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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

#161

Post by netrus »

standerman wrote: post #148
0xbadcafebee wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It's really good for the economy to go out for lunch. You create a lot of jobs by doing that. If you're mindful of where you eat you can also support immigrant and minority owned businesses.

It's good for the LOCAL economy. Eating expensive lunch in a restaurant will increase local spending, but reduce your other consumption by the same amount. You create jobs by letting people work for you, and you get means to make them do it by working yourself. Nothing special about going out for lunch in that regard.

And if everyone chooses to eat cheap lunch, we could all just work less, and the system would be balanced again ;).

Re: People Who Eat the Same Meal Every Day

#162

Post by elagost »

RobertRoberts wrote: post #98

I lived on the streets for a time as a teen. When I got off and had my first real place to live, I couldn't afford much. I had potatoes, butter (was like heaven) soy sauce and mustard. So that was my dinner for months. My co-workers thought I was crazy when I microwaved a potato and put soy sauce and mustard on it. I simply didn't have anything else. Later I got pickles and cheese (the greatest thing I had ever had u…

Even though it must have been very difficult, living a harder life seems to have given you a super power to transcend the silly little things that everyone else seems to care so much about.

Personally I find I get wrapped up in the little things quite often, and only after do I really understand I wasted so much effort on something meaningless. I'm not suggesting trauma tourism, but I am interested in a way to broaden my horizons and understand this mindset. Is there anything you'd suggest one can do?

Re: People Who Eat the Same Meal Every Day

#163

Post by vorg »

minikites wrote: post #24
apo wrote: post #22

Article doesn't mention it, but I suspect one benefit is weight control. If you eat something different every day, it's hard to be mindful of consuming too many calories. Especially given the high levels of fructose corn syrup in just about everything. You can go broke even with a high paying job if you don't manage expenses. You can also get fat eating all the right foods but in too much quantity.

I lost around 60 pounds nine years ago and the main way I keep it off is by eating roughly the same thing every weekday. I've "tuned" it over time to keep me full and avoid overeating and snacking.

Sounds like my story too (lost 25kg about 7yrs ago and kept it off). I generally rotate on a 1-week cycle. The only daily rules I follow are (1) never eat noodles more than once a day, and (2) eat some green vegetable/s once a day. I also never keep food in my apartment to easily avoid snacking, so some days when the weather's bad I'll only eat twice. When I go to an eatery (restaurant or canteen stall), I usually have the same meal every time, but there's about 10 different places I eat at, so I'm making the choice of what to eat when I choose which eatery to go to.

Re: People Who Eat the Same Meal Every Day

#164

Post by abosley »

fcarraldo wrote: post #104
izzydata wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea and I had no idea what it was or that anything could be done. Some could be a coincidence, but it seems pretty likely to be the cause to me. Over the last few months there has been a constant pressure in my lower back that has since gone away. A foggyness in my head has since gone away. Maybe it is some confirmation bias since taking supplements for awhile now, but the change seemed drastic. Getting less than 5 m…

Go to a doctor. A simple blood test for vitamin deficiency takes a few minutes. If you are deficient, you'll receive a prescription for a high dose to help combat the deficiency immediately, and a plan to take the correct maintenance dose over time. If not, you will know there is another root cause behind your symptoms. This isn't something you should self-medicate. It's tremendously simple for a doctor to confirm yo…

You dont even have to go to a doctor...there are online testing services that will test vit D w/out a prescription. IO checked mine quarterly for several years.

Re: People Who Eat the Same Meal Every Day

#165

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]

Re: People Who Eat the Same Meal Every Day

#166

Post by peterwwillis »

lambda_lover wrote: post #114
0xbadcafebee wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

As an aside, I could save $XXXX a year by having a roommate/living in a worse house/having a crappier car/never going out for drinks/etc. The list goes on. There is an incredible number of things your average first world worker could give up to save money per year. The reason people spend money on these things is that they spend 40+ hours a week working so they CAN afford to spend those unnecessary dollars a year on…

I often hear my co-workers complain about their bland green smoothies or salads without enough walnuts. Meanwhile, for lunch I prepare moroccan lamb stew, chicken cordon bleu with pasta, szechuan tofu and green bean stir fry, ham and gruyere with tomato soup, pear and blue cheese salad with rotisserie chicken, loaded sweet potato with curried fried cauliflour, and quiche lorraine, among others.

I'm not saying nobody should eat out, but to do it every day just seems wasteful. And I find cooking to be quite a bit more enriching than takeout.

Re: People Who Eat the Same Meal Every Day

#167

Post by kzrdude »

RobertRoberts wrote: post #98

I lived on the streets for a time as a teen. When I got off and had my first real place to live, I couldn't afford much. I had potatoes, butter (was like heaven) soy sauce and mustard. So that was my dinner for months. My co-workers thought I was crazy when I microwaved a potato and put soy sauce and mustard on it. I simply didn't have anything else. Later I got pickles and cheese (the greatest thing I had ever had u…

Thoughtful! Also thanks for the reminder about microing potatoes, it totally works (and tastes something between boiled and baked).

Re: People Who Eat the Same Meal Every Day

#168

Post by charlesju »

palimpsests wrote: post #130
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?

lol that's just to jump start my body before drinking coffee (which dehydrates). I drink almost a gallon a day right now outside of my jump start.

Re: People Who Eat the Same Meal Every Day

#169

Post by opportune »

chrisseaton wrote: post #128
SyneRyder wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!

It's not a main item, it's the dollar menu smallest item. Have you ever been to a mcdonalds?

Re: People Who Eat the Same Meal Every Day

#170

Post by charlesju »

WA wrote: post #159
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…

You could buy 20 eggs, boil all at once and keep them in the fridge for weeks. Just a thought ;)

Yeah I did that before. But I'm super lazy, so I found that buying a bunch of hard boiled eggs pre-packed into packets of 2 by Costco was just that little bit easier.
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