Banish diet boredom

Do you eat the same foods over and over? Not only is it monotonous, but it can reduce your intake of important nutrients.

They say variety is the spice of life, and that certainly rings true when it comes to your diet. Eating a wide variety OF healthy foods will not only make your diet more interesting and enjoyable, it also increases your chances of obtaining all the vitamins, minerals, fibre and antioxidants you need.

Research on diet variety and your weight

Eating a wide variety of foods can have an impact on your weight, however that impact can be positive or negative depending on the types of foods you choose.

 A study published in Journal of the American College of Nutrition suggested eating a wide variety of snack foods was positively associated with excess body fat. However, the same study also suggested that people who ate a variety of grain and meat products had less excess body fat.

These findings were echoed in a similar American study which suggested that a variety of sweets, snacks, condiments, main meals and carbohydrates promotes long-term increases in energy intake and body fatness, whereas a variety of vegetables (excluding potatoes) has the opposite affect.

It’s not surprising that eating a variety of high kilojoule, low nutrient junk foods is fattening. These foods are moorish but don’t fill you up, so it’s easy to overeat. On the other hand, having a wide choice of unprocessed, lower-kilojoule foods such as fruits and vegetables may actually help with weight loss.

According to researchers, adults tend to consume a constant daily weight of food. Increasing the variety and intake of low-energy density vegetables may replace the intake of higher-energy items, reducing overall kilojoule intake and hence body fatness.

Adding variety to your diet

Here are some tips on how to maximize the weight reducing properties of adding variety and interest to your diet.

• Focus on eating a wide variety of unprocessed plant foods, such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes. Seek out new recipes and ideas, and don’t be afraid to experiment with varieties you’ve never tried before.
• Don’t stock your pantry with a variety of snacks, sweets and processed carbohydrates. Having a wide choice of less healthy foods may cause you to overeat, and could trigger weight gain.
• One helpful guide is to aim for 30 different types of healthy foods each day, and 40 different types of food each week. Include a variety of foods from within each of the five food groups, such as grain foods, fruits and vegetables, milk and dairy, meat, fish and alternatives, and fats and oils.
• Focus on lower energy density foods, such as skim milk instead of full fat milk, lean meat instead of fatty meat, and water rich vegetables (capsicum, snow peas) instead of starchy vegetables (potatoes). 
• Vary your breakfasts regularly. You can rotate between grain based cereals (wheat, oat, or barley based), fruit salad and yoghurt, smoothies, toast, and an egg with baked beans and spinach.
• Choose recipes that contain lots of healthy ingredients such as salads, stir-fries and soups.
• Use plenty of different herbs and spices to add colour, aroma and taste to your foods, and reduce the need for fat or salt.
• Avoid fad diets that focus on single foods, or eliminate whole food groups
• Include an array of different coloured fruits and vegetables, such as red, green, orange, yellow and white. A rainbow of colour adds to the visual appeal of your food, and provides different nutrients.
• If you don’t enjoy eating a wide variety of foods, or struggle to eat a range of different foods, a multivitamin and mineral supplement may be suitable.

References available on request