A Household Divided + Peaches and Cream Overnight Oats

I am going to get a little personal for a minute.  I have been reading a lot of comments on Facebook from people that have a hard time getting their families on board with a healthier way of living.  It really tugs at my heart when I hear that healthy food is coming between relationships.  I wanted to reach out and hug one women when she commented that her husband wanted a divorce because of her new food lifestyle.  I just don’t understand why.  Some may say that the relationship wasn’t strong enough in the first place.  I don’t think that is always the case.

I went through something similar.  I hope that sharing my expereince may help others in the same situation.  I am willing to say that most families don’t make an easy transition into eating real food and that can be tough for the person that initiates the change.  A couple years ago I started educating myself more on eating real, clean, organic foods.  As a dietitian healthy food has always been a passion of mine so it may have been an easier change for me to go through.  Before I became more consious of my food choices, my husband and I would grocery shop together, cook for eachother or together, and eat dinner together very regularly.  Which is safe to say in an important part of any family unit.

I look back on things now and can honestly tell you that I do not know exactly what happened or when it happened but it all stopped.  We started grocery shopping seperately and basically were each buying our own food (me organic, him conventional).  We were cooking seperate meals and rarely even ate together (some of it due to our different schedules).  After some time it really started effecting us.  I didn’t even realize it until later but I was desperately missing how food helped us come together.  The time we spent cooking together and the joy I felt when he enjoyed a meal I made for him.  It really is true that families that eat together stay together.

I wasn’t willing to give up my relationship for food however I still wanted to be me.  I was enjoying the way my new lifestyle was making me feel and wanted to keep it up as much as possible.  I really just wanted my husband to jump on board with me but sometimes that just isn’t possible.  We can’t always expect changes overnight, especially when things have been one way for so long.  Here are some things that I have learned when it comes to getting others on board with clean eating…

1.  Don’t Force Change:  I try not to “nag” about food.  The more you comment on the food that others are eating the less likely they will be willing to make a change and stick to it.  Sometimes you just have to let them come to a relization on their own.  My husband now buys organic eggs and I never told him to do that, he just started it on his own.

The other day we were at the store and he was asking me about artificial sweetener.  I gave him my two cents about it and he picked up a bag of organic cane sure and asked, “how about this?”  I was happily surprised that he would even consider it but that was the sugar he ended up buying that day.

2.  Lead By Example:  Sometimes when others see you making healthy changes and maybe notice that you have better skin, shinnier hair, or are loosing a few pounds then they will want to know how you did it.  They may start to make some of those changes too so they can see the same success.

3.  Start Small and Inexpensive:  You can easily make some small changes that won’t break the bank.  Start by following the dirty dozen list when purchasing organic produce.  My husband now prefers organic carrots because he says they taste better.  If you are spending a ton more money then you were before clean eating, then that might give your significant other much more reason to rebel against changing.

4.  Cook Foods You Know They Like:  I think that a lot of people have at least a handful of recipes that are always a big hit with their families.  Use those recipes and just make small tweeks to them.  We love our taco night so I use grass fed ground beef, I make my own taco seasoning, and we freshly grate our cheese to avoid a lot of unhealthy additives.

5.  Baby Steps:  Instead of making a recipe full force sugar free, vegan, or 100% whole grain make small changes.  If you try to give someone a recipe they are used to having one way and full on healthify it then you may scare them off.  I have made this mistake before.  You have to remember that everyones tastebuds are different.  When you are so used to eating a lot of sugar and processed foods your tastebuds are used to those flavors.  Going from baking with white sugar to dates may not be the best trasnition.  Try organic cane or brown sugar, then maybe do half organic sugar and honey.  Remember that cooking from scratch (even if you use organic refined sugar) is still better then most packaged foods.

Now on to my Peaches and Cream Overnight Oats recipe.  I am sharing this recipe along with this post because I made it for my husband the other day.  One night I made these overnight oats for myself and he asked me about what I made.  When I told him what it was he said that it sounded good.  I jumped on it and asked him if he wanted me to made one for him and he said yes!  The next morning I got a text from him saying, “Breakfast was delicious, it was yummy.”  Nowadays when I can get that reaction from him with a recipe then I know it was a hit and definately worth sharing.  I made this recipe a little differently for him (baby steps) so I am sharing both recipes with you.

I’d love to hear any tips you have for getting your families to eat better.  Please share with us in the comments!

Print

Prep Time 5 minutes

Total Time 5 minutes

Servings 1

Author Sara

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 2 small peaches or one large ripened and pitted
• 1 Tbsp Hemp seeds + 1/2 cup water or 1/2 milk of your choice
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• pinch salt
• 1-2 Tbsp organic brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp canned coconut milk

Instructions

1. Place the rolled oats into a 16 oz jar with a lid.
2. In a blender or magic bullet place one peach along with the rest of the ingredients (except the coconut milk).
3. Blend until smooth.
4. Add the liquid into the jar with the oats and mix so that all of the oats are moist.
5. Cube the second peach and place on top of the oats.
6. Top everything off with the coconut milk.
7. Set in the fridge overnight or at least a couple hours.
8. Mix before enjoying.

Recipe Notes

* Choose organic ingredients when possible.

Print

Prep Time 5 minutes

Total Time 5 minutes

Servings 1

Author Sara

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup oat groats
• 1/4 cup rolled oats
• 1 medium peach ripened and pitted
• 1 Tbsp hemp seeds + 1/2 water or milk of choice
• 3 soft dates pitted
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• pinch salt
• 3 Tbsp canned coconut milk

Instructions

1. Place the rolled oats and oat groats into a 16 oz jar.
2. Add half of the peach and all the other ingredients (except the coconut milk) into a blender or magic bullet.
3. Blend until smooth.
4. Add the liquid into the jar with the oats and mix so that all the oats are moist.
5. Cube the other half of the peach and place on top of the oats.
6. Top everything off with the coconut milk.
7. Set in the fridge overnight or at least a couple of hours.
8. Mix before enjoying.

Recipe Notes

* Choose organic ingredients when possible.