In modern culture, dividing your daily diet into three large meals - breakfast, lunch, and dinner - is widely accepted for optimal health. This belief primarily stems from culture and early epidemiological studies. However, experts have begun to change their perspective, suggesting that eating smaller, more frequent meals may be best for preventing chronic disease and weight loss. As a result, more people are changing their eating patterns in favor of eating several small meals throughout the day. But what about eating the exact same thing every day? Is it a recipe for success or a nutritional disaster? Let's delve into the pros and cons of this dietary approach.
Potential Benefits of Eating the Same Thing Every Day
Simplifies Meal Planning and Reduces Decision Fatigue
One of the most significant advantages of eating the same thing every day is the sheer simplicity it brings to meal planning. It eliminates the stress of deciding what to eat, reduces decision fatigue, and makes grocery shopping a breeze. You always know what to buy, minimizing food waste and saving money in the long run. It is less stressful trying to come up with new recipes or ideas, especially after a long day. That’s when people tend to default to poor food choices.
Promotes Consistent Calorie and Macro Tracking
For those focused on weight loss or muscle gain, eating the same meals daily can be an effective way to track calories and macronutrients. Knowing how many calories you consume daily is essential whether you want to lose, gain, or maintain weight. It makes macro counting easier. One of the biggest deterrents to people who want to lose weight or gain muscle by macro tracking is the time it takes to find and enter the food on their app of choice. Eating the same thing every day eliminates that problem.
Establishes Healthy Eating Habits
Eating the same meal or snack each day can help you create healthy eating habits without the stress of figuring out what to eat. Plus, the more often you eat something, the more it becomes a habit instead of a conscious choice. That apple a day gets much easier to keep up after a couple of weeks!
Minimizes Temptation and Promotes Portion Control
When your meal is pre-planned, you don’t need to spend money at a restaurant or make a last-minute trip to the market. Eating the same foods means you only stock your fridge and pantry with what you need. If certain less healthy foods aren't part of your daily diet, they don’t belong in your cupboard. Consistency can also help with portion control.
Read also: Can Pickles Help You Lose Weight?
May Aid Weight Loss
Eating the same thing every day or repeating meals and ingredients throughout the week may help you lose weight or stick with your diet. Research has shown that more dietary variety is associated with fat and increased body weight. This is especially true when people are given an assortment of snack foods instead of just one. Researchers believe that different tastes and textures may encourage overeating. When the study’s participants were only given a single snack option, they tended to eat less of it.
Potential Drawbacks of Eating the Same Thing Every Day
Can Lead to Boredom and Reduced Enjoyment of Food
A significant downside of eating the same meal every day is the monotony. Your goal may be to develop a routine, but repeating what you eat can lead to boredom. Even if it’s a meal you truly enjoy, it will get old. This can leave you abandoning your meal plan because you’re craving something new-and the “new” is less likely to be healthy. You should look forward to what you’re eating! That doesn’t mean takeout and massive slices of pizza all the time, but you should still enjoy the food on your plate. You’ll never stick to a diet - or even healthier meals - if you hate it.
May Result in Nutrient Deficiencies
Different fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, whole grains, and proteins contain different micronutrients and macronutrients. So, if your meal is always the same, you run the risk of nutrient deficiency-even if your diet consists primarily of whole foods. Loading up your big salad with protein and veggies is great. But if you only use the same ones, you could miss some essential nutrients. Swapping out protein sources provides some crucial vitamins and minerals you might not otherwise get, even with supplements. The same is true for your fruits and veggies. Many dietitians recommend “eating the rainbow” due to the different nutrients found in different colored foods.
Can Negatively Impact Gut Health
Different vitamins and minerals feed and fuel different gut bacteria. There are between 300 to 500 different strains of bacteria that make up your microbiome. Even healthy foods can have an adverse effect on gut health if there is no diversity. Following a clean, healthy, nutrient-rich diet is always a good idea, and if eating the same food daily helps you stay on track, that’s great. However, try a little variety to get the most from your plan.
May Hinder Weight Loss Progress
If weight loss is your goal, sticking to the same foods can cause the scale to stop moving in the right direction. Adding in new, healthy foods can be a great way to make restrictive diets more interesting.
Read also: The Power of Oranges
May Increase Risk of Metabolic Disease
Eating a varied mix of nutrient-dense foods may improve your metabolic health, including lower odds of hypertension, HDL cholesterol, and excess fat around the waist.
How to Mitigate the Downsides
Prioritize Nutrient-Dense Foods
Taking control of your eating habits, health, and weight by eating the same thing every day only works if you eat nutrient-dense foods. If one meal a day is consistently the same, be diligent about nutrient diversity in your snacks and other meals.
Vary Ingredients Within the Same Meal
Simply adding or removing a couple of ingredients to your regular meals can change the nutritional content and the flavor while giving your body the vitamins, minerals, and gut microbes it needs to thrive. For example, change your salad greens from spinach to kale one day. Switch your protein from chicken to fish. Top your yogurt with blueberries instead of strawberries. Add some mushrooms to your omelet. If you eat oatmeal or whole grain cereal for breakfast, switch up the fruit and toppings. If you make a stir-fry or sheet pan meal for dinner, use different vegetables. If you have nuts or seeds and yogurt for a snack, eat different nuts and seeds. If you enjoy whole grains as a side dish, mix different grains and add legumes. Continually experiment with different spices, dried herbs, and fresh herbs. Add more fermented foods to your diet including olives, pickles, and kimchee. Stock up on frozen vegetables and canned beans for easy food prep. Cook soups and other easy-to-freeze recipes in bulk to defrost and eat later. Try at least one new nutrient-aligned recipe a week so that you have more options to add to the mix.
Consider Seasonal Eating
Being mindful about eating seasonally is an easy way to naturally add variety to your diet by choosing what’s in season and combining those foods with your staple food items.
Make Gradual Changes
No, you don’t have to overhaul what you’re already doing or spend an entire day meal prepping. Simply adding or removing a couple of ingredients to your regular meals can change the nutritional content and the flavor while giving your body the vitamins, minerals, and gut microbes it needs to thrive.
Read also: Health Benefits of Lentils
Who Might Benefit from Eating the Same Thing Every Day?
People Seeking Simplicity and Routine
Those who thrive on routine and find comfort in predictability may find this approach beneficial.
Individuals with Specific Dietary Needs
People with certain health conditions or allergies may find it easier to manage their diet by sticking to a limited range of foods.
Those Focused on Weight Loss
As mentioned earlier, the consistency in calorie and macro intake can be helpful for weight management.
Who Might Need to Be Cautious?
Picky Eaters
Those with limited food preferences should be especially careful to ensure they are meeting their nutritional needs.
Individuals with a History of Disordered Eating
The rigidity of this approach may not be suitable for those with a history of disordered eating.
People Who Get Bored Easily
If you are prone to food boredom, this approach may not be sustainable in the long run.
The Importance of Overall Diet Quality
While meal frequency and variety can play a role in health and weight management, it is essential to remember that overall diet quality is paramount. Emphasize fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat or fat-free milk or dairy products. Include protein from various sources, including seafood, lean meat and poultry, eggs, nuts, seeds, soy products, and legumes. Stay within your allotted calorie needs. Limit added sugars, cholesterol, trans fats, and saturated fats.
Other eating patterns
Small, Frequent Meals
Those who advocate for eating small, frequent meals suggest that this eating pattern can improve satiety, or feeling full after a meal, increase metabolism and body composition, prevent dips in energy, stabilize blood sugar, and prevent overeating. A review published in Nutrition in Clinical Practice shows that certain populations may benefit from six to 10 small, frequent meals. These include people who experience early satiety, are trying to gain weight, have gastroparesis, or have gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, or bloating.
Fewer, Larger Meals
People who may benefit from three larger meals per day include those who have difficulty practicing portion control, those who tend not to eat mindfully, and people who live busy lives and may not have time to plan and prepare several nutritious mini-meals a day.
Fad Diets to Avoid
There are many fad diets that promote eating the same thing every day or severely restricting food choices. Here are some to avoid:
- Atkins Diet: A low-carb diet that can be unsustainable due to the restriction of a major energy source.
- Zone Diet: While balanced, it restricts certain nutritious foods, making it difficult to maintain long-term.
- Keto Diet: A high-fat, very low-carb diet that can lead to excess saturated fat intake and limited fruit and vegetable consumption.
- Grapefruit Diet: A one-food-focused diet that is severely restrictive and lacks essential nutrients.
- Paleo Diet: Excludes whole grains, a food group linked to lowering the likelihood of heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.
- Gluten-Free Diet: Only necessary for those with celiac disease or gluten allergy; not a weight loss solution.
- Master Cleanse: A liquid-only diet that lacks sufficient nutrients and leads to temporary weight loss.
- Whole30: An elimination diet that lacks scientific evidence to support its benefits.
- Low-Fat Diet: Often leads to consumption of processed, unhealthy foods in place of healthy fats.
- Special K Diet: A low-calorie, short-term plan that lacks variety and adequate nutrition.
- Alternate-Day Fasting: Can lead to increased LDL cholesterol and is often disliked due to hunger and irritability.