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John tried very nearly everything he could think of to get Sherlock Holmes to eat properly before he finally hit upon the answer that, like Sherlock's deductions, seemed obvious once he looked back on it. The problem was that when Sherlock wasn't refusing to eat because of a case, or gorging himself after one, he completely forgot about the necessity.
John tried reminding him in person, through texts and phone calls (Which did exactly *no* good, since Sherlock refused to answer), setting an alarm, and on one memorable occasion got Mrs. Hudson, Lestrade, and Molly to stop by the flat to prod him toward the kitchen. Nothing at all was accomplished by any of it aside from making Mrs. Hudson fret, making Lestrade threaten to cut Sherlock off of cases, making Molly cry, driving up John's mobile bill, and destroying a perfectly good alarm clock. In fact John had the sneaking suspicion that Sherlock was actually eating *less* than he would have otherwise. Finally, in frustration, he resorted to tactics he'd used training his dog when he was a boy.
Setting down a plate with a sandwich and some crisps on it next to Sherlock's elbow John said firmly, "Eat your lunch Sherlock."
Full lip poking out a bit further, Sherlock settled firmly into the couch and pointedly ignored the plate and John both. Well two could play at that game and John returned the favor with more glee than was probably appropriate. For the next six hours John flatly refused to acknowledge that Sherlock existed except to give a pointed look at the sandwich every now and again.
If there was one thing Sherlock Holmes couldn't abide, it was being ignored by John Watson and finally, after ranting about how utterly childish John was being, he ate the sandwich. Relaxing in relief, because ignoring Sherlock was somehow more work than managing his tempers, John reverted to his usual behavior and rewarded Sherlock with a bright smile.
It took a week or so of this before Sherlock finally gave in, but John counted it worth every second when he came home from the surgery one day to find that Sherlock had heeded his text and actually eaten the left over spaghetti John had left for him.
The plate was discarded upside down on the sitting room rug while the fork was sticking out of the mail on the mantle, but John was well versed in taking the victories where he could.