Recent large-scale studies have found that people who eat the least varied diets are the most likely to suffer from heart disease and cancer. At the same time, new research is finding that people who eat a wide variety of vegetables consume fewer calories and weigh less than people who eat a narrower range. Dietbook authors mislead consumers into restricting their food variety to help lose weight.
Dietary variety is healthy.
Nutritional balance is almost certainly why animals and humans evolved a taste for variety in the first place. The latest research says that we should indulge our inborn need for variety, but pay more attention to just what kinds of food we're making available. Recent large-scale studies have found that people who eat the least varied diets are the most likely to suffer from heart disease and cancer. Consumers wouldn't know that by reading many diet books. Some authors encourage curbing temptation by having, for example, the same lunch, with the same foods, at the same time every day.