Is eating the same food every day bad for your health?

There’s nothing more Brazilian than waking up to bread and a cup of coffee in the morning. And rice and beans and tomato for lunch, right? That familiar flavor is a sure thing. But isn’t eating the same food every day bad for your health?

However, before we continue, it is important to emphasize that this content considers the scenario of a population that has the minimum possibility of making varied choices in food. The national scenario of food insecurity is not ignored in this article.

Anyway, anyone who has ever been to a nutritionist remembers coming home with a list of their eating routine and a menu that contained several options for portions to be changed. This is no coincidence.

Although it is very comfortable to eat what you know and what is easier to eat due to your habit, this can be a risk to your health. To understand this, we need to go back thousands of years, when humans were still nomadic and lived off what they found and what nature produced in each season.

The agricultural revolution that humanity underwent in prehistoric times was essential for us to abandon our nomadic lifestyle and lead more stable lives. But the impact this had on our diet, for an organism that had become accustomed to the diversity of the seasons, is something that our bodies still feel today.

Especially because of the homogeneous food system to which the industry subjects populations living in large urban centers. Let’s understand this better.

Risks of food standardization for nature

Dan Saladino wrote the book “Eating to Extinction.” In it, the author encourages us to reflect on the fact that food is more than just a source of nutrition; it is a story of innovation and survival refined over hundreds of generations. These foods influence the identity and culture of the populations that consume them.

Therefore, he warns that several foods are at risk of extinction due to our current highly intensive and uniform food production system. Consequently, this is contributing to the destruction of the planet.

Saladino quotes a famous American biologist Rachel Carson, who warns about the use of pesticides in her book “Silent Spring”. Something important that she highlights is how all points and agents in nature are interconnected.

Carson emphasizes the need for all the complexity of nature and the problem of human action when trying to simplify and standardize the diversity and processes within the natural system.

Especially because the homogeneous food system, where we eat the same food every day, has a very high cost. In addition, it generates a lot of greenhouse gas emissions that directly influence climate change.

Saladino also talks about the changes in agriculture throughout the 20th century, with the increase in synthetic fertilizers and the implementation of extensive monocultures. So, it is not necessarily a consumer decision, but an industry decision to reduce the supply of biodiversity.

As a result, these systems deplete soils and aquifers, and contaminate lakes and rivers. Even protagonists of the Green Revolution, such as Norman Borlaug, recognize this impact and state that new production strategies need to be established.

At the moment, great minds in agriculture and science are committed to developing food production systems that are in harmony with nature, in favor of human health and the planet.

So, is eating the same food every day bad for your health?

But what’s the problem with eating the same food every day? Fabrício Ribeira, a nutritionist and member of the Brazilian Association for the Study of Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome (Abeso), explains:

“When we consume the same foods every day, we are not providing our body with the diversity of nutrients necessary for the healthy and proper functioning of our organism.”

According to the nutritionist, food uniformity is a risk due to its low nutritional quality. He gives the following example:

“If you eat chicken every day for lunch or dinner, you may not get all the benefits of omega 3 in your body, since only the fattiest fish are a source of this fatty acid.”

Therefore, as much as possible and what is available, it is best to vary the food options in your meals every day. This way, you ensure that you are getting all types of nutrients.

Something that can help in this process is to favor the choice of foods typical of your region and according to the season in which they are most available. For example, mangoes are most abundant between December and February.