# How loony is it to always eat the same thing? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 5, 2013, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-loony-is-it-to-always-eat-the-same-thing/662756 "2013-07-05T22:20:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-loony-is-it-to-always-eat-the-same-thing/662756/1 "2013-07-05T22:20:07Z")
I’ve been living on practically nothing but the same brand of frozen pizza for the past six months, in addition to some fruit and yoghurt. Well, OK, I had a short period where I ate tuna sandwiches. And I’ve been eating the egg sandwiches from the shop around the corner for lunch at work. But it’s been overwhelmingly the frozen pizzas. I can’t seem to stomach anything else. Before that, I had a period of a couple of months where I ate practically nothing but hummus, to the point where people would take note and wonder why the heck I would only eat hummus. This followed on from a long period of eating almost exclusively two things: 1) Salad made with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber and beans, and 2) chana masala. (Well, in addition I also eat some chocolate. Too much, actually.) How nuts am I? I’m a bit worried. (Edit: I should mention that my health is fine and I don’t seem to be suffering any malnutrition. And I’ve always been like this, more or less, although not to the extent of recent times.) ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-loony-is-it-to-always-eat-the-same-thing/662756/2 "2013-07-05T23:13:03Z")
I don’t know about loony…but your story makes me feel better about eating spaghetti two or three times a week. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-loony-is-it-to-always-eat-the-same-thing/662756/3 "2013-07-05T23:35:31Z")
While my lunches and dinners are varied I’ve eaten the same breakfast nearly every day for 40 years. Well, if my usual items aren’t available I’ll eat something else, but like I said, nearly every day. If you’re healthy it’s a quirk but it’s not a problem. Your diet actually does vary, just not as rapidly as most. You don’t have to have constant variety, and for much of human history a lot of people did eat basically the same thing all the time for months on end. Key here is _are you healthy?_ If you are, it’s not a problem. ---
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-loony-is-it-to-always-eat-the-same-thing/662756/4 "2013-07-05T23:40:57Z")
It depends; which brand of frozen pizza? Anything with ‘pizza’ in the title would constitute a rational mind making sane decisions. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-loony-is-it-to-always-eat-the-same-thing/662756/5 "2013-07-05T23:45:25Z")
I eat a lot of pizza too. I had pizza for lunch and dinner yesterday…and I was seriously thinking about getting it again today. (I live near too many pizzerias!) For the past year I’ve been on a hummus kick. Humus and flatbread. Every day for lunch. I think in a past life I was a Mediterranean. I’m not a picky eater. I’m just boring when it comes to food. I find something that works for me and stick with it. It may be weird, but who cares? As long as you’re open to trying new things when the occasion arises, it’s no big deal. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-loony-is-it-to-always-eat-the-same-thing/662756/6 "2013-07-06T00:30:27Z")
I eat the same things all the time. Even when I break from the routine once a week or so, I have the same other things. The idea of deciding what to eat three times a day everyday exhausts me. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-loony-is-it-to-always-eat-the-same-thing/662756/7 "2013-07-06T02:25:21Z")
I cycle through the same five or so things for my meals. It’s actually reduced by one, because now chicken causes problems for me, which is disappointing. I have always been this way. As far as I can tell it has never once been the cause of any issues with my health. Eat whatever the hell you want. If it doesn’t harm you, then who cares? ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-loony-is-it-to-always-eat-the-same-thing/662756/8 "2013-07-06T02:54:03Z")
I go through phases several months long where my breakfast and late night snacks will be the same thing. But I do have a varied dinner menu. I have always thought of it as immature to some extent to eat the same thing over and over but aside from that it seems pretty normal. ---
**Author:** ![DataX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@DataX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataX)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-loony-is-it-to-always-eat-the-same-thing/662756/9 "2013-07-06T03:11:39Z")
Interesting… I too enjoy eggs, tuna, and chickpeas. I believe the chickpeas, tuna, and eggs actually help with depression somewhat - but have no proof of this - just seems that way - and subtle. I eat pizza a lot as well, but that has more to do with the convenience of the Papa Johns iPhone app. Do you make your own Chana Masala? Recipe? I’m getting a little bored of plain chick peas with chili powder. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-loony-is-it-to-always-eat-the-same-thing/662756/10 "2013-07-06T03:44:22Z")
I recall reading a while ago that Courtney Cox and Jennifer Aniston ate the same chicken, bacon and tomato salad every day during ten years of filming _Friends_ together. It was in an article about how eating the same meals every day can help people reduce their calorie intake. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-loony-is-it-to-always-eat-the-same-thing/662756/11 "2013-07-06T08:17:46Z")
I have oatmeal with cinnamon and raisins for breakfast almost every morning. We do something different on about 1 sunday a month - tomorrow we are doing omelets. I eat more or less the same salad every day. I have 4 or 5 different snacks that I rotate through for morning, evening and bedtime snacks. Dinner is usually preplanned a week in advanced for ease of shopping. Probably 3 or 4 times a year we do a restaurant dinner - we do a mutual birthday dinner in September for my husband, our roommate and I - it is a 10 year standing tradition, and we end up with one or two weddings a year, and an occasional business function [in the past it could have been a navy function for mrAru or a business function for myself, but I am now more or less retired for health reasons.] It isn’t that I refuse to eat a large variety of foods, I actually do - being diabetic I found it was easier to stultify everything except dinner to make regulating my glucose easier. I am lazy =) {I have trouble understanding how people can live on nothing but chicken nuggets, french fries and hot dogs, I love fruits and veggies in all their nifty differences.} ---
**Author:** ![Whitney\_Harper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f0a364/32.png) [@Whitney\_Harper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whitney_Harper)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-loony-is-it-to-always-eat-the-same-thing/662756/12 "2013-07-06T10:36:47Z")
Speaking for myself, for the last several months I have been having a dandelion greens salad, (I got tired of spinach, and bought dandelion greens on a whim at Whole Foods) and have discovered I really like them. Anyway, I have the dandelion greens, with either tuna or chicken, and topped with olive oil and vinegar. In addition, I think if people eat pretty much the same thing a lot, it can help control weight. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-loony-is-it-to-always-eat-the-same-thing/662756/13 "2013-07-06T12:13:48Z")
It’s culinarily challenged. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-loony-is-it-to-always-eat-the-same-thing/662756/14 "2013-07-06T13:59:56Z")
Feeling unable to vary your diet (as opposed to just being happy to eat the same things) can be a symptom of depression or other mental illness, but if that’s the case you’d probably have other symptoms too. To answer the question “how nuts are you”, probably not at all, unless there’s other reasons to think you are. ---
**Author:** ![aNewLeaf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@aNewLeaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aNewLeaf)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-loony-is-it-to-always-eat-the-same-thing/662756/15 "2013-07-06T14:06:55Z")
> [@JustinC](#): > > It depends; which brand of frozen pizza? Anything with ‘pizza’ in the title would constitute a rational mind making sane decisions. Containing all four food groups, pizza is nature’s most perfect food. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-loony-is-it-to-always-eat-the-same-thing/662756/16 "2013-07-06T15:14:19Z")
I’ve been in food ruts before, especially when I was pregnant. I lived on Pb&j for months because it was one of the only foods that I could tolerate. But as you know, one of the best thing people can do for their overall health is to eat a varied diet, so be sure to take a multi-vitamin to make sure all your nutritional bases are covered. ---
**Author:** ![HardlySanguine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HardlySanguine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HardlySanguine)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-loony-is-it-to-always-eat-the-same-thing/662756/17 "2013-07-06T17:50:50Z")
> [@aNewLeaf](#): > > Containing all four food groups, pizza is nature’s most perfect food. Bread, cheese, meat and…? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-loony-is-it-to-always-eat-the-same-thing/662756/18 "2013-07-06T17:59:39Z")
> [@HardlySanguine](#): > > Bread, cheese, meat and…? Everybody knows tomato sauce is a vegetable. ---
**Author:** ![Zjestika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/8edcca/32.png) [@Zjestika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zjestika)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-loony-is-it-to-always-eat-the-same-thing/662756/19 "2013-07-06T19:19:54Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > Before that, I had a period of a couple of months where I ate practically nothing but hummus, to the point where people would take note and wonder why the heck I would only eat hummus. Haha, I thought this said nothing but humans and I did a comedy double take. I too want to know what brand of frozen pizza, because I am obsessed with pizza. I find the devolution of quality of your singular meals interesting. Salad –\> chana masala –\> hummus –\> tuna sandwiches –\> frozen pizza. It started so healthy! In [this](http://www.radiolab.org/2008/nov/17/) episode of Radiolab Oliver Sacks talks about how he eats the same thing every day. And he’s a brilliant neuroscientist > [@JustinC](#): > > It depends; which brand of frozen pizza? Anything with ‘pizza’ in the title would constitute a rational mind making sane decisions. Really? Even _breakfast_ pizza? ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-loony-is-it-to-always-eat-the-same-thing/662756/20 "2013-07-06T19:37:50Z")
I eat the same breakfast every morning, same lunch every weekday, and probably have about 10 dinner meals that I rotate. When I eat out, I do try to get something that I don’t normally have. To the OP, how is your health? Not your weight, your health. Cholesterol, blood pressure, etc. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-loony-is-it-to-always-eat-the-same-thing/662756.md?page=2)