Eating Patterns

I am very regimented in a lot of ways, and one way in particular is what I eat each day. While I always mix it up for dinner, I pretty much eat the same exact things for breakfast & dinner each day, and will do so for a long time. Eventually I will want to switch things up, but I tend to stick to a pattern for several months before making changes. I am just wondering if there is anything wrong with this? I have some health-related reasons for doing this and I like that I know what my body is happy with and what things will upset everything, but I have always wanted to check-in with a nutritionist about this. Thanks!

Hi!
Every food and food group offers a different profile of nutrients so it’s important to get a variety of different foods and switch things up as often as you can. That said, decision fatigue is a real thing so I’m all about keeping 1-2 meals pretty much the same most days of the week. For instance, if your go-to meal is a salad at lunch, keep a few different salads on rotation throughout the week with different toppings you enjoy and dressings you like. Try spring mix instead of spinach some days, add artichokes and sundried tomato instead of cucumber and fresh tomato, and trade chicken for beans and seeds. If you like overnight oats for breakfast, try mixing different seeds each day (chia, flax, hemp), experiment with different fruits, and try different nut butters. Make the swaps really simple so that it doesn’t feel like you’re making something new every day but your body is still getting a variety of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients. Let me know if this helps or if you need any other ideas for simple swaps!