ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Wednesday, June 5, 1996                TAG: 9606060001
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 8    EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JUDITH BLAKE, SEATTLE TIMES  

CAN'T BEAT 'EM? COMPROMISE

So you and your significant other differ significantly over food. Here are ideas from nutrition and mental health professionals on coping with those differences:

You're worried about your mate's unhealthful eating habits.

``You really just have to tell them, probably once, that you care about them and you're concerned.'' Then stop, says Norma Lahainer, a mental health therapist who specializes in eating disorders. ``You can't keep harping at it.''

Your husband or wife possibly will pick up some of your healthful eating habits just by constantly observing them, counselors say. If not, remember you're responsible only for your own actions, not the other person's.

Your mate dislikes eating out; you love it.

If trying to get your husband or wife to a restaurant generates arguments, don't fight it. Instead, eat out occasionally with friends, counselors advise.

You like to try different kinds of foods; your mate wants only familiar fare.

Cook more adventurous food on days your mate is out of town, suggests registered dietitian Kathleen Mahan. Or - this is more work - prepare different choices for some meals.

As for dining out, you may have to go with friends if your mate balks at the foreign fare you want to try.

One of you is vegetarian; the other isn't.

Make entrees that can be divided, then add meat, fish or poultry to one portion.

You're on a diet, but your mate brings home treats you're trying to avoid. Mahan suggests saying: ``I'm not going to be eating these - would you like to return them?''

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