Where We Started

Melding two lives is challenging. Before meeting me, my husband lived on sandwiches, chips, store bought cookies, frozen TV dinners, instant coffee, cereal, and milk. During the time I lived alone, especially, I made almost everything from scratch, including sweets, most meals, ate lots of fruit, did not eat sandwiches, and ate out frequently. I think the only eating habit we had in common was that neither of us drank much soda. Phil loves bread and when he was working, he could consume a half loaf of bread a day. I had changed him from white bread to the more whole grain breads and watched his waist start growing. Since he has retired, he eats 1 ½ sandwiched a day rather than 2, but otherwise his bread eating habit has not changed. So I have had to give in and buy lighter, less calorie dense bread. 

Other changes I made to his diet included making most of the cookies he consumes, as I at least know what is in them. He only eats frozen food when I am away (as the old adage goes, while the cat's away…). I buy organic when I can, and we generally eat fruit and vegetables that we grow at home. I think this was one of the ways we have kept our grocery bill down. Buying less fruit gave me room in the budget to buy better lunch meat for my sandwich eater. Phil even noticed that a can of albacore contained more meat than the same size can of tuna, so I now purchase albacore and he eats once can instead of two. 

Phil retired about 7 years ago, I have started the retirement "process" two years ago. When Phil retired, his diet and eating routine changed little other than eating one and a half sandwiches a day rather than two. Me, I began eating more, and fried foods being my favorite, started making more taquitos, tortilla chips, and other cheesy meals. Though my weight has not changed, I knew these eating habits were probably putting me at greater risk of diabetes. Then I heard about Diabetes Undone.