If you’re planning a major family diet makeover, you might be looking for some tips and tricks to make the transition to healthier foods easier. While there is plenty you can do to get the ball rolling on a better diet, what do you do when you’re met with resistance from the men of the family? Some guys mistakenly read healthy eating habits and products as feminine and rejects them subconsciously because of this. Getting the boys on board with your plan may be a little bit more difficult than you bargained for, but it can be done. Before you rope anybody into your new eating habits, get a good idea of what they will be. Are you cutting down on sugar? Eliminating processed foods with additives and GMOs? Once you’ve got your goals in place, you can proceed to take on the challenge of improving your family’s diet.
Get a Game Plan
Once you’ve determined what your goals are, it’s time to draft a game plan. If you’re looking to weed out foods that contain additives and GMOs, it’s time to have a talk with the boys in the house about swapping their favorite foods with healthier alternatives. Though this can be challenging, it’s easier if you approach it with an acceptable substitute ready to go. You don’t want anybody to feel like they’re losing their favorite foods, so offer natural foods that are still delicious. Many food startups, such as San Francisco’s Hampton Creek, have rolled out products with this purpose.
Back it Up With Logic
If you’re met with resistance, don’t hesitate to throw down some truth. Clean eating can assist with building muscle, and if you’re parenting teen boys, that should be enough of a sell. Don’t forget the reasons you decided to make the switch, and don’t back down from sharing those reasons. Men are likely to be persuaded by cold, hard facts rather than concepts such as wellness that may seem esoteric to them. This is an important detail to remember when you’re in the midst of your campaign for clean eating, and it can make all the difference in the response.
Be Persistent in Your Efforts
Once the whole family realizes how serious you are about this diet makeover, they may get on board. Until then, however, you’ll need to take a persistent approach. This combination of commitment and patience, in fact, is key to getting kids to eat better. The jury’s out on whether boys are more stubborn than girls, but if you’re parenting sons, you know it isn’t a walk in the park. Be persistent and keep integrated clean foods into the family diet. There are a variety of products, like those pioneered by Hampton Creek, that can make this process easier.
Think Like a Man
When it comes to making the change and adopting new habits that last, you’ll need to think like a man to get the boys in your household to cooperate. Their resistance is likely based in a fear that new foods won’t taste good, or that healthy eating isn’t masculine, but you can dispel these objections by providing foods that are clean, delicious and accessible. Eating well doesn’t have to be difficult, and once the whole family realizes that, you can leave unhealthy foods behind in favor of deliciously clean eating. Even a man can’t object to that.
Keep Fighting the Good Fight
Nobody ever made over their family’s diet overnight, and no man was ever convinced to try something new on the first try. The latter may be an exaggeration, but you are likely to meet challenges in your attempt to usher in cleaner foods. You have all the tools in your arsenal to conquer this resistance and make your family’s diet better for it, so don’t let silly objections get in the way of your long-term plan. You can eat better, and you can get the boys on board to eat better, too. No objection can foil your plans. Keep fighting the good fight, and don’t let resistance keep foods with additives and GMOs in your home any longer than they already have been. With persistence, logic and determination, you can get the whole house on a healthier diet that will improve your lives and make a positive change.
