Don't Overthink It by Anne Bogel

Author:Anne Bogel [Bogel, Anne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Self-Help, Thought and thinking, REL012070, SEL031000, PSY000000
ISBN: 9781493421404
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2020-03-03T05:00:00+00:00

It’s remarkable how many decisions we face every day about food. Food and mealtimes play a huge role in our rhythms of life, so when we streamline these things, we save big.

The first time I realized it’s okay to eat the same thing every day was ten years ago, when I went through an intense (and brief) CrossFit stage. I quickly realized that many of our gym’s elite performers ate the same thing every day, and I mean the exact same thing. One of my training buddies ate turkey, green beans, and almonds, measured to the ounce, six or seven mini-meals per day. Some athletes would mix things up by adding variety for dinner or implementing a weekend cheat day, but to me, the backbone of their diets seemed mind-numbingly boring. Nevertheless, they sang its praises, saying the mental savings generated by this consistency were nothing short of amazing.

When I started paying attention, I realized they weren’t alone. Many high performers in a variety of disciplines regularly eat the same thing every day to free up mental space. I wasn’t trying to run the world or even hit a new personal record in the gym, but I liked the idea of preserving my mental energy for loftier things than my lunch menu.

Flash forward ten years, and to my great surprise, I’ve become one of those people. Ninety percent of my days, breakfast and lunch look the same, day in and day out. Breakfast is some combination of eggs and avocados. Lunch is red curry in cold weather, huge salads in warmer months. It’s not exactly the same thing, but it’s close; the formula is easy to make, easy to shop for, and easy to vary.

If the idea of eating the exact same thing every day makes you queasy, relax. You can implement the same principle in less dramatic ways. For years I planned our family dinners around the Kroger sale flyers, which dramatically reduced our choices. If chicken breasts and salmon were on sale, we’d eat chicken breasts and salmon. Later, I further limited our options by creating a meal matrix. It’s not a set-in-stone menu but a template that narrows our options, embracing meatless Mondays, taco Tuesdays, and pizza Fridays.

Whether you choose to eat the exact same thing or adopt a starting point like a meal matrix, you’ll save significant amounts of mental energy.

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