How monotonous meals can help you achieve your fitness goals.
Disclaimer: This article is not about how you should eat plain chicken with rice and broccoli to unleash the gym bro within.
If you’ve struggled with staying consistent with your diet, and not knowing what foods to eat, this is for you.
One of the most common mistakes I see people make is thinking all their meals have to be delicious — almost like they are preparing for a MasterChef competition.
Now, don’t get me wrong, as a former chef, I can relate.
I love cooking and I still do it every day. In fact, before I got into fitness and nutrition, my first love was food.
Having experience as both a chef and a sports nutritionist, I can tell you that cooking for everyday life is different than cooking a gourmet meal.
Let me share with you a bit of my story.
I usually say there are two sides of me. The chef and the nutritionist.
If I’m focusing more on fat loss, I’ll prioritize nutrition over flavor, but if I’m preparing a meal for friends or family, the chef side will take over.
In other words, all I’m thinking about is how to get the most flavor out of the meal and give my friends a “wow” moment. This doesn’t mean I forget about all the nutrition fundamentals I learned, but they are not the priority.
Generally speaking, on most days, my meals are a mix of both the chef and the nutritionist.
(Spoiler alert: You can have a tasty and nutritious meal.)
However, most people only have the chef side in them and don’t know how to cook for everyday life. They constantly seek new recipes and want every meal to be a gastronomic experience.
If that’s you, I see nothing wrong with it.
However, if you’re struggling with your fitness goals, it might be because you’re adding too much variety to your diet.
In other words, being more monotonous with your meals (don’t confuse monotony with bland) can help you stay more consistent with your diet and make you less prone to overeating.
How?
Several studies [1,2,3], researched the effect of increased variety of foods over days or weeks. In short, a high-variety diet resulted in reduced satiety and overconsumption of calories, compared to a low-variety diet.
Other studies have observed the reverse effect — known as the monotony effect [4,5,6]. This effect shows that eating similar meals makes you feel more satisfied and eat less calories.
In other words, when you have a similar structure each day, it’s easier to stay on track with your goals.
Let’s think about restaurants as an example.
For the vast majority of restaurants, their main goal is to serve you delicious food, not prepare you a macro-friendly meal.
This means using every tool at their disposal to give you that “wow” moment. This usually means cooking with a lot of fat or a combination of fats, carbs, and salt, as these are the key ingredients that make food stand out.
The main downside is that these meals are considerably more calorie-dense (higher in calories), compared to a homecooked meal.
This doesn’t mean you can’t eat out or you can’t cook gourmet meals, but rather that if that is your default mode, then you will struggle with fat loss.
But what if do this out of necessity?
Maybe you don’t know how to cook, or you’re too busy during the week.
If that’s the case, here is what I recommend:
1) Learn basic cooking skills.
Things like how to make rice, eggs, stir-fries, etc. are a great place to start. If you learn this skill, you’ll be able to prepare hundreds of different meals.
2) Have staple meals that you enjoy as part of your routine.
I always eat the same breakfast (chocolate protein oats with banana, frozen berries, and cinnamon) because I love it and it makes it easier for me to stay on track with my goals. There is no decision fatigue in the morning.
3) Invest in cooking appliances that can make your life easier.
Things like an Instapot, rice cooker, air fryer, or a ninja blender.
4) Gamify your meals.
Level 1 is learning how to structure a meal based on the right portion sizes for each macronutrient (protein, carbs, and fats).
Level 2 is trying something different. Maybe making a sauce, or trying a new cooking method like using a pressure cooker (they are super easy to use and I love them by the way — the food comes out amazing).
Level 3 and beyond are up for you to decide, but don’t try to always go for a gourmet meal. Start easy, and go from there.
5) Learn about ingredient prep.
You might have heard about meal prep, but ingredient prep is a different game.
In short, ingredient prep is all about preparing a quick meal, without having to cook anything.
For example, you can buy some high-fiber tortillas, add some rotisserie chicken, a salad, and fruit, and there you go. That’s an entire meal in less than 5 minutes and it’s highly nutritious.
TL;DR:
Adding a bit of monotony to your diet can help you stay on track with your fitness goals, as it increases satiety and prevents overeating.
Where to start? Learn basic cooking skills, add staple meals to your diet, invest in cooking appliances to make your life easier, gamify your meals, and use ingredient prep when you’re short on time.
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Thank you for reading!