

• Acknowledge that this will take time.  Baby steps folks.  It took the husband just over 7 years to get to this point.
• Be patient but don't give up.  Persistence pays off!
• Slowly stop buying and cooking meat.  Since I do all the grocery shopping in our house, I control what comes in and what doesn't.  Take advantage of this and simply stop buying it.
• Introduce one vegetarian meal each week.  As you get into the routine of doing this, I suggest a designated day that is dedicated to going vegetarian- perhaps Meatless Monday? 
• Keep this simple- nothing too weird or unknown.  My suggestions are anything chili based (because what man doesn't love chili?!?) or cheese based.  Cheese or black bean enchiladas are a great 1st vegetarian meal!  Soup also works well.
• Watch some of the documentaries on this list together- if your husband will do so.  Education is key.
• Add veggies to every single dish.  Start with ones your family likes but slowly start experimenting with new veggies.  It's OK to serve two different veggie sides- you can NEVER have enough veg.
• In the beginning, do NOT worry about the meals outside the house.  Focus on what you have ultimate control over and that's the food you are cooking at home.
• Learn how to convert your family's favorite dishes to vegetarian meals.  It is so easy to do!  Simply leave out the meat, add in extras like rice, beans, lentils and learn what items make great substitutions for certain meats.
• Change your dinner plate.  No more meat, starch & veg.  Meat is no longer the star of the show.  In our house it's veg, veg, grains/legumes.  Half the plate is veg and typically the other half has veggies in it.
• Become a fan of the one pot meal.  Cook it all in one pot, serve it in one pot- combine everything and it's more difficult to notice that the dish is missing meat.  Think orzo with veggies, soups, pasta with tomatoes and spinach etc.
• Serve fruit bowls on the side.  The kiddo calls these our "appetizer" bowls and they work perfectly for cut up fruit.  Replace the junk in any meal with a fruit bowl.  Things like chips, fries, tator tots, crackers, pretzels etc and then start reaching for the fruit bowls for snacking instead of that junk food.
• Buy an immersion blender and make a big pot of soup at least once per week.  Soup is by far one of the easiest vegetarian dishes to make and by using your immersion blender, you can add TONS of veggies and then just blend them away into the soup.  Your family will never know!
• Adopt a "2 bite rule".  We've always had this with the kiddo but the concept is simple- you MUST try something and take at least 2 bites.  Why two bites?  Well because usually for the first bite, you're busy moaning and complaining about it and not really paying attention to the flavor.  By the 2nd bite, you've calmed down just a bit to really taste it.  And if after those 2 bites, you don't like it- then you don't have to eat it.
• Pack your husband's lunch.  Lunch time can be difficult for anyone but make a commitment to packing a healthy, "real" food lunch every day.  Check out this previous blog post to learn about how I go about packing the husband's lunch.

The key here is really all about "slow and steady" to win this race.  A few small changes really add up over time and it's MUCH easier for your meat eating husband to deal when it's just a few small things spread out
over time.  Trust me on this one.

I would also like to say that once we tackled the food inside our house, we began working on what we were eating while away from home.  Eventually the husband began making healthier choices all on his own simply because he was used to the way we were eating at home and he felt better.  He was able to feel and see a big difference in his body and this provided much needed encouragement for him to make even bigger changes.

It can be done.  You can convert the meat eating folks in your life to adopt a more humane diet full of rich, whole foods.  If we can do this, you can do this.