Variety May NOT Be the Spice of Life for Weight Loss!

According to Dr. Mehmet Oz (yes, of Oprah fame), eating the same meal once daily may very well HELP you lose weight. That's right. He claims that people who choose the same meal (say for lunch), lose more weight than those who shoot for variety in their meals!

That’s Fit website quotes Dr. Oz as saying “By decreasing the variety of foods you eat throughout the day, you'll decrease the chance for the hedonistic rampages that can be so dangerous."

Hmmm. So if you limit your choices, weight loss (or staying on track) is easier! Dr. Oz recommends choosing a healthy dish you like, and sticking with it. For example, if you really like grilled chicken Asian salad or veggie wraps, then use those as standard lunches.

My recommendation: If you’re afraid you’re going to get bored, don’t be! Simply tweak the meal! For example, switch up the ingredients you include in your salad. You might add different greens, water chestnuts, sesame seeds or apple chunks, or change the chicken to salmon…you get the idea.

In general, I try to eat a larger lunch and a much smaller dinner.  My dinner meal is the one I keep relatively "the same" a few nights per week. My standby dinner is a whole wheat tortilla layered with beans, corn, and light cheese served with a small salad or fruit. I know that if I'm running and gunning, I have a meal I can count on to be healthy, quick, and easy. It takes the guesswork out of a lot of nights! And if I got bored with it, I simply change up the style of beans or the veggies I include. So in my experience, what Dr. Oz says is true! I think keeping the same meal a few days a week has helped me stay on track because I don't have to grocery shop for lots of different meals, I don't have to spend lots of time in the kitchen learning new recipes, and I can rush home with 10 minutes to spare before having to drive a child to a practice and still have a healthy meal ready without stress of “What do I fix now?”

The That’s Fit article also points out this no-brainer: “Bonus: Just as you plan your lunches, plan your snacks too and keep small containers of baby carrots, celery sticks, apple slices, nuts or dried fruit on hand to counter that mid-afternoon urge to hit the vending machine. ‘You're more likely to avoid unhealthy snacking temptations if you've planned ahead,’ says Dr. Oz.”

Ah, yes. The middle drawer in my office desk is my fruit/veggie/nut drawer! I load it up at the beginning of the week and raid it instead of the candy basket in my boss’s office!

You can do it, too! Plan ahead today.