Variety isn't always the spice of life

Variety is meant to be the spice of life, but in reality variety may make healthy eating and weight loss harder. According to new research published in the American Journal of Nutrition, less variety means less kilojoules throughout the week. For the study, researchers put 32 obese and non-obese women aged 20-50 years of age on an unhealthy diet of macaroni and cheese. The women were randomly assigned to eating macaroni and cheese five times, either daily for one week or once a week for five weeks. At the end of the study, both the obese and non-obese women who had eaten macaroni and cheese daily consumed fewer kilojoules than the women who ate it only once a week. In fact, the women who ate macaroni and cheese once a week ate more kilojoules.

Eating the same thing day after day may sound dull but it's a winning formula for weight loss. Monotony with eating eventually leads to a decrease response or habituation to that food. In other words, over exposure to food makes us lose interest in it and consequently reduce the amount we eat. This isn't the only research that believes variety to be an issue for weight loss, with research published in the journal Obesity Research finding people who have successfully maintained major weight loss for several years had less variety from all food groups and consumed fewer kilojoules than those who recently lost weight. While the people that succeeded in weight loss still ate foods from each category, they ate less variety within categories.

While our national nutrition guidelines recommend eating a wide variety of foods, this isn't always practical and it can contribute unnecessary waste. For many people our fast-paced lifestyle makes it hard enough to find the time to prepare healthy meals let alone making each one different. That's why creating a regular routine in which your breakfast, lunch and snacks are similar, if not the same, makes healthy eating easier. The grocery shopping is easier and meal preparation is easier. Too many different foods in the fridge means you need to come up with a range of recipes in order to use them all up. Otherwise these foods become part of the $5.2 billion worth of food wasted each year.

For overall health and well-being it's important to include a certain amount of variety in your diet, but you don't have to make every meal or snack you eat different. Instead aim to enjoy foods from each of the five food groups - fruit, vegetable, cereals and grains, meat and meat alternatives, and dairy products and non-dairy alternatives. Dish up a variety of non-starchy vegetables, while offer one option of carbohydrates and one option of protein at each meal. Keep your snack choices to a few different options and avoid a buffet style of eating. Controlling the variety of foods on offer isn't boring, it makes healthy eating easier.