La Resistance

My husband is "La Resistance." What he does not yet realize is that he is wasting his energy, for resistance is futile.

Every year for the past 762 years, my new year's resolution has been to excercise more and eat healthier. With mom having breast cancer and dad being diabetic, I know that managing my weight and eating healthy food is one of the preventative factors for both disease. We also have high blood pressure in our family, and Evan's family has heart problems, high cholesterol, and cancer. So of course, I want to take him with me on this quest for better eating. I am not talking dieting. Oh contrare monfrare! I am talking less "hamburger helper" more chicken and fish with vegetables and healthy whole grains. I love to cook. I always have, and Pampered Chef provided me with MORE than enough tools to whip up some fabulous meals, and the rest I own entirely to my mother, who could cook any man, woman, or child into oblivion.

For the past 6 months, with the wedding planning and then the wedding and reception and 6 months of remodeling and having no place to cook, eat, or relax.... it has been TAKE OUT CITY around here, and I gained another 10 pounds when I NEEDED to lose 50! Not good! Every night Evan says "where do you want me to get supper" and with IBS, my life has been miserable eating pizza and chicken and chinese and spaghetti. Ugh. I need some balance! I need some VEGETABLES! Evan dislikes vegetables. He doesn't HATE them, it's not that he won't EAT them, it's that he prefers not to eat them. He's the guy whe eats a casserole or something with veggies and at the end of the meal there is a pile of vegetables in one corner of his plate where he picked through them. He always says "there were just too MANY vegetables." Puh-LEAZE! Are we in Kin-de-garten? NO. I love vegetables. I love peppers so much that I will eat them cold and crisp from the fridge. I love to eat tomatoes like apples and lettuce on every type of sandwich and onions on everything. I can eat mushrooms whole and in the can with a spoon. I could open a can of cold peas and eat the whole thing if I wanted. I love vegetables. So cooking for someone who whines and groans whenever he sees something "green" in his food, is quite the challenge. I have gotten good at disguising veggies, adding cheese and butter and sauteeing them so they aren't crunchy. Stewing them in soup for HOURS so they are soft and tasty. I even buy Broccolli florets because I know that it is the stalks that he notices. Oh how I try. But I have noticed that when I lived at my mom's house, I ate what I wanted, when I wanted, but we always had vegetables and grains, and as soon as I moved in with Evan, my whole diet changed. I started gaining right after moving here and now I have gained 65 pounds in 5 years. Ugh!

Granted, I am probably "settled" and not running all over with him anymore, but still. My eating habits have got to change. And I am cooking for both of us, so that means that his eating habits need to change too.

So yesterday I spent almost 3 hours planning each meal for the next month. Looking at recipes and portion sizes and making meal lists that transferred into grocery lists. I started planning for 2 weeks. Then when I finished, It ended up being that the grocery list showed I needed Half a pepper and 1/4 cup of orange juice and 1 cup of provolone, and eventually it was easier to plan for 4 weeks and use a whole pepper to save money.

So tonight we went grocery shopping. When Evan saw the list he cringed. It was a full page long, two columns, typed. He was not pleased. He groaned and moaned while shopping and when I picked up $35 in fresh chicken breasts and fish, He said "WHOA! Why are you getting that much?!" And I said BECAUSE WE ARE GOING TO EAT THAT MUCH! Resistance is futile!

Our cart was SOOO full that he was trying to hide instead of be seen pushing it. But the entire top layer was filled with fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grain breads, and dairy products. And under that was juice and wild rice and whole grain pasta. Chicken and Chicken Broth and Whole Grain Cereals. Skim Milk (the only thing I have sold him on in the past 2 years) Oh the HORROR! And of course under all that good food was the stuff we also needed like dishwasher soap, ziploc bags, mouse poison (see hanger butt incident two posts back), soap, garbage bags.

When We got the cart full, the bill came to $295.00

The look on Evan's face was priceless. But I figured that for a month of eating out for supper only, it would cost us about $384. And we had just bought a month's worth of groceries. So I guess it wasn't TOO bad.

After Evan got it all unloaded and I got it all put away.... I am exhausted.

What's your resolution?