Variation In Diet

[catan]

How varied is your diet?

I'm curious because most people around me seek to eat a quite a variety, particularly with fruit and vegetables. I feel like we don't have much variety, and how much does that matter?

I'm all about efficiency when it comes to meals since I have to feed two young children (ages 5 and 2) besides myself.

Right now our meals are:

Breakfast
- 2-3cups of coffee (me): w/ 1T sugar, 1T cocoa powder, 3oz raw milk.
- oatmeal w/ milk and sugar or pancakes w/ maple syrup

Lunch
- basmati rice with ground beef and potatoes & carrots/eggs, scrambled in coconut oil/oysters/liver/ homemade sushi (rice, seaweed, egg, carrot)

Dinner
- baked potato/sweet potato/squash or homemade pizza (just cheese, mushrooms for myself)/pasta.

Snack
- rotation consisting of dates, string cheese, popcorn, applesauce, fruit (apple, bananas, mandarins), rice cakes, orange juice, milk, rice krispies, homemade chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, toast w/ honey or cheese (this is what I have at home but each of us have strong preferences for a few things and eat those only)

I make bone broth every week and use it in rice and dishes with rice.

My children's vegetable intake consist mainly of potato, sweet potato, carrots, and the occasional broccoli. So far they won't try anything else. They really like pancakes, pizza, and pasta so I make those at home, but I've been trying to eat less since I don't feel my best on them. They can eat a lot more starch than fruit. My kids don't eat oysters so they eat a lot more eggs than I do. I'm still nursing and a high carbohydrate diet has improved my milk supply. I plugged everything in chronometer and average about 2500 calories.

Is there anything I'm missing?

 

[James IV]

Your diet sounds like it has a lot of variety. Traditionally most diets consisted of a meat/dairy staple, a fruit/starch staple, and small amounts of other foods mostly for flavor or medicinal value.
The ability to eat foods from all over the world at any time, is a new phenomenon, and arguably detrimental to health, knowing what we know about gut microbiome.
I think modern folks seek a lot more reward from food simply because we are reward seekers, and we now have the ability to do so.

If you are covering your bases nutritionally, and calorically, I would not be worried about adding in foods for the sake of variety.

 

[Dessert_All_Day]

Looks good 2 me

 

[raypeatclips]

The ability to eat foods from all over the world at any time, is a new phenomenon, and arguably detrimental to health, knowing what we know about gut microbiome.
I think modern folks seek a lot more reward from food simply because we are reward seekers, and we now have the ability to do so.

I am really enjoying your posts at the moment. This is exactly what I have been thinking recently, but you said it much better than I would have. I went to speak to my parents about this topic recently, they are in their late 60's. They said all they ate when they were kids was potatoes, vegetables and meat. That's what food was. They both remember Italian food "first happening" when they were in their mid to late 20's.

 

[xiaohua]

Too much choice can be a bad thing in all areas of life IMO. The same goes for food. Simplicity is underrated.

 

[lollipop]

I am really enjoying your posts at the moment.

I feel this way as well @raypeatclips was thinking the same thing, learning a lot, reasoning seems balanced.

 

[ecstatichamster]

I don't think variety is really a good idea.

I tend to have a lot of issues when I travel for that reason.

Our bodies can adopt to a set of food types and then it likes those. As long as it is sufficiently diverse to include everything we need, I think it's a better idea to stick with habitual foods that we enjoy and that support our health.

I think too much variety is a bad thing in food. Our liver and GI system optimize better to predictable habitual foods. And when we eat too much variety, we mess it up. That's my experience.

 

[beachbum]

Ditto to all the above.. yes.. keep it simple.

 

[catan]

Thanks guys! I don't get bored of the same few meals so I'm happy about this.

 

[member 2106]

If your diet has too much variety, this will probably be reflected in your gut, and will manifest in irregular bowel movements, and occasional constipation, etc. The gut favours simplicity, regularity, not too much change, and certainly no extremes. Some of the healthier older people I know have always been at least consistent in their eating habits.

 

[Pet Peeve]

You can do a lot of magic with spices

 

[tara]

And on the other hand ...
I think there's something to be said for variety, and of exposing kids to a variety of foods, for several reasons.

• Soils in most food-growing areas are minerally depleted. I figure there's a better chance of meeting all the trace mineral needs by eating a wider range of species. (I'm influenced by C Reams on this one.)
• I think our bodies use our sense of taste to help guide us to eat foods that will supply us with our needs. It's not always reliable, but I think it can be really useful. I didn't like leafy greens, or cucumber, or liver as a child. But at various times later in life I have craved those things (greens and liver as a teenager, dandelion greens and cucumbers at times as an adult), probably because I needed them. If I'd never tasted them before, I wouldn't have known what I was looking for.
• Many foods have both benefits an costs. Foods than we eat everyday may expose us to stresses that are fine from time to time, but maybe better not every day. Limiting foods to a very small number of species that we eat every day may increase the risk of becoming intolerant to some of those foods. There probably are some foods that many of us can cope with on a daily basis, but it's not always easy to know which ones they will be for any particular individual. There is probably no food on the planet that does not have somebody intolerant or allergic to it.
• Kids have a better chance to learn to consider trying foods they are offered. Kids who never see more than a very narrow range of foods can get stuck when those foods are not available, if they are not open to trying other things. (Not to say they will always enthusiastically devour all offerings, but that's another story:))
• Variety can be an interesting and enjoyable part of life.

Having said that, I have kids who often object to new foods, and my own diet is not all that varied.
And it's probably possible to get quite a lot of needs met with a few well chosen staples, and some appropriate seasonal variations, and as mentioned above, herbs and spices can help with variety and probably trace minerals.

 

[catan]

@tara @Pet Peeve
What kind of herbs and spices are beneficial? I thought I read awhile back that Peat mentioned spices like pepper weren't ideal.

I still use use cumin, coriander, turmeric, and cinnamon.

 

[Pet Peeve]

@tara @Pet Peeve
What kind of herbs and spices are beneficial? I thought I read awhile back that Peat mentioned spices like pepper weren't ideal.

I still use use cumin, coriander, turmeric, and cinnamon.

Spices may not be ideal but I don't think it's the worst you can do if you want some variation.

 

[raypeatclips]

@tara @Pet Peeve
What kind of herbs and spices are beneficial? I thought I read awhile back that Peat mentioned spices like pepper weren't ideal.

I still use use cumin, coriander, turmeric, and cinnamon.

"Certain spices, especially cumin and caraway, are very allergenic for many people; it’s good to be watchful, but some spices have protective effects—turmeric, pepper, cinnamon, and clove, for example." Ray Peat