FITNESS CORNER: How too much food variety can hinder your goals

We Americans have many options as it pertains to food, thanks to supermarkets and restaurants. Case in point, you and I can visit any supermarket in Middle Georgia and purchase foods that were shipped from across the country, even from across the world.

As far as restaurants are concerned, you can visit the Presidential Parkway and downtown areas in Macon, or Watson Boulevard and Russell Parkway in Warner Robins, and find a ton of different varieties of food to eat.

In other words, between supermarkets and restaurants, we can make or purchase any kinds of dishes that we desire.

This is generally a good thing for those of us trying to eat healthy diets. Having options means you can keep your diet varied and healthy at the same time. For example, on one day I might want something like grilled salmon topped with salsa, along with a baked sweet potato and sauteed spinach as side dishes. On another day I might opt for tossed salad with chicken and an abundance of vegetables such as tomatoes, cucumbers, onions and bell peppers.

As great as it is to be able to do this, there are situations when having so many options can actually hinder your health goals. Let me explain by offering two points for consideration:

Lots of food variety can be costly. If you make a practice of eating a wide variety of foods every day, it will add up.

If you have five or more different meals each week, that means that you would have to purchase five or more different combinations of ingredients for those meals. This can be discouraging if you're trying to eat healthily. The best way to mitigate this situation is to make it so that most of your meals share the same ingredients, which would allow you to buy in bulk and save money.

Check out the diets of athletes and fitness professionals. Chances are that they eat about the same thing every single day.

Those who take part in sports or health/fitness-related careers find it easier to eat healthily by sticking to a consistent, tried and true diet. Why? Because keeping the diet simple saves brain space, since you don't have to figure out what to eat all of the time. It also ensures that you get in the necessary nutrients. For many of the types I'm describing here, those meals consist of chicken breasts, broccoli and brown rice, or some variation of that.

No worries, though. I am not recommending that you start eating tons of chicken breasts, brown rice and broccoli all of the time -- although that works for some.

What I am recommending, however, is that you simplify your diet during the week, and save the more complex, fancy meals for the weekend. A good way to do this is by cooking two or three large meals that can stretch through the week, and that focus on staple foods such as beans, rice, vegetables and small amounts of lean meats.

Soups and stir fries are quick and easy ways to incorporate tons of vegetables. Small portions of meats can be added to these dishes, or they can be cooked in bulk, frozen and pulled out when needed for eating with side dishes.

A favorite, easy-to-prepare meal of mine is some sort of beans, rice, a green frozen vegetable like broccoli, and roasted sweet potatoes.

What kinds of simple meal ideas do you use to eat healthily and simply?

Peach County resident Shawn McClendon is an ACE Certified Personal Trainer. Contact him at shawn@yourhealthatthecrossroads.com.

This story was originally published February 6, 2016 at 7:50 PM with the headline "FITNESS CORNER: How too much food variety can hinder your goals ."