There’s no doubt that things change once you get married or decide to co-habitate with a new partner. Suddenly there’s a need for family time, and your refrigerator is filled with foreign substances. You and your partner may not share the same taste, nor the same eagerness to live a healthy lifestyle.This is where things get the most tricky. Your partner may fill the cabinets with things you’ve already sworn not to eat. He or she may cook using large quantities of saturated fat, sugar, and/or sodium. Your partner’s selection of meats or even milk may not fall in line with your nutritional game plan. So what can you do?
Compromise is the most obvious solution, but this doesn’t always work. For example, your partner may drink 2% milk, and you drink skim. Should you both compromise for 1% or just get your own containers or what you like? This is a question only you can answer, but I suggest you be wary of compromising toward a less healthy alternative for the sake of convenience.
What if you tend to snack on carrots, celery, and almonds, while your partner likes to munch potato chips and candy bars? That in itself may not be the problem, except that the mere presence of those foods along with the example of your partner eating them may prompt you to indulge in the same treats, throwing you off your moderate nutrition plan.
Positive, open communication is the key to avoiding this sort of situation. Ask that the treats at least be kept where you won't stumble across them if you can't reduce or remove them entirely.
What’s most important is that your nutrition plan be moderate and allow some room for slips. If you are on a regimented diet, then your only hope of sticking to it is the enjoyment you get out of it. If you aren’t enjoying it and your diet is very strict, you’re going to have problems sticking to the diet no matter what your partner does.
On the other hand, if you find ways to reward your healthy lifestyle with moderation (including the occasional treat), you will find it far easier to stick to your nutrition goals without worrying about what your partner eats or cooks.
It may mean buying your own groceries or cooking your own meals on occasion, but this is a small price to pay for living a peaceful, happy, and healthy lifestyle where both you and your partner can be yourselves and live the life you each choose to live. Remember, you may be united by marriage and able to provide mutual support and encouragement, but you still must make your health decisions independently.
