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Why This Study on Dietary Variety Might Surprise You
We’ve always been told that variety = health - but do picky eaters have something to teach us something here?
No one likes an unadventurous eater.
Except maybe dietary scientists, according to a study published in the journal Circulation. According to a Time article on the study, eating a diverse variety of meals on a regular basis might be linked to heart disease and diabetes. One major caveat: the type of “diversity” we’re talking about has to do with nutritional stability, not eating one type of cuisine for the rest of your life.
So, unfortunately, this doesn’t mean that pizza for every meal is dietician-recommended now. Instead, what the results of this study aim to show is that keeping a steady balance of nutrients each day yields much better health outcomes. Yes, nutritionists often recommend rotating mild allergens and things like nuts, fish, and corn in and out of your diet, but that kind of “variety” isn’t the problem addressed in the study. Confused yet? That’s because we haven’t clearly defined what “diversity” and “variety” mean here: an indistinction that, according to Professor Marcia de Oliveira Otto, misguides a whole lot of people into making poor food choices.
What Otto means by “diversity” is a “wide range of foods [...] including processed snacks, cakes, and sweets” in addition to plants and meat. In contrast, you might take vegans, who “stick to fruits and vegetables” and therefore have a narrower range of dietary variety. The distinction here is staying consistent with nutritional value. Love Thai, Mexican, and Italian? That’s great. Just aim for a similar balance of nutrients in each dish - like TSC specialities spaghetti squash Pad Thai or Spring Lasagna with pesto. No one is winning by eating French Fries for every meal. (Yeah, people do that.)
The good news is you’re probably already aiming for Otto’s best-case-diet, which is consistently high in fiber and vitamins and low in processed ingredients. And while we know that a plant-heavy diet is pretty optimal, a renewed focus on individual nutrients and the balance we maintain in our diets is a great place to start if you’re looking to make your food work for you in new ways. Want to give nutrient balance a little more attention? Here are some of our favorite Harvard-published public health resources to get you going:
A list of nutrient-dense food from Women’s Health Watch
A no-nonsense grown-up version of your elementary food pyramid