It’s easy when you give it a try!
I often see people who have a limited variety of foods in their diet, and not only does it lead to boredom around eating (which in turn can create unhealthy habits) but it can end with the person limiting their options for one reason or another.
Eating a wider variety of foods expands the variety of nutrients that you’re getting. What does this mean?
- Your muscles and organs get more nutrients
- The risk of developing lifestyle-related disease is reduced
- Your energy levels increase
- The way you think about food improves, which in turn improves meal satisfaction.
It’s a pretty compelling argument, right?
So why do people end up with limited variety in their diet? And how you can change this? I’ve got some tips below…
Lack of knowledge on how to cook a certain food
This is quite a common one, especially with the huge variety of fruit and vegetables that are now available to us. It’s very easy to overlook a strange-looking vegetable which may be packed with nutrients because you just have no idea where to start when it comes to preparing and cooking it!
Try this: Challenge yourself to trying a new vegetable one a month or so, and read up on the internet about how to cook it. Once you’ve nailed it, you can start incorporating it into your diet.
Growing up in a household where there was a limited variety of meals
Again, another common one. I had one client whose husband had grown up eating red meat and potatoes nearly every day of his life, and found it hard to adjust to the idea of, well, not doing this! This made it very hard for my client, who wanted her family to experience a more varied diet. We know what we know, and it can be hard to go outside of our comfort zone. But it’s possible, as you’ll see shortly.
Try this: Set yourself a goal of trying a new recipe every week/fortnight/month – and if you enjoyed it, add it to your repertoire. Soon you’ll have a much more varied selection of meals to enjoy! Taste.com.au has a huge range of great recipes, and I also really like a lot of the recipes on HealthyFoodGuide.com.au.
Lack of time and preparation
In general, we all lead much busier lives than our grandparents did, when every meal was made from scratch. Working long hours and then trying to fit in exercise and a social life, not to mention family life, is challenging, and many people genuinely don’t have hours to spend chopping vegetables in advance. But trust me on this… it’s possible.
Try this: I think you’ll be surprised by what you can actually achieve in a small amount of time, no matter how busy you are. Even planning ahead and deciding what you’re going to eat at each dinner time will help, even if you don’t have time to prep in advance. Meal planning and preparation is one of those things which really becomes quite easy once you’ve done it for a little while and are in the swing of things. It doesn’t actually take anywhere near as much time as you might think and the pay-off is absolutely worth it – you can enjoy fresh and healthy meals with minimal effort during the week. Not to mention reducing food waste – we’ve all grabbed vegetables on the go whilst running through the supermarket, without a plan, and then ultimately chucking out that rotten veg thats sitting at the bottom of your fridge in a week’s time because it didn’t really fit into a recipe?
(Bonus: people who sign up to my newsletter on my website get a free Meal Planning 101 eBook!)
You hadn’t considered the lack of variety in your current diet – until now!
Does reading this article make you think that you might be stuck in a bit of a rut diet-wise? Sometimes you don’t realise how stuck in your habits you are until it’s brought to your attention by someone else.
Try this: Give any of the suggestions mentioned above a go, OR you could book in for a consultation with me at Essence of Eating so we can create a meal plan together which helps you have a bit more variety in terms of what you’re eating.
I hope you’ve found this article useful – I’d love to hear from you if you try any of the suggestions above! I love helping people create realistic, healthy eating habits so don’t hesitate to book in for a consultation with me to see how I can help you if variety in your diet is something you’re struggling with.
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