10 Tips For Couples: Helping Each Other Launch and Maintain Happier, Healthier Lives

You love broccoli. Your spouse or partner hates it. You start every day with a four-mile jog. Lifting fork to mouth is the toughest workout your partner gets. You maintain a healthy weight. He (or she) is getting chubbier, especially around the middle, the most health-damaging area of all.

Or, you’ve both just returned from a successful stay at Pritikin, and you want to help each other maximize and maintain your healthy eating and exercise plans.

Here are 10 tips for helping each other launch or continue with a healthier, happier, Pritikin-style life.

1. Make it a team effort.

You can't do Pritikin for someone else, even your spouse. Nagging, using scare tactics, or playing the cop rarely works either.

Take the "we're on the same team" approach. Repeatedly, studies have found that couples working together make successful lifestyle change more likely. Let your partner know that you're his biggest fan. When he wins, you win. When he makes the effort, even the smallest of steps, you'll be cheering him on.

“And remember that two people working toward the same goal enhances each other’s motivation and provides great support if the going gets tough,” adds Dr. Susan Grober, Director of Behavioral Health and Wellness at the Pritikin Longevity Center® & Spa in Aventura, Florida.

2. Replace negative comments and coercion with positive feedback and information.

Instead of trying to dictate a partner’s health - the restaurant entrees they order, the type of exercise they do - talk to them. “Let them know how much they mean to you, and how much you look forward to spending many active healthy years together,” encourages Dr. Grober.

“And if your significant other is already following the Pritikin Program, ask, ‘Is there something I can do to make it easier for you?’

“Above all,” advises Dr. Grober, “Notice when your partner is succeeding and compliment him! By doing so, you're working together as a team rather than as a parent and child. Remember, too, you can be an example to your loved ones, and provide information to them, but they have to want to make lifestyle changes.”

3. Fill the house with each other’s favorite healthy foods and sweep it clean of unhealthy, nutritionally-empty snacks.

If he tells you, "I can't stand broccoli," don't buy it for him. It's that simple. There are plenty of other green vegetables that will give him all the nutritional goodness he needs. Focus on the ones he does like (and hopefully there are a few!).

4. Never say "never."

“Take it a day and a change at a time,” counsels psychologist Dr. Grober. “Instead of thinking, ‘We can never have meatloaf again,’ trade the hamburger meat for lean ground turkey breast, then jazz it up with some of your favorite meatloaf seasonings - spices, tomatoes, and onions. While your partner may not like it quite as much, he or she may like it well enough. ‘Well enough’ is a job well done, especially when the scale says ‘well done,’ too!”

And don’t expect to like healthier foods like nonfat milk or sugar-free coke the first time you try them, or even the second, third, or fourth time. Decide together to hang in there for three full months because scientific studies have found that our taste buds really can adapt, but it takes time.

Read ALL 10 Tips...

Popular Pritikin Links

1. Kosher Program
2. Pritikin Eating Plan: FREE Download
3. Learn To Cook Pritikin
4. Why Pritikin Works
5. Pritikin Calendar's Specials

What is Pritikin | Pritikin Center | Request Information

Copyright 2007 Pritikin Longevity Center & Spa. All rights reserved.
The Yacht Club at Turnberry Isle. 19735 Turnberry Way, Aventura, FL 33180
Phone (305) 935-7131