Eating the same foods day after day may bore you so much that you begin eating less, suggests a new study at the Universities of Buffalo and Vermont.
Women who took part in the study and ate macaroni and cheese every day for a week took in fewer calories each day by the end of the week than they normally ate. The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found that when people were exposed to the same food day after day, they got tired of it and began to eat less.
For the study, women were rewarded with macaroni and cheese each time they completed a computer task. The women were divided into two groups. All women had five computer sessions, but half of them completed all of the sessions during a five-day period. The second half completed one session a week for five weeks. The women who completed their tasks in a week — and ate macaroni and cheese every day — ate 100 calories less a day by the end of the study. The women whose sessions were spaced a week apart ate 30 calories a day more by the end of the study.
According to researchers, repeated exposure causes a decreased response known as habituation. Researchers speculate that eating a food once a day makes us habituated to eat, where eating it once a week does not.
An additional study at the Cleveland Clinic found that eating the same thing for one meal a day reduced calorie intake by 10 percent — and reduced hunger pangs. The experts recommend you choose a fast healthy dish for your daily “automatic meal.”
On the other hand, scientists have found that when presented with a large variety of foods, people eat more (think endless buffet). Studies indicate that the growing levels of obesity in the United States may be linked to the wide variety of foods available. Scientists believe that too many choices in food can spur us to overeat because different tastes and textures stimulate our taste buds and cause us to crave more.
You can also cue your body to eat less in other ways by cutting variety. For instance, when buying cookies, stick to a single type and avoid packages that contain a variety. All that choice makes it more difficult to “eat just one.”
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