My Spouse Loves To Eat, But I Want Him/Her To Be Happy AND Healthy. How Can I Make Weight Loss Less Miserable For Him/He
Dr. Martin Binks answers the question: 'Helping a Partner with Weight Loss?'
February 1, 2009 -- Question: My spouse loves to eat, but I want him/her to be happy and healthy. How can I make weight loss less miserable for him/her?
Answer: Loving people through food is part of just about every culture that I can think of. We use food to celebrate; we use food to express our gratitude. And eliminating that completely is just not going to make for a happy life. So I think that helping to figure out with your partner or your husband what exactly you could do to modify recipes of their favorite foods so that they're palatable, tasty, they still love them but might match their health needs a little better.
Finding some other ways to express yourself. Finding maybe the little note or the flower left. There are so many ways to sort of express that you care but we often default to food as a gesture of caring.
So I think getting creative and understanding what each others needs are and what would sort of create that sense of bond and caring that we often use food for, in other ways, can be a nice joint activity that brings you together so that you're really solving the weight issue from all angles as a team as opposed to just -- it's your issue and you're going to have to suffer through it.
