I don’t tell him-I just do it my way and he can go along or not-that cowboy is not someone who lets anyone tell him to do anything-a stubborn deep South Scot is what he is-but a few months before I agreed to re-connect with him, his gall bladder blew up and he very nearly died-the cause was decades of dietary abuse-fried this, fried that, sugar, fast food, white flour, etc-the remains of the thing had to be peeled off other organs to remove it-sounded like a horror movie plot...
By the time we started dating again, he had gone to a nutritionist and committed to the healthy eating thing-he is honest enough to admit that one reason he chose me was because he knew I was brought up eating healthy and would not go off that path, knew I take no RX or illicit drugs and work out-and that he’d be motivated to maintain that lifestyle if he was with me, as well. I’ll keep managing the groceries as long as he wants me to-I want my man healthy and with me a long time-after all, I don’t want to hear that black widow s*** again...
But even with that explanation, it makes him sound a tad weak, like he needs a mommy taking care of basic life choices.
It sounds like it works great for you guys, so I’m not faulting you. Just sort of dissecting and parsing word meanings.
My ultra-traditional views of male/leaders + women/subservient as “best practice” probably also colors my take on things.