We heard David Beckham lament that his wife Victoria has only ever eaten grilled fish and vegetables throughout their marriage. He, on the other hand, is ravenous for a variety of foods. So, which is the healthier option?
Sure, Victoria may have found her formula and is sticking to it but, from a broader health perspective, I’m backing David’s approach.
For ultimate nutrition, it’s so important to get a diverse range of food in your diet. Eating the same meals week in, week out, may feel safe and comfortable but it’s not giving you the nourishment you need and I guarantee, at some point you’re going to get bored and make the wrong choices.
Repetitive food choices can also give rise to allergies when your body builds a resistance to concentration on the same foods even if they’re healthy foods.
Here are my tips to shaking things up a bit and maintaining variety.
1. Commit to including at least one new ingredient in your cooking each week. This could be made easier by trying a new recipe or find out what foods are in season and search for a recipe that features that food.
2. To make any change in your life requires some conscious brain space. It will always seem harder than what we used to do, but if what we used to do is on auto pilot, that’s not healthy either.
3. Understand that it won’t add extra time to your food prep routine to swap some ingredients around.
4. Accept that maybe your food preferences are hangovers from childhood that are due for an update.
One of my clients recently told me he never ate seafood. I found that so interesting that I asked which ones in particular and he replied that he’d never even tried it. He just had a blockage about it. Our food preferences aren’t necessarily rational; it’s our comfort zone and determination not to move away from that for anything.
Our chef at Aston RX is adding new recipes every week which is proof that there are plenty of foods available to maintain that all important variety. I have a lot of clients on the 28-day program who eat different foods every single day.
Do it for your gut biome, if not for your pleasure, remembering that the gut welcomes a range of foods to keep the good bacteria in charge and well-fed.
