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People Who Eat the Same Meal Every Day

theatlantic.com

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Re: People Who Eat the Same Meal Every Day

#121

Post by ska »

0xbadcafebee wrote: post #92
munificent wrote: post #78

When my daughter was born during the recession, my wife and I went through a stretch where money was pretty tight. One obvious expense to cut was eating out for lunch every weekday. So I switched to bringing in lunch. For several months, I brought the same thing: granola, yogurt, and chopped melon. I love food and love variety, so I was really surprised to discover that I simply didn't get tired of it or resentful. E…

As an aside, I save ~$1300 a year by bringing in lunch, and ~$550 per year in breakfast, in addition to controlling portions and nutrition. If I had been doing that for the past 10 years I could buy a new car by now, or put a pretty decent chunk into retirement. I now find it absolutely bizarre how many people at work go out for lunch.

I wondered the same thing (how do so many people buy lunch daily) but concluded - at the time and the context I was observing it - that there were two main factors.

Number 1 was social. People went out for lunch in groups, and it was an "enforced" break in the day. It's a cultural issue that can be hard to replicate for "lunch bringers" in some places. Not so fun to eat alone in a drab lunch room if your friends and peers are down the street having pizza, I guess.

Number 2 was time, or at least the perception of time. Tech people (in my context) tend to work long hours and whether you are trying to maintain a social life or bring up a couple of kids, once you add that to work hours there isn't a ton left. More than one person I know had commented that they didn't find the time to make and bring lunches that didn't leave them feeling left out. It's easy to bring a crappy sandwich, harder to bring something you really enjoy. At least for them.

Re: People Who Eat the Same Meal Every Day

#122

Post by AnIdiotOnTheNet »

Mirioron wrote: post #8
codingdave wrote: post #2

I eat the same 3 meals a day, 5-6 days a week. I spent a couple years refining what meals give me the nutrition I need, with enough energy to code, and help me keep weight off. When I stop this routine, I put on weight fast, so I try to keep jobs that let me work from home and keep my routine. I will meal-prep 4 days at a time, consume those 4 days worth of meals, then have a day where I take my wife out to lunch, bu…

How do you know that you're getting enough of all the different micronutrients? Humans can eat a deficient diet for a long time and not notice serious side effects, so I'm wondering if you have some kind of good way of figuring out whether the different micronutrient quotas are fulfilled properly.

My opinion as someone who's had extremely restrictive diets in order to lose weight: People overthink this. As you've said, our bodies are pretty good at making due with what they get. Aim for a baseline: protein plus some vegetables, some of which are dark green; and then just occasionally indulging in some cravings will probably cover the rest.

Re: People Who Eat the Same Meal Every Day

#123

Post by 908087 »

blue4 wrote: post #29
ozzyman700 wrote: post #25

I have 5 bottles of soylent a day, I absolutely love it and don't see myself stopping. I dislike preparing, eating, and cleaning up so I just avoid it. Every month I get a shipment of soylent and that is all my food related chores done for the month once I bring the boxes up to my room.

Sounds like some of my own work, I hypothesized that the body doesn’t need food itself, merely the chemicals and elements it contains. So, what if I consumed only the raw ingredients the body uses for energy? Soylent was the obvious choice because our bodies do not need food.

Is this satire?

Re: People Who Eat the Same Meal Every Day

#124

Post by [deleted] »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #95

I'm one of those people who can eat the same PB&J sandwhich every day for lunch and be fine with it. My wife on the other hand really goes crazy if she doesn't get enough variety. I can't think of an evolutionary advantage of desiring variety, it seems (although I don't know if there is any studies to the effect that it is true) typical that various fauna have a 'typical' diet that they forage for and rarely vary. Ev…

[deleted]

Re: People Who Eat the Same Meal Every Day

#125

Post by Raphmedia »

razorbladeknife wrote: post #106

I survive on One Meal a Day Diet Which consists of a) Oatmeal b)Green Tea c) Coffee I've been going strong On weekends I drink protein shake. I've gained much muscle and focus back through this diet.

What do you use for micro and macronutrients? Oatmeal will fill you and keep you going but there's not much in it.

Re: People Who Eat the Same Meal Every Day

#126

Post by SyneRyder »

chrisseaton wrote: post #100
wahern wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fast food often uses fortified ingredients. Perhaps the most common is fortified flour. Some chains use iodized salt. Preservatives like ascorbic acid or vitamin E effectively provide fortification. Other than a lack of fiber and ease of consuming too many calories, one could do much worse than fast food--McDonalds, Taco Bell, etc. I think it's easier to get it wrong using a so-called whole foods diet. The ingredient…

Did you know if you only ate McDonalds for every meal of every day... you'd be underweight? A burger, medium fries and diet drink is 588 calories apparently. So three of those a day is only 1764 calories! A massive deficit for almost everyone.

Semi-frequent McDonalds eater here who wears size 30 - 31 jeans here.

I agree with the sentiment, but your numbers are somewhat off - a Double Quarter Pounder on its own is 750 calories, and a medium fries is 340 calories. You can get a cheeseburger at 300 calories, but I don't think that would feel filling.

If you're having McDonalds regularly, it works better if you just have one main meal a day. So you can have your 750 calorie burger, 340 calories fries, diet soda / water, and still have room for small snacks at other times of the day.

And personally, I'd be putting on weight at 1764 calories a day. I need to stay around 1500 - 1600, unless I put in a ton of extra exercise. I'm shorter than average.

[Edit: FWIW, not actually recommending others do this, do your own experiments. I've been keeping weight & body fat logs for 14 years, so I've got lots of personal data to track & measure against.]

Re: People Who Eat the Same Meal Every Day

#127

Post by crunchiebones »

caymanjim wrote: post #119
ChuckMcM wrote: post #95

I'm one of those people who can eat the same PB&J sandwhich every day for lunch and be fine with it. My wife on the other hand really goes crazy if she doesn't get enough variety. I can't think of an evolutionary advantage of desiring variety, it seems (although I don't know if there is any studies to the effect that it is true) typical that various fauna have a 'typical' diet that they forage for and rarely vary. Ev…

There are no single foods that humans can live on, due to nutritional requirements. At least some desire for variety is necessary for basic survival.

I guess this means the 'meat maximalist' carnivory diet will eventually 'die off'

Re: People Who Eat the Same Meal Every Day

#128

Post by chrisseaton »

SyneRyder wrote: post #126
chrisseaton wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you know if you only ate McDonalds for every meal of every day... you'd be underweight? A burger, medium fries and diet drink is 588 calories apparently. So three of those a day is only 1764 calories! A massive deficit for almost everyone.

Semi-frequent McDonalds eater here who wears size 30 - 31 jeans here. I agree with the sentiment, but your numbers are somewhat off - a Double Quarter Pounder on its own is 750 calories, and a medium fries is 340 calories. You can get a cheeseburger at 300 calories, but I don't think that would feel filling. If you're having McDonalds regularly, it works better if you just have one main meal a day. So you can have yo…

> your numbers are somewhat off

I used the McDonald's calorie calculator on their website. I picked the hamburger 250 calories (it's their main item and I guess most people get it), medium fries 337 calories (so not even picking the smallest items), and Diet Coke 1 calorie (maybe that one is bending over backwards to be low calorie) = just 588 calories. A very light lunch!

Re: People Who Eat the Same Meal Every Day

#129

Post by munificent »

wil421 wrote: post #120
munificent wrote: post #78

When my daughter was born during the recession, my wife and I went through a stretch where money was pretty tight. One obvious expense to cut was eating out for lunch every weekday. So I switched to bringing in lunch. For several months, I brought the same thing: granola, yogurt, and chopped melon. I love food and love variety, so I was really surprised to discover that I simply didn't get tired of it or resentful. E…

Figuring out where to eat lunch causes you stress? Much easier than figuring out where your pregnant wife wants to eat. Now that is stressful! Glad you were able to stick to bringing lunch. I always end up being too lazy and enjoy the break from the office or home office. If I don’t have variety I will become pretty cranky.

> Figuring out where to eat lunch causes you stress?

Reaching consensus on where to eat with my group of lunchmates definitely caused stress, especially after we'd all gotten mostly burned out on the nearby options.

Re: People Who Eat the Same Meal Every Day

#130

Post by palimpsests »

charlesju wrote: post #109

I'm on a low carb diet for both losing weight and better budget. I've tried so many things over the years, but having a consistent routine every day seems to be the easiest for me to follow. I've found that having a "yes" list is WAY easier to manage mentally than having a "no" list. For those interested in my diet plan, I eat the following: 7am 3 cups of water followed by 3 cups of coffee. 10am 1 cup bone broth + 1…

What about those mornings when you want to have a 4th cup of water?
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