It has become a popular topic to talk about all the things that food is to us.

Sustenance, culture, nourishment, self-care, tradition, experience, and so on. I have contributed to this conversation too because it IS all that, and then some. This conversation came about, however, in response to the more extreme rhetoric of “food is fuel”. Which let me be clear, it also is. It’s just not ALL it is and that's where the internet goes gaga and all the infighting amongst people “in the know” happens, leaving the people these pros claim to serve out in the cold. But I digress.

A common conversation I have with nutrition coaching clients, groups, and trainees is about experiencing food.

Food and in particular restaurant food is a “culinary experience”. It’s as much about the presentation, the ambiance, the exclusivity/inclusivity, the cutlery of lack thereof, and many other aspects, as it is about the taste of the food. This is a huge part of enjoying your life, and simultaneously, if food is always an experience, then it becomes the norm and by default is no longer an experience.

I see people fall prey to this concept all the time in my coaching. Food has become the only thing outside of work and day-to-day obligations that provides any unique joy to people. So the idea of a simple or even dare I say it “boring” meal is perceived as just another chore/task.

The challenge;

The challenge then becomes seeing this simple meal as a pro rather than a con and deploying it to benefit us rather than boring us. Below are some examples;

• Freedom; Simple meals, and in particular go to/repeated meals create freedom. By having simple meals minutes away, you have more freedom to spend on other higher-value things (picking the kids, up, doing homework, getting to that zoom call/meeting, walking the dog, etc).

• Time; how much easier would it be to do all you need to do if you just had more time? Food can seem like a time suck if you have to think about and make every meal from scratch. Save time with fewer steps, fewer decisions, fewer bouts of exhaustion from skipping meals, all by keeping things simple. Eggs on toast take 3 minutes to make and goes a long way people.

• Bandwidth; Fewer decisions need to be made around prep time and procuring ingredients from the supermarket etc. Leaving more time, energy, and mental bandwidth to spend elsewhere.

• Novelty; Consistent meals make special trips to your favorite restaurant/take out more novel, special, experiential because you have geared the scarcity of it in your favor.

It is a great idea to deeply enjoy your meals occasionally, it's also ok to occasionally take bread from the bag and dip it in anything runnier than bread. And most of the time, we are best served by keeping meals simple, appropriately tasty and nutritious, and easy to access.

Thanks!