How important is variety??

It depends on what you will stick to. From a scientific perspective, no, it's not important. But from a practical perspective, if you can eat the same foods every day and hit your targets to reach your goals, then variety is not important. If you get bored of foods and need to change it up to keep it interesting, then variety is important to keep you on track.

It depends on what you will stick to. From a scientific perspective, no, it's not important. But from a practical perspective, if you can eat the same foods every day and hit your targets to reach your goals, then variety is not important. If you get bored of foods and need to change it up to keep it interesting, then variety is important to keep you on track.

^^ This

As long as you are hitting your micro-nutirent and macro-nutrient goals, eating foods that allow for a healthy lifestly, and you see the results that you want, then variety is not essential. Meal variety is a personal decision not a scientific necessity. But to reiterate, you just need to be sure that you are getting the correct nutrients for your body (i.e. the "well rounded diet" that you mentioned).

I think it is important to eat a variety of foods on different days. So if you have blueberries in your oatmeal today, maybe tomorrow, put some raisins in there. I think variety is most important nutritionally for fruits & vegetables.

For example, you could just eat 3 servings of green beans, an apple, and a banana every day and you'd be getting 5 servings of fruits & veggies, but you're going to be much better off if you mix it up with oranges, broccoli, peppers, mangoes, carrots, eggplant, pears, berries, spinach, etc.

If you're meeting your nutritional needs it is probably ok from a physical health perspective. From a "keeping yourself sane" perspective I would just make sure to ask yourself if you're eating the same foods because you are afraid that if you add some variety you will stop losing weight or if you're making "food rules" and arbitrarily eliminating things (or entire food groups) from your diet.

I"m not saying AT ALL that it sounds like you are doing that! Just one more thing to think about. The goal is to lose weight but also teach yourself how to eat healthy in all kinds of situations, like at friend's homes, restaurants, when you unexpectedly work late or when you can't control exactly what you're eating. It could be that if you're eating the same thing every day you're not training yourself in those other ways.

Good luck--it sounds like you are meeting some of your goals already!

Hi all! OK, variety is my question. I tend to stick to certain staples in my daily diet, and don't usually change it up much. Is varitety important? Now, by variety I don't mean variety througout the day (I already do that). I mean variety on a weekly/daily basis. As in, is it ok to eat the same stuff almost daily provided you're getting a well-rounded diet?

I don't usually get bored with it, I'm losing but was wondering about optimization for health and such.

I read somewhere that people who stick to the same foods are more likely to succeed at their weight loss goal because it's easier to just go into a supermarket and pick up exactly what you want. Certainly, it is working for me - I buy the same range every time. I know exactly where to go and do not need to think about things or plan things. Sometimes I do change items, of course, for instance if what I want is unavailable.

Obviously, I'm not saying you should do something like eat 3 apples at each meal for 6 months - anyone who even thought I meant that, please slap yourself and read up on "straw man".

As long as you are getting all your vitamins and you are losing weight why change up the diet? Unless you are bored of your routine it is so much easier to track your calories when you eat similar meals.

I tend to eat the same meals every day. For breakfast I have a protein shake or eggs or oatmeal and greek yogurt. For lunch it is always some combination of soup and salad or meat and veggies. Dinner is always meat and veggies or soup and a salad. For snacks I alterrnate between almonds, cheese, cold cuts, fruit and yogurt.

I generally eat the same few breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and snacks. I volunteered to have a grad student majoring in nutrition and dietetics review my food logs. She said I was doing well overall, but recommended adding in variety, as there were random micronutrients I tend to miss (thiamin, niacin, zinc).

If you feel like adding variety will cause you problems with your calorie goals, you could always add in a multivitamin. The nutrition student said they most likely just give you expensive pee, but my doctor says taking one likely won't hurt anything.