it's hard to get all your nutrients in if you aren't eating a variety of foods.
I agree with this but didn't realise quite how important it was until this morning when i read in my current book that we need hundreds of different nutrients in our diets and without them we do not function quite so effectively and it makes weightloss harder.
So while i understand it may be easier to eat the same foods over and over again to stay on a diet, there is still a level at which you and me are probably not aware of that makes weightloss speed less than optimal.
I learned that we should eat 30 more different types of food each week to achieve our maximum nutrition.
one fascinating thing i read in the same book was that our body is producing cancer cells all the time. She writes " one of the reasons most people don't get cancer is that the immune system is constantly tracking down those aberrant cells and destroying them before they get out of hand. By eating a varied diet you help keep your immune system in top condition and thereby help protect yourself against cancer and other chronic diseases."
She follows this up with a convincing discussion about how nutritional supplements simply do not cut it in comparison with a varied diet.
So this all comes from a book called The Don't go Hungry Diet by Dr Amanda Sainsbury-Salis and on page 140 143.
so i don't want to make you start stressing too much but its worthwhile trying to include more food variety into your diet if you want long term success - which i do.
I eat mostly the same each day but massively vary my protein source (which is fish). So, it's oats for breakfast with fish. Then salad for lunch with fish. I stock at least 30 varieties of fish, so that makes for a lot of variety.
Ian a lot of variety of the same food type does not cut it. You are mainly getting a variety of flavours but not much more than that as far as i can tell.
The nutritional profiles of fish do vary. Oily fish are quite different to white fish. Plus the risks from mercury and other contaminants varies too. As does sustainability. Fish certainly provide more variety than meats.
The nutritional profiles of fish do vary. Oily fish are quite different to white fish. Plus the risks from mercury and other contaminants varies too. As does sustainability. Fish certainly provide more variety than meats.
I don't think i'm saying they don't vary just not significantly enough to provide the breadth of nutrition you and all of us would most benefit from.
But i don't expect you to change what you do because i recommend it. I know you are happy where you are. Its no sweat off my back.
I do find it easiest to lose and maintain when I'm eating mostly the same things up until dinner time.
For example, during the year when I was at my lowest weight, my work week diet looked like this:
B:
* Plain fage 2% greek yogurt; a del monte red grapefruit cup.
OR
* Oatmeal with mixed nuts (100 calories worth), cinnamon, and some milk.
L:
*Whichever breakfast I didn't have.
OR
* Packet of tuna or salmon, single serving of cheese, fresh fruit or veg.
* Fresh fruit, nuts, and cheese.
* Hummus or guac with fresh veg.
* Amy's bean burrito
* frozen Kashi meal
S:
* Protein bar
* Nuts
And then I'd have more variety at dinner. Sometimes I'd just eat tons of roasted veg with parmesan, but usually I'd have protein and lots of veg. I'd also often eat various types of eggs sandwiches. Sometimes I'd eat higher calorie foods for dinner, like hamburgers and fries, tacos, and various pasta dishes.
On the weekends, I had less of a routine.
Eating like this and working out most days made it easy for me to maintain a size 2, something that's been impossible for me to do w/o that structure.
Breakfast is very typical: cereal with a piece of fruit OR a big fruity green smoothie. I've been doing cereal for the past 2 weeks simply because that's what I've desired when I woke up.
Lunch: varies, but typically something like peanutbutter&jelly sandwich, canned soup, canned pasta, baked beans, veggies, fruits,
I like canned or quick stuff I can grab in the morning to take to work. I put my veggies/fruits in plastic containers days before so I pull them out of the fridge quickly when I want them.
dinner: varies, sometimes the lazy route of canned food again, but other times more elaborate like spaghetti, veggie burgers and fries, etc.
I will never be a cook-from-scratch kind of person. I just don't like cooking enough. But my diet is still a million times better than when my entire life was boxed, canned animal products full of HFCS and sodium galore.
There are a lot of things that I like and therefore eat over and over again, but I also cook once to eat several times. This means that I'm often eating the same things again and again.
For example, I'll cook one muffin tin (12) egg muffins so that I can eat 2 for breakfast daily. I make 1lb of shredded chicken breast to add to salads for the week. I also make one batch of stew, chili, or soup, and divide it into individual portions to freeze. I always make homemade gluten free squash/chicken nuggets and zucchini/turkey meatballs and have them on-hand in my freezer and sometimes make high fiber/low carb breakfast or regular burritos for my freezer.
This way I'm not always eating the same food several days in a row, but I have so many meals that are just a microwave away from being served AND I already have the calorie counts labeled on the foods.
I tend to go toward the same snacks - I've been eating baby carrots dipped in either ranch or hummus almost daily for 6 years!
A typical day for me is:
B: 2 egg muffins (100 cals)
S: serving of fruit (50 cals)
L: salad with chicken OR something I've made and portioned in my freezer (200 cals)
S: raw veggies with dip (150 cals)
D: VARIES so much 300-500 cals
S: VARIES depending on what's left from dinner (100-300 cals)
