How can you do Whole 30 if you don't cook your own meals?

[BlueHorses]

I really want to try Whole30, and I really want my husband to do it too. He has stomach problems and can never sleep through the night. He also has eczema and is always tired (though this might have to do with his job, see below). Oh, and he's totally addicted to candy. I want to try it for myself for a ton of health related reasons and I'm going to start soon, a friend and I have agreed to start it together and support one another via email and gchat since we are in different states.

However, here's my problem: my husband is a cowboy, and all the cowboys on the ranch each breakfast and dinner together. He has supper at home because we're married but otherwise he has to eat with the rest of the crew. I can't think how he could manage to do Whole 30 unless he ate breakfast at home before going out and I packed him a lunch. Some of the things they feed the cowboys at breakfast he could definitely eat, like scrambled eggs, but sometimes it's pancakes or french toast casserole. In those cases I guess he'd just sit through breakfast and eat coffee? The problem is lunch, which is your typical cowboy fare and very un-Whole 30. The only way to swing it would be to lie to his bosses and tell them he's on a restricted diet for health reasons, and I'd have to pack him a lunch. Personally I don't mind bending the truth this way but my husband would never go for it. He's got a much more black and white moral code than I do.

I really want us to do this because even though neither one of us is overweight I'm worried about our health. If anything he's underweight and I'm skinny too, but we're still not as healthy as I'd like us to be.

Can anyone think of a creative solution to this problem?

[hayleydarling]

But you ARE doing the Whole30 for health reasons! Can't you swing it that way when you're presenting it to your husband? If you point out all the Whole30 health benefits and maybe give him a copy of ISWF to read, he'll see that for himself and won't feel like he's lying to his boss. That's how I'd try it, anyway.

Good luck. You'll feel amazing!

[Tom Denham]

He should tell his bosses the truth... He is eating a special diet to try to improve his health - protein, fat, and veggies. The whole crew could join him.

[Renee Lee]

I agree with Tom. Honesty usually works. I imagine that group is kinda like firefighters and other first responders in that they're practically family and are definitely apt to rag on the one lone wolf that decides to do something different, right? If your hubby isn't ready for that, why don't you just do the Whole30 on your own? Cook yourself W30 compliant breakfast, lunch and dinner. He'll a) be getting at least one compliant meal, which is an improvement over the status quo, right? and if your husband notices changes in your mood/energy/health, he may be more apt to stand up for himself with his bosses/folks at the ranch.

It's a bummer to go through the W30 alone, but I'm sure he'll be supportive and deal with what y'all are cooking for dinner.

Any way that he could either convince the ranch to go W30 or just volunteer to do the cooking for the 30 days, so even if what's being served to the cowboys isn't W30, at least he could control what's going into HIS food? (that sounds like a huge bitch, though)

[BlueHorses]

I don't know that there's any way to convince the ranch to do Whole30, these guys are traditionalists to the core, they do not like change. I'd love to introduce Whole30 to the entire crew but the wives aren't really asked for their opinions or ideas. The ranch cook would be pretty tough to convince also, she'd probably be offended and poison my husband's coffee! Add to that the fact that the nearest grocery store is a Walmart and it's an hour's drive away and, well, Whole30 would be a ton of effort that I doubt they'd want to expend when their system "works just fine." *sigh*

And yes Renee, you're right, they'd rag on him for his new diet and I don't think he'd go for that kind of special treatment. I guess I should make peace with what we can do at this point and just do it myself. At a minimum if I get the potato chips and candy out of the house, provide him with healthier snack foods and a good dinner maybe that will make a difference. He's so thin the doctor actually told him to GAIN some weight -- how often do peopel get that prescription these days?! And yet he eats snack food and candy constantly, the very things that make other people fat. Clearly we have to change something.

[Renee Lee]

Oh, I didn't realize that you guys had a designated cook; I assumed they rotated. I'd just do the best you can! Good luck!

[Emily]

I agree with Renee'. I worked and lived with firefighters for years and years... eating something out of the norm is difficult! It sounds like you could do a Whole30 and, like Renee said, your husband's number of less compliant meals could be decreased.

If he ultimately decides to do it I bet he can come up with ways (just eat the meat and veggies from the sandwich, etc) but he is going to really have to be motivated.

Go for it yourself! Bring him partially along.