Eat like it’s Groundhog Day

Last month I ate the same things, a cheese omelette for breakfast and chicken salad for dinner, pretty much every day. I just found out there’s a name for this – the Groundhog Day diet. Followers eat the same meals every day, and it’s popular with countless celebrities. Victoria Beckham has a piece of salmon and Cristiano Ronaldo subsists on chicken, broccoli, and rice.

You could ask the question if it’s good for you to eat the same thing every day. Providing that it’s nutritionally balanced, there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be. That means including enough protein and healthy fats, as well as vegetables for vitamins and phytochemicals. My omelette and chicken salad diet should fit the bill.

It’s telling that people with a net worth in millions and access to personal chefs and top-notch nutritionists should opt for the same taste every day. After all, these people could live out their lives and never repeat a meal if they didn’t want to. One benefit is weight control. We know that food variety links to obesity. If you hand someone a bowl with ten colors of M&M’s rather than just six, they’ll eat significantly more.

Another plus point is that you’re pairing down decisions. I wrote a blog post about this topic a few months back, where the act of making too many choices can lead to decision fatigue. People like Albert Einstein and Steve Jobs wore the same clothes every day to save their energy for important decisions. As a diabetic, you’re already making more decisions than the average person, and many of them relate to food and insulin doses.

You could argue that eating the same things is a boring way to go through life. On the other hand, it might let you focus on other things. Eating the same things every day gave me the best blood sugar control I’ve ever had, and my HbA1c prediction dropped by several points. If you have insulin-dependent diabetes and you’re tired of watching your blood sugar spike, I’ve got one tip for you. Eat like it’s Groundhog Day.