A Challenge Awaits

My husband has asked for help.  He wants to lose weight, and he craves sugar as if suddenly exposed to it after years of being deprived.
Bumblebee has asked for help liking vegetables.  She took recent nutrition curriculum, along with a short lecture from her doctor, very seriously.
And I'm just sick of being sick.  I reckon I'm on the mend, but there are a few tests still pending (expensive tests that need to be put off just a teensy, tiny bit) 
So...the challenge is based on a gluten free candida cleanse.  There will be salads at every evening meal, free access to veggies, a few non-gluten whole grains, and some new meals.  Most meals will be corn free.  The girls will be permitted dressings and moderate access to fruit (we really want Bumblebee to feel obligated to munch on veggies.  We know she likes some...we just need to get her to eat more of them than the safe, comforting carbs she craves) 
This weekend, dh is fasting.  Next week's menus include such goodies as roasted chicken, mashed turnips, egg salad and omelets.  Penguin is excited, she loves veggies and new things and that she won't be the only corny one not eating gluten.  Bumblebee is accepting but trepidatious.  She knows she can go for a long time without eating, but as we tell her...the point isn't NOT to eat.  The point is to eat healthy foods.
I'm telling myself it will make up for missing Lent.  And besides...it's much better than that liquid diet I just got off of.  I may make up a bit more gelatin, which although not candida friendly is acceptable on some candida style diets and I'm not supposed to eat raw veggies, they make my pancreas bite back.
I'm not sure the week's challenge will go...but I thought I'd share.  This way, we can't back out!

New Rule: No more diets!

Seriously. New restrictions for new people is getting old.
My dear husband was bemoaning his inability to lose weight. His knowledge of the need to diet, but not knowing where to start. He craves carbs like a fiend. He gets migraines, he feels fatigued. And hungry. He joked about tapeworms.
I bantered along, and then I went and threw out an ominous single word.
"Candida".
Ooops.
He wanted more info. I directed him to the infamous spit test. (Which I always seem to pass, though many people I know have failed and I've read claims that it's impossible to pass. More proof that I'm weird?)
The next morning he began his morning routine before I was up. Then he slunk back to bed and pulled the covers over his head.
"I'm hungry," came a muffled voice.
"Mmmm," I groggily replied, thinking I'd just gone to the store and the shelves and fridge are bursting at the seams.
"I don't know what to eat," his voice was very low.
I tried to pull myself free from the last dregs of sleep to put these pieces together. Oh. "You tried the spit test?" Uh, huh. "You fail?" Uh, huh. "And now you want to go yeast free?" Uh, huh. Help me?

Of course, I said yes. I told him to choose a plan of attack. There's "Feast without Yeast" (Potato heavy, otherwise similar to the famous Anti Candida Diet), "Anti Candida Diet" originally devised by William Crook, or the SCD. His eyes grew wide.
Okay. We'll just sort of do what most people do in the beginning, and focus on cutting out refined sugar and trying to eat real food.
So we sat down to make up a list of safe meals. Eggs. Sauteed veggies. Salads. Brown rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes and grains in moderation, nut butters in moderation. What about meats?
Shrug.
Okay, hon. You're the meat eater. I don't know what all is out there. Chicken?
Sure.
Um, beef?
Sounds good.
What kind?
Huh?
Well, what are we going to do with it?
Whatever you want.

Now we don't fight often. We may disagree, we each take walks (or drives) alone and we wait until the kids are in bed to discuss bigger issues. However, this response produced a small argument. Which I feel bad about.
I wanted to know what kind of meat he'd like, and how to prepare it. He doesn't know. I tried to be patient, and asked for dishes he liked, maybe they were safe or we could make them sugar free/gluten free. He didn't know. I asked him to describe how to prepare the meat, at least.
He told me that was my department.

I'm the vegetarian of the household! I'm second generation vegetarian, in fact. Third, if you count my great grandma, but my grandma (her daughter) ate plenty of flesh foods. Just not really on my day to visit. Since I was vegetarian and all. (Do you get that I was raised vegetarian?) I was even spared turkey prep at Thanksgiving time. (I helped with the rest of the meal.) Not only do I not eat it, I was never around others preparing it to learn from osmosis.

I have an idea that there are giblets stuffed inside a store bought turkey. I know that these should be removed before preparing. And that you need to thoroughly scrub everything raw meat touches. (and cooked meat, for that matter) He claims this is more than he knows, or knew before meeting me.
I don't know what it's supposed to look like! (Raw or cooked. "Good," he says, "When it looks good you know it's done." I've never seen anyone eat beef that looked appealing. Even in our dating days when it was presented on a lovely platter by trained chefs.) I don't know what you're supposed to do with it, or if there are more bits and pieces to trim off before preparing.

And he shrugs and says "I guess we'll find out."

I just hope I don't hurt him in the process. (accidentally, of course)