Friday, 06 November 2009

  • Can Eating The Same "Healthy" Food Every day Be "Unhealthy"?

     

    I have to admit that when I like something, I tend to “obsess” over it. For instance, if I like a certain song, then I will listen to it over and over again until I get really sick of it and can’t listen to it anymore. It’s usually the same case when it comes to food, too. Unless I’m eating with friends or other people (either going out to eat or ordering in), I generally go to the same place when I’m eating alone (usually a salad bar at a deli near my apt.; I go to this place so much that I even get a discount now). I don’t eat the exact same food for dinner every night, but there still isn’t much variety in the food I choose; it’s mostly chicken, salmon, veggies, and a little bit of almonds sprinkled on top. I think my choices are pretty healthy, but I wonder if eating similar foods for dinner almost every night is a good idea.

    What do you guys think? Are your meals pretty varied, or do you tend to stick with similar foods each night?

     

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Comments (16)

  • soyeahthatswhathappened@xanga

    there is supposed to be variety in your diet. if you are eating the same foods/meals every day, you're getting too much of these nutrients and not enough of these. plus, it tends to be boring, which brings down your emotional health as well. so yes, it is unhealthy.
  • just_the_average_jane@xanga

    The danger in not varying your diet is due mostly to the risk of nutrient deficiency, if it doesn't contain everything that you need.  For example, broccoli is a pretty healthy food; but if I ate nothing but broccoli, I'd be rather malnourished since it just doesn't contain all the nutrients I need to stay healthy. 

    However, if what you're eating every day does include everything, I don't see why it would be unhealthy.  Boring maybe but not unhealthy.  Sort of hard to pick a diet that has everything in a few foods though.

  • FindingxPerfection@xanga

    I usually have the same breakfast every day (cereal or a banana), unless I eat in my dining hall, and my dinners generally follow the same pattern. Main dish (whatever the healthy dining option is at the dining hall), steamed broccoli or carrots, salad, yogurt w/ granola, and mixed fruit. So it stays pretty consistent, but I feel that with my multivitamins and the general choices I make throughout the day, it's not unhealthy.
  • soberheartss@xanga

    sometimes 'cause then your body cant absorb all of its nutrients, and even if they do, it wouldnt be helpful or something
    'cause my mom told me to drink milk. but not too much 'cause then my body wouldn't absorb it *shrug* dunon :)
  • NikBv@xanga

    If you eat what's in season, you'll have a pretty varied diet, while remaining within a (potentially) healthy framework.

    On the other hand, you can survive on pretty much anything. That's the entire idea behind stable foods.

  • LiquidityOfSelf@xanga

    @NikBv@xanga - I heard that the body could survive entirely on potatoes...truth?

    I snack on essentially the same things, and I do worry about it sometimes.
    [But then again, college dining hall only offers a couple things that I really enjoy eating]
    I stick with my staples, let myself have a treat fairly often, and exercise 5/6 days a week, and my body seems fine to me.

  • shes_lump@xanga

    thanks so much for this post! i always wonder the same thing. I eat pretty much the same things every day... Ithink i need to stop eating an odwalla bar for lunch every day. lol... but i just get so sick of salads too.

  • PervyPenguin@xanga

    Totally random, but this proves how man has yet to evolve.  Sure, we can make our own vitamin D by getting 10 minutes of sunlight. However, humans can't survive off the same thing everyday. While another creature, like cats for instance, can make their own vitamins by eating the entrails of mice (about 8 a day). At least, that's what I've heard.
    Mahh, we're such limited creatures.

    - Kunoichi
  • Sammyhellsyea@xanga

    For the firt eight or so weeks of my diet I was eating the same things. Ten pounds came off instantly but for about three weeks I lost nothing. Then I found out it was because of all the oats I was consuming. So I suppose it has less to do with variation and more to do with making sure your not eating too much of something like whole wheat bread. And like others said, making sure you have all the nutrients you need.
  • driftingpebble@xanga

    I am on a very calorie restricted diet, yet really strive to eat healthy. It's a challenge to me to keep things mixed up enough to get all the nutrients, because it's easy and tasty to get into a food rut. I mean, if I only get a limited amount of food, I want it to be things I really like. Plus, if I buy something because of the small quantities I eat at a time, I'm probably going to be eating the same thing day after day to get it used up.

    I've gotten into the habit of freezing portion sized servings so I can keep things mixed up for health reasons.

    If left on my own, I'd have the same breakfast, lunch and two snacks every day and only alter dinner. I did that for months because it's safe and easy...but I have to be really careful about what I choose, and make them nutrient varied and dense as possible...nuts, seeds, dark leafy greens, whole mixed grains...keep the minerals and vitamins as mixed as possible.

  • Charmaine_Lim@xanga

    My meals varied but I do not mind eating similar food cos' different style of cooking makes a lot of different. But most importantly,   eat a balance diet
  • tracezilla@lovelyish

    I think I heard somewhere that Japan has the one of the healthiest diets and a lot of what they eat is pretty much the same thing over and over again. There is variety, but mostly the ingredients are the same. Then again, in Japan they don't put sugar in EVERYTHING like they do in America. o.O;; There was a really cool video on it somewhere here on Xanga. I wonder if I can find it again. o.o;

    But, yeah, I think as long as what you eat IS healthy and as long as you don't just simply get sick of it or develop some kind of an intolerance or allergy to something, then I don't think it should hurt you. I don't think its the same principle as with medicine or poisons, where if you have prolonged exposure to them you become more tolerant of them and they don't do for you anymore what they were intended to. Food, for the most part, I think is different. :p

    But, I'm not a nutritionist. So, I might be totally off base.
  • hopethatitglows@xanga

    I KNOW I don't have nearly enough variety in my diet...but I don't know what else to get. Oh well.
  • lil_KyungMin@xanga

    Freaking college forces me to eat terrible unhealthy foods or I starve. No healthy foods are served in good quantities so the little salads I eat everything are probably the only thing keeping me healthy.
  • Sehsun@xanga

    I eat a lot of the same foods day after day. For example, I always have cereal and soy milk for breakfast (in the past few months, I have had French toast twice though, and once I went to Denny's because I was with family). Lunch is always "overnight oats" plus some sort of fruit - and PB&J and homemade granola bars at work. Dinner these days is usually a mix of anything from whole grain pasta/tofu loaf/some other carbs, vegetables sometimes, and dessert - plain nonfat yogurt with granola & honey.
  • calbill

    To get enough vitamin and mineral you need, it is better to eat a variety of food.


    To find out what kind of food you need, click below


    http://beautifullifesharing.blogspot.com/search/label/Food

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