Hi Everyone - I posted this over in Newbies & Induction also, but I don't know whether Atkins or CAD will be better for him, so I'm posting this in both sections.

As anyone who has read my rants lately knows (LOL) I've been eating low carb for about a year now, off and on. I started in order to lose a few pounds, and have to say I haven't been very successful and lately I've been cheating alot. Anyway, I just wanted to get across that I'm familiar with low-carb eating and I basically know all the rules.

My reason for posting is this - my husband Bobby just had his latest check-up and if his blood sugar was one point higher, he would be in the diabetic range. He has a few family members that have been diagnosed - a cousin and an aunt, and his grandmother had diabetes - so it does run in his family. He also has high blood pressure, which he manages with medication, and IBS. He's a bit overweight, but not grossly so. He's 6'1" and about 250 - he could stand to lose 20-30 pounds, but he is a big guy. He is going to be very resistant to changing his habits and I'm looking for advice on how to work him into low carb eating as best as I can without him balking and just saying the heck with it. He is willing to cut down on his carbs, but I know that he really doesn't have much of an understanding of what that is going to mean to his day to day life.

Right off the bat I know he will refuse to give up his orange juice in the morning, and he has IBS and takes that orange metamucil, which also has alot of sugar in it, in his orange juice every morning along with his high blood pressure medication. His week-day breakfast is Quaker Oats raisin, date & walnut oatmeal - it's his favorite. Weekends he usually has a bagel/bisquit sandwich with ham or bacon, egg & cheese. He doesn't have access to refrigeration at work and actually eats his lunch while he is working at his machine, so he's limited about what he can take, which is always a sandwich. If I don't send his lunch with him, his only alternative is the coffee truck and we all know how healthy that food is! I can control what snacks are in the house as I do the grocery shopping, and I pick what we're having for supper. Unfortunately, he gets home before me and starts supper, and since his cooking skills are limited, we rely on things like spaghetti and jar sauce, frozen banquet chicken or frozen breaded fish, etc., side dishes of those packaged noodles and sauces, or rice, etc. - all the high carb foods I'm trying to avoid. As I said, I eat low carb and my daughter started this summer also, and I usually make something separate for us, but I'm going to have to re-work meals to entice him. His favorite veggie is peas which are a no-no. He will also eat corn, and carrots - more no-nos. He won't eat anything in the cabbage/broccoli family. Spinach or string beans are the only two veggies I can even think of that he can eat.

He is also a big sweet eater. He must have eaten 4 pounds of halloween candy by himself the past few days. He likes a big bowl of sweetened cereals like coco puffs, etc. for snacks also. I make a low carb cream cheese dessert for my daughter and I, but he doesn't like cheesecake or anything that resembles it so I'm at a loss about what legal "sweet" I can make for him. He won't eat ricotta cheese, which I rely on alot for dishes either. Any kind of quiche (without crust of course) he's going to refuse to eat.

I really appreciate any help you guys can give me. Anyone else out there have a resistant man they're trying to convert lol??!! My only saving grace is that he's a meat and potatoes eater, so leaving out the potatoes of course, I can entice him with any meat, or fish for that matter, altho his favorite fish is breaded and deep fried! His cholesteral is perfect thank goodness so at least that's not an issue as well.

Sorry this is so long, I was trying to cover as many bases as I could to make suggestions easier. Maybe this is a good thing - the whole house can eat low carb now and we won't be tempted to cheat if the stuff isn't in the house - altho my son is going to have a fit if his usual snacks aren't around!! Another country heard from! Thanks so much!!

Lisa

Changing his habits halfway won't help... he needs to WANT to change his eating habits and not by you regulating what is "allowed" or not. All I can suggest is to buy both books and ask him to please read them for his health. Then 1) don't ask him about it 2) lead by example.

I'm on Atkins so I don't know about CAD, but whichever makes the most sense to him let him go with and do it fully with him for complete support.

Your son will adapt and live through this... and hopefully get some really good habits he'll carry with him so he doesn't wind up where his dad is now.

Linda

ps -- getting more info on diabetes and how serious a disease it is would probably help too. I read a letter this summer by a man who was in his late 20's who hadn't taken his diabetes seriously.... and now has a wife and children but hasn't ever seen the kids because he lost his eyesight.... yes, due to diabetes. It is very possible to control it through diet and exercise, but don't downplay the seriousness of it.

[This message was edited by lbrowne on 11-06-03 at 03:26 PM.]

Hi Lisa,
I typed out a long response yesterday to you and it was almost done and then POOF! it disappeared. So here is an abbreviated version.
I'm sorry that you are stressed out and that your husband is facing a very real potential of having diabetes. I am a walking risk factor for it myself--it runs in my family (my dad takes insulin), I am an apple shaped build who is overweight, I have had borderline high blood pressure, my cholesterol has been high, AND I was borderline diabetic when pregnant with my daughter and had to take insulin while pregnant with my son. That said, it is only in the past three months that I am actually sticking to something and getting serious about preventing myself from having to face diabetes. But in those past few months I am seeing some great changes--my cholesterol is improved, my blood pressure is lower than it usually is. I don't know how my blood sugar is (other than I passed my post-pregnancy GTT), but I plan to ask my doctor to do an A1C for me when I go in for my annual appointment. By the way, I am loosely following CALP (by that I mean I haven't made it to balancing my RM and I still have a fair number of off days). I have also just completed 12 weeks of making it to the Y at least 3 times per week to exercise.
All that said, I think your husband is going to have to be ready to make changes, and as much as you love him and want the best for him, it has to be HIS decision. IF he is ready for some changes, I can see some things that he could change about his eating without following a plan to the letter.
For example, OJ in the morning--he could cut the carb count in half by diluting the juice with water. After a while you start to think that full strength is too much! With the oatmeal, he could switch from the instant packet kind to regular. Even with additions, I think regular oatmeal has more fiber and beneficial stuff. On weekends, what about losing the biscuit and just having eggs and bacon? For lunch you could get some of the higher fiber, lower carb breads or gorgoe them and do rollups with the meat as the roller. For dinners, I have to say that a crockpot can be your best friend--you can use cheaper cuts of meat and have dinner ready when you get home. Maube these aren't the ideas you are looking for, but I hope this helps.
Good Luck!
Amy
Okay, this didn't turn out very abbreviated!
I would agree with another poster that maybe getting him some of the books from the library or a bookstore would be helpful if he is interested. I have also been reading Protein Power and that is more liberal in terms of how many carbs you can have as compared to Atkins. Carb Addicts is appealing to me because of the flexibility and that you don't have to COUNT anything.

Lisa,

I think all you can do is provide as carb-free enviroment at home as you can. If it's not there, your DH can't eat it. Your children will benefit from the lack of certain foods too. They don't need it anymore than we do!

Unfortunately, you can't get him to change his WOE. He has to want to do that himself. It's hard to know what the trigger for him might be.

So, if you can't get dinner started, don't have spaghetti and pasta sauce in the house. Amy's idea of crock pot cooking is great. Also, you might want to prepare some healthy casseroles that are easy to pop in the microwave or oven. And, some people spend a day over the weekend cooking roasts, chicken, whatever they need for the week. Then it's ready to go at dinner time.

My guess is that your DH is overloading his system so much on carbs that he's probably hungry all the time. That's probably why he doesn't want to wait for dinner. That happened to me over the summer when I was experimenting with a different WOE. Once I went back to CAD, I stopped being hungry all the time.

Good luck!

Ilse

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