Is it unhealthy to eat the same meals daily?

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Wads
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Is it unhealthy to eat the same meals daily?

Post by Wads »

In an attempt to reduce my food expenses and increase my health, I've been focusing lately on meal prepping. For the past couple of weeks, I have basically eaten the same thing every day.

As a single male, I find this style of eating to be easy, cheaper and much healthier than most alternatives. I'm curious if anyone else eats this way and if there are any long-term negative impacts from it?

Because I'm vegan, I downloaded Dr.Gregors 12 Essentials app to make sure I get all the right foods daily. Below I will list my meals, let me know if there is anything I should add or any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Breakfast
Apple, carrots, celery, broccoli (All dipped in hummus)
Green or white tea

Lunch
For lunch, I make my version of rice and beans. I use a variety of beans mixed with brown rice and some veggies. I then add some cumin and light marina sauce which gives it a nice chili taste. I make a big batch of this on Sunday and can last nearly the entire week.

Ingredients
Beans
Rice
Zucchini
Celery
Corn
Mushrooms
Garlic
Turmeric
Cumin
Marinara

*I'll eat this with a sweet potato 3 or 4 days per week

Afternoon Snack
Green Smoothie- Beets, beet greens, kale, apple, frozen fruit mix, coconut water, chia seeds, flaxseed

Dinner
Banana
Mandarines
Veggie wrap - Tortilla Wrap, avocado, mix of greens, cucumber, tomato, topped off with homemade hot salsa
Mix of nuts
Lara Bar

Supplements -
Vitamin D
B12

It has taken me some time to come up with this variation but I love each meal and I feel so much better than I have in the past. So, what do you think? Are there any long-term concerns I should consider by eating this every day?

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C40
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Re: Is it unhealthy to eat the same meals daily?

Post by C40 »

That is nutritionally complete and very healthy, with the one possible exception being that may enjoy or you may need more protein. People would probably debate whether that's true (needing more protein).

It would only be unhealthy if you ate very few foods or foods with little nutritional content, like:

Breakfast: banana, coffee
Lunch - Rice
Dinner - Beans

... that kind of diet would be unhealthy to eat long term every day.

You're eating such a huge variety of fruits and vegetables that you aren't going to have any deficiencies other than what you're missing from meat.

ThisDinosaur
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Re: Is it unhealthy to eat the same meals daily?

Post by ThisDinosaur »

It is if its soylent. http://tim.blog/2013/08/20/soylent/

If you're flexible on the veganism, I would only add the occasional shrimp or oily fish. Plant based Omega-3s are not efficiently converted to useful DHA and EPA in humans. Those are a major component of the CNS. But that's primarily important in pregnant women and young children.

rfgh
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Re: Is it unhealthy to eat the same meals daily?

Post by rfgh »

You should consider Soylent. Otherwise, since you are covering all your bases, no need for day to day variation.

BRUTE
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Re: Is it unhealthy to eat the same meals daily?

Post by BRUTE »

rfgh wrote:
Thu Apr 27, 2017 6:21 pm
no need for day to day variation.
this, diversifying is for uncertainty. it's pretty well-known what the human body requires.

on that note, brute thinks this diet is lacking in fat, especially saturated fat. brute eats the same 1-3 meals almost every day, and has for over a year. that itself is not problematic, but brute personally advocates for a low-carb, high-fat diet.

7Wannabe5
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Re: Is it unhealthy to eat the same meals daily?

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

Would you find something else to substitute for bananas if bananas went up to $7/lb?

The only downside to your health of such a diet might involve your social life. You are kind of making yourself the sole member of your own culture. If you are cool with only rarely sharing meals with other people then no problem. Otherwise, I wouldn't get too attached to the menu.

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C40
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Re: Is it unhealthy to eat the same meals daily?

Post by C40 »

I agree on the fat. Hadn't thought about that.

IMO, replacing any of your meals listed above with Soylent will be a step in a less healthy direction. It would probably be simpler/easier/quicker. It might be more expensive. Replacing just one or maybe even two with soylent probably wouldn't cause you trouble. I think it's only useful for those who place an extremely high priority on quick meals.

CS
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Re: Is it unhealthy to eat the same meals daily?

Post by CS »

Eating the same things over and over again is a good way to develop food allergies. Rotating things in and out as they would naturally go out of season is a good trick (another argument for following loss leaders?). Three months seems to be enough time for the body to 'forget'.

Of course, some food is more prone to allergies than others - cheese, dairy, etc.

Branching out with new recipes is always good. I've found the low-histamine chef's recipes have been great for getting off expensive allergy medicine - and I feel great. The herbs aren't cheap, though, unless you can grow them yourself or have access to a great farmer's market.

Wads
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Re: Is it unhealthy to eat the same meals daily?

Post by Wads »

Thanks for the feedback!

Ive never heard of Soylent until now. I don't plan on changing any of my meals for a replacement drink but I will consider purchasing this for vacations or long periods of time when I'm away from home.

7Wannabe5 wrote:
Thu Apr 27, 2017 7:57 pm
The only downside to your health of such a diet might involve your social life. You are kind of making yourself the sole member of your own culture. If you are cool with only rarely sharing meals with other people then no problem. Otherwise, I wouldn't get too attached to the menu.
This isn't a all or nothing menu. My goal is to bring simplicity to my food choices in a attempt to reduce cost and improve health. If I'm out with friends or family, I'll have no issue eating whatever is on the menu if its vegan. With that said, I have no interest in relationships or marriage, so 95% of my meals will be solo.

Scott 2
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Re: Is it unhealthy to eat the same meals daily?

Post by Scott 2 »

Meals look great IMO

Might consider adding some creatine for long term mental health

I wonder if you're getting enough calories and protein, but that comes down to portion size

My biggest concern would be burning out on one of the meals, and never wanting to eat it again.

vexed87
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Re: Is it unhealthy to eat the same meals daily?

Post by vexed87 »

+1 for adding variation to the veggies by eating with the seasons, not only will those produce be more likely available in organic (i.e. more nutritious versions of the same produce, and usually tastes better to boot), it's better for the natural world, you'll also be less likely to be forced to change what you eat on the whims of societal/energy collapse by eating what cab be obtained locally and without non-renewable energy inputs.

Believe it or not, fats are part of the cellular make-up of plants too. They are an essential part of every cell wall. If you want to add more fat and stick to plant based options, coconut oil, is high in saturated fats in particular, you may find something more local. There's a distinct advantage of being flexible about animal based foods when it comes to obtaining fat, particularly in the hungry gap period.

Dragline
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Re: Is it unhealthy to eat the same meals daily?

Post by Dragline »

@OP, so long as you get all the nutrients you need, you should be ok.

But "diseases caused by nutrient-deficient diets" are famous throughout history and run the gamut from scurvy to rickets to pellagra to beri beri, and many others less well-known or merely suspected. So just make sure you are not missing something.

KevinW
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Re: Is it unhealthy to eat the same meals daily?

Post by KevinW »

The risk is that a routine diet may have a "blind spot" for one or more essential nutrients which will eventually cause you to be malnourished and sick (e.g. vitamin C deficiency causes scurvy).

I'd recommend logging all your foods over a period of say 1 week and calculating whether you meet the recommended daily allowance of all vitamins and minerals. There are apps that can help with this, or you can do it by hand.

Alternatively, the "nuke it from orbit" solution is to take a multivitamin which, in conjunction with any modestly varied diet, should easily meet all requirements. This may be unnecessary, but at about 5 cents/day is cheap insurance.

In addition to the vitamins and minerals, you also need complete proteins, DHA/EPA omega-3 fatty acids, and a certain amount of fat and protein.

Eyeballing it, I wager you are fine on vitamins, minerals, fat, and complete proteins (rice and beans), but are low on omega-3 and protein. Omega-3 and protein are both problem areas for vegans. As mentioned upthread, for omega-3 you can take supplements or, if you're flexible on veganism, eat sardines. For protein you can eat large servings of beans, nuts, or tofu (or sardines) in one or more meals.

BRUTE
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Re: Is it unhealthy to eat the same meals daily?

Post by BRUTE »

vexed87 wrote:
Fri Apr 28, 2017 2:58 am
Believe it or not, fats are part of the cellular make-up of plants too. They are an essential part of every cell wall. If you want to add more fat and stick to plant based options, coconut oil, is high in saturated fats in particular, you may find something more local. There's a distinct advantage of being flexible about animal based foods when it comes to obtaining fat, particularly in the hungry gap period.
+1 coconut oil, it's great. avocados are also a great plant fat source.

brute would recommend against multi vitamins. "cheap insurance" is the wrong metaphor when the insurance has the potential to outcompete other vitamins from the diet at the receptor level and therefore cause shortages despite plenty of nutrients in the diet.

Wads
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Re: Is it unhealthy to eat the same meals daily?

Post by Wads »

I will continue to eat this way for the next couple of months. It's only been a few weeks but I feel so much better and my energy is through the roof. Sometime in the summer, I'll go in for blood work to make sure all my bases are covered.

Does eating a traditional American diet(meat, fast/junk food) provide all the necessary nutrients? Or do people have deficiencies that they just don't know about? I ask this because I find that soooo many people are always concerned with vegans and how they get "X" from only plants. It's the most frequent question I get from family/friends/co-workers. As I look back, never before have I questioned what has gone into my body and have doubted my food choices.

The truth is, off the top of my head, I have no F**king idea how I'm getting all my nutrients, and that's why I posted the question on this bored. I've mainly been following the advise from NutritionalFact.org as I find him to be honest and unbiased. But at the end of the day, I know it cant be worse than the way I used to eat and how most Americans do.

BRUTE
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Re: Is it unhealthy to eat the same meals daily?

Post by BRUTE »

most SAD eaters get most nutrients most of the time, brute would speculate.

there are a few that are very hard to get from food, such as Vitamin D - apparently it requires exposure to sunlight or something, or has to be supplemented.

various minerals (=salts) like potassium and magnesium can deplete if humans refrain from eating red meat regularly - this is why some women get low blood pressure and fainting spells or become anemic. turns out, red meat has a lot of great nutrients that are hard to come by elsewhere.

the one thing that vegans are usually recommended to supplement is B12, but it takes months to deplete the reserves, so not a problem in the short term.

a strict very low fat diet can lead to lack of essential fats and non-essential but helpful fats (most saturated). this can lead to hormone imbalances, as many hormones are created from fats, like testosterone (read meat == testosterone). many vitamins are fat soluble, so they have to be eaten with a certain amount of fat or they won't be absorbed.

that being said, the SAD leads to more mis-nutrition or mal-nutrition than under-nutrition. most things are probably somewhere in there, it's just that the ratios are way skewed.

Dragline
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Re: Is it unhealthy to eat the same meals daily?

Post by Dragline »

Wads wrote:
Wed May 03, 2017 6:36 pm
Does eating a traditional American diet(meat, fast/junk food) provide all the necessary nutrients? Or do people have deficiencies that they just don't know about? I ask this because I find that soooo many people are always concerned with vegans and how they get "X" from only plants. It's the most frequent question I get from family/friends/co-workers. As I look back, never before have I questioned what has gone into my body and have doubted my food choices.

The truth is, off the top of my head, I have no F**king idea how I'm getting all my nutrients, and that's why I posted the question on this bored. I've mainly been following the advise from NutritionalFact.org as I find him to be honest and unbiased. But at the end of the day, I know it cant be worse than the way I used to eat and how most Americans do.
Um, no that site is not honest and unbiased. But I hope you found buried on it that the vegan diet is nutrient deficient in
B12 and other things. As least they are honest about that, even though its concealed under several pages of clicks.

That site is, along with such works such as "Forks and Knives", an example of the fallacy of the false dilemma. The false dilemma that is assumed in these works is that there are only two diets: SAD and vegan. Therefore, it is fallaciously reasoned, everything that involves any kind of meat must be SAD, because its not vegan. You see what I did there? But the dishonesty is that this is logically a false dichotomy ("with us or against us") is simply glossed over.

Nobody who cares about this thinks that a SAD diet is better for you than a vegan diet. Except maybe a few paid shills and muscle heads. But since these are not the only two choices, the debate is a silly one and is not a justification for adopting a vegan diet.

There are other justifications that are cognizable and valid, but the idea that"not vegan" = SAD is not one of them due to a basic failure in logic.

7Wannabe5
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Re: Is it unhealthy to eat the same meals daily?

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

I do not hold my diet up as anything resembling a model of superb nutrition, but I would note for the record that vegetables and fruits are grown, not manufactured, so the composition, amount and quality of nutrients available in any given example of a vegetable or fruit can vary. Soil is key, and soil health can't be completely determined by laboratory analysis anymore than human health can.

I do not know where you reside, but if you lived in my neck of the woods, even in prime harvest season, I would not be able to provide you with the combination of foods you listed from my garden. Some of them, such as celery, IMO, are a finicky, likely to be pest-ridden, low nutritional waste of space, so I do not even attempt to grow, although I could. Because I am a cheap, grouchy old woman who has had to deal with cooking food for other people practicing variety of dietary regimens over many decades, if you were part of my household, I would probably say something to you like "Celery-Schmelery, you are going to eat some of this green cabbage instead. Like it or lump it." And, I would generally note that the tropical/temperate mix you are eating, would be impossible to grow anywhere on the planet, and even more impossible to eat fresh every day of the year.

IOW, one thing your diet and the SAD have in common is that they are both completely dependent upon the continued availability of very inexpensive petroleum. However, you could pretty easily alter your diet towards locavore by substituting lightly fermented, or otherwise preserved local crops for some of your fresh tropical choices. Intelligent modern techniques of home processing and preservation can maintain, and sometimes even enhance, nutrient availability of fruits and vegetables.

ThisDinosaur
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Re: Is it unhealthy to eat the same meals daily?

Post by ThisDinosaur »

Seems like most american vegans buy in as a sort of ascetic rebellion agaist the SAD. Its popularity might be explained by the fact that it WILL make you feel better and lose weight if your starting point is McDonalds and Dominos. The psychological effect of depriving yourself with a restrictive diet for "purity" is reinforced by the health benefits. But it doesn't follow that meat is "bad" or even unnecessary. As far as restrictive diets go, veganism is a pretty good one, because it defaults to high nutrient-per-calorie foods. If there were any edible land plants with adequate B 12, branched chain AAs and Omega 3s, it could be the perfect diet. But there don't seem to be any.

7Wannabe5
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Re: Is it unhealthy to eat the same meals daily?

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

Eating fermented food and some macroscopic range insects could help with B12 and Omega 3s. Canned wild caught salmon is probably the least expensive/most nutritious food available on the open market these-a-days. A human could probably survive/thrive a long time on nothing but fish, rice/wheat/potatoes and foraged/fermented greens.

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