Catering to two completely different dietary needs - help me streamline

[AimeeM]

My husband needs to lose weight (at least 60 lbs).

However, everyone else in the house is classified as underweight (or having difficulty maintaining weight). My husband's doctor wants him eating low cal, low fat foods of course; the children's pediatrician wants THEM eating "normally" but with good fats and sustaining foods (and grazing as they please); definitely NOT low cal and low fat meals.

 

Are there any recipes (tasty recipes) that can be easily separated without a ton of additional work that would fill the needs of both... or do I need to suck it up and cook two dinners every night?

[jenbrdsly]

I'm no help, I just wanted to say :grouphug: and yeah! for the short-order-cook/mommy.

[LaxMom]

I would suggest looking at eating clean. (which is my general bent anyway, but I didn't really realize it) They say you will drop or gain on the diet, depending on where you start, and stabilize at a healthy weight.

[Spryte]

You have my sympathies! We have a similar situation, although not for weight loss reasons. Kiddos and I both have different food allergies, we are all gluten free, and now I am on a special (life long) diet due to medical issue and can no longer have more than 15 gms of fat per day. I'm also pre-diabetic, so no sugar for me.

 

I am not the chef in our house (that falls to DH) so my cooking is generally very simple, but I will share some random ideas that have worked here.

 

We don't do things like casseroles here, so I'm no help there - sorry.

 

For the most part, we all eat the same things - grilled chicken, steak, etc - along with healthy sides. However, I have adjusted my cooking to accommodate my own needs, and any fats (butter, oil, ets) are added to the sides after serving, or I set aside my portion and dress everyone else's. I don't put big serving bowls on the table, but dish up the plates ahead of time now, so that I'm not tempted to take just a small helping of something I shouldn't have. Salads here are a big thing, and can go a long way toward normalizing my meals - DH makes incredible salads, and I love balsamic vinegar on top, or some yummy fat free dressings we've found. The kiddos don't eat salad, but having that option for me keeps me feeling less deprived. Oh, and I often keep brown rice cooked and ready in the fridge to add to meals.

 

We now keep low/no fat alternatives in the house (prior to this I did not use anything but butter, etc, because I avoided chemicals, but now I'm looking at the trade off, and keeping something like "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" spray in the house for those moments when I must have a slice of whole grain (gluten free) toast doesn't seem too bad!

 

DH makes us a very good pizza, too. :) He uses gluten free crust which is very low fat (I think it's Rudi's brand), makes his own sauce (omitting any oils) and uses fat free mozzarella. I was hesitant, but it was a winner! You could easily make pizzas for the kids with regular cheese, and a fat free version for DH.

 

Hmmm, these aren't really recipes, so maybe not what you're looking for... Just my random thoughts on things that have helped us.

 

Keeping things like fat free, sugar free popsicles in the freezer has helped, too, and other fat free snacks - there are moments when I just feel overwhelmed with the idea that this is a forever diet, and I feel deprived. It helps to have snacks to grab! Popcorn helps, too.

 

FWIW, I've lost 10 lbs in the last 6 weeks or so, just cutting out most fats. :)