Maybe cooking seems like an unrewarding chore. Or maybe strict eating habits help you achieve a slimmer, fitter body. As different as these two types may seem, many people in each group have adopted the same strategy: eating the same thing every day.
But is it really possible to repeat the same food every day—or at every meal—and still provide the body with the most complete nutrition possible?
Eating the same thing at every meal: good or bad?
Those pursuing a specific fitness (or fiscal) goal may be tempted to simplify each meal to a handful of select foods. But eating the same meal multiple times a day is not recommended, says Brittany N. CrimPh.D., director of Nutrition and Development Services at the University of Texas at Austin.
“It’s difficult to get all the macro and micro nutrients in the right proportions every day,” she says. It’s even harder when you stick to one type of food to do it.
If you are going to “eat the rainbow,” that requires consuming a variety of nutrients that are unlikely to all be present in a single meal. You may be able to stay alive, as they do in a clinical setting for people with conditions where a patient must be tube-fed for extended periods, but you won’t thrive. And over a long enough period of time, you’re likely to experience deficiencies that can cause serious problems down the road.
“We are inserting the same macronutrients and micronutrients into a tube, and maintaining life and health that way,” Crim says. “So, yes, could “Eat exactly the same thing all day, every day, as long as it’s perfectly balanced with all the macro and micronutrients you need. Would I recommend this to people? No.”
Eating the same food once a day: good or bad?
However, you can follow a diet where you eat the same food at some point every day, which is what most people do for breakfast or lunch, Crim says.
“I don’t eat red meat every day, but it’s my main source of iron,” she says. “And I get enough iron for my week when I eat red meat, two servings a week.” So if you eat the same thing for breakfast every day, mix it up with lunch and dinner and snacks.
The bottom line is that any diet plan that doesn’t provide all the nutrients you need on a daily basis can have detrimental consequences. Just like losing weight. too much of a certain nutrient by overeating even “healthy” foods. For example, consuming too many carrots It can turn your skin orange.
Below are the advantages and disadvantages of eating the same food every day:
Advantages
- It’s easier to keep track of calories
- Less time making purchasing and cooking decisions.
- It is easier to establish healthy eating habits
Cons
- It can cause nutritional deficiencies.
- It may result in too much of a given nutrient
- Taste fatigue can discourage you from eating all or part of a meal, resulting in wasted food and money.
Having the flexibility to rotate at least some of your meals is important in the long run. Better yet, plan a meal menu for the week, which offers some of the benefits of meal simplification while also offering a more complete nutritional profile.
Can supplements compensate for nutritional deficiencies?
But, you might say, I’m able to take some multivitamins and some… fish oil every day, so my repetitive and potentially harmful eating won’t matter as much. Not so fast.
Dietary supplements, while offering benefits, Yeah If you are deficient in any vitamin or mineral, it should not be used as a panacea.
“I’m a big believer in trying to get the nutrients you need. We can supplement, but it’s not going to be as effective as if we actually ate the food,” Crim says. “Food actually gives us greater bioavailability of a nutrient, so we’re more likely to ingest it, absorb it, and utilize it effectively.”
Most micronutrients act synergistically, meaning that if you get them from different sources, they will improve their ability to act throughout the body and their longevity in the body. “Therefore, taking a single supplement may not be as beneficial as eating a big, delicious salad containing 15 different varieties of antioxidants.”
