We have that hard-wired instinct toward food diversity for a good reason. But how much variety is enough, and how much is too much? Typically, microbe diversity is a good thing when it comes to your gut. But, according to Dr. So is it good or bad to eat the same stuff every day? Just be sure the vegetables you eat come in lots of colors, which tend to correlate with different nutrients.
Roberts says the following sample menu would offer pretty much everything your body needs even if you ate it every day: Greek yogurt with fresh fruit for breakfast, a spinach or kale salad with chicken and vegetables for lunch, a fruit-and-nut smoothie for a snack, and some kind of vegetable-and-brown-rice stir fry for dinner.
Of course, there are a thousand other ways you could structure your meals to get all the good stuff your body needs from just a few dishes. Listen to the most important stories of the day. Contact us at letters time. By Markham Heid. We do not endorse non-Cleveland Clinic products or services. You may miss out on different nutrients that different foods provide if you eat the same foods every day. For instance, cashews and pine nuts are a good source of magnesium.
Each color of the rainbow brings unique nutritional benefits, essential for optimal health. For example, green veggies and fruits provide you with lots of plant-based phytonutrients like chlorophyll.
The United States Department of Agriculture recommends building your plate with a variety of fruits, veggies, grains, dairy and lean protein. Make sure to fill half your plate with fruits and veggies and then add whole grains and protein. Try to add new color variations into your diet rotation like purple cauliflower, white asparagus, sweet potatoes and rainbow-colored carrots.
The researchers concluded that nutritious variety was as important — if not more so — than limiting unhealthy foods. So instead of only focusing on limiting inflammatory foods, be sure to increase the variety of nutrients in your diet with plenty of vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds, healthy fats and lean protein. In one s tudy , researchers compared two groups of men and women, ages 40 to The first group incorporated a variety of foods into their diet such as fish, seafood, vegetables, seaweed, fruits, nuts, etc.
The second ate a limited diet with very little variety. These results suggest that, when trying to follow dietary guidance and eat a healthy diet, people may place less importance on variety within meals.
Thinking about variety within meals is important, because research shows that people eat more when meals and foods differ in appearance, taste and texture within the same dish. Each new food characteristic that we experience keeps us interested in a meal for longer, subsequently delaying the feeling of fullness that would normally prompt us to stop eating. This effect can increase the risk of overeating.
For this reason, eating a variety of foods from within food groups with the exception of fruits and vegetables has been related to having a higher body weight. This type of variety could then potentially increase disease risks linked to overweight or obesity. As variety encourages us to eat more, variety within meals may be most helpful when eating fruits and vegetables. This is not only because they are less caloric than other food groups, but more nutritious they contain important vitamins and minerals — so eating a greater variety of fruits and vegetables can benefit our health.
But it can be less helpful when eating high-calorie foods, when the risk of overeating is higher. For example, we could make sure that we have two or more servings of different vegetables on our plate at dinnertime to increase the amount of vegetables we eat.
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