If you believe the latest headlines, eating too much of a good thing too often may help you lose weight. Researchers from the University of Buffalo found that eating the same meal day in and day out may habituate you to the food and help you cut back on calories, reports a new study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
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The researchers divided a group of 32 women, some of whom were obese, equally in half and instructed them to perform a simple task that would reward them with a 125-calorie portion of mac and cheese upon each successful completion. Essentially, you could earn and eat as many portions as you wanted in a 28-minute period. One group did this exercise 5 days in a row, and the other half performed it once a week for 5 weeks.
Researchers found that people in the weekly sessions tended to eat an average of nine more calories of mac and cheese than they consumed the previous week, but those who ate the comfort food on consecutive days ate 26.7 calories fewer, on average, than the day before. Essentially, people got tired of the dish when allowed to indulge day after day.
Search: How to cut calories
The University of Buffalo researchers suggest that limiting the variety of foods in your diet and eating them at given intervals (somewhere between once a day and once a week) may help you eat less, but not all experts agree that meal monotony is a good thing. For one thing, you’re limiting your range of nutrients, not to mention that food fatigue doesn’t strike everyone. “I have patients who happily eat a bacon and egg sandwich for breakfast every single day,” says Keri Gans, RD, author of The Small Change Diet.
Rather than limit your food options to cut calories, Gans recommends expanding the variety of foods that you eat—healthy foods, that is. Instead of trying to bore your palate through gluttonous monotony, incorporate a variety of healthy foods into your diet to train your tastebuds to crave more good-for-you fare.
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Eating healthfully doesn’t mean you’re stuck chewing on brown rice and alfalfa. A healthy diet can include a variety of delicious and flavorful foods, including sweet fruit and berries, vibrant herbs, pungent tomato sauce, refreshing low-fat dairy, savory lean meats, and fresh seafood.
“The more options people have in general, the less bored they’ll be,” says Gans. “But that doesn’t mean that the options need to be unhealthy. When it comes to healthy eating, it’s an adventure.”
Bonus: Expand your healthy recipe repertoire
