17.9 Prioritizing Variety and Remaining Open-Minded

Benefits of Variety in One’s Diet

Consuming a variety of foods helps keep things interesting. Additionally, choosing a wide variety of primarily whole foods helps ensure adequate intake of all of the vitamins, minerals, and macronutrients that our bodies need to feel good and function optimally. Sometimes referred to as dietary diversity, eating a variety of foods is associated with positive health outcomes (Drescher, Thiele, & Mensink, 2007), perhaps because it is associated with nutrient adequacy (Arimond et al., 2010; Mirmiran, Azadbaht, & Azizi, 2006). The tendency to avoid, reject, or otherwise be unwilling to try new foods can significantly impact dietary variety and nutritional adequacy (Falciglia, Couch, Gribble, Pabst, & Frank, 2000) and is associated with deficits in various nutrients (Capiola & Raudenbush, 2012). A key to nutritious and enjoyable eating is remaining open minded about new foods.

We acknowledge, though, that variety in one’s diet and willingness to try new foods are both dependent on access to food. Research shows that variety may be especially important for those who are limited in the types of foods regularly available, as is typically the case for individuals experiencing food insecurity (Ducrot et al., 2017).

Tips for Incorporating More Variety

Incorporating variety in your everyday food choices can be done in different ways. This could include:

• consuming different types of a certain kind of food, like different vegetables, and aiming for a rainbow of colors on your plate;
• eating foods that come in different forms—raw, cooked, canned, or frozen;
• preparing familiar foods with a variety of cooking methods; and
• adding or substituting new ingredients to a recipe.

Increase Variety by Trying New Foods

If there are foods you’ve tried and not liked in the past, consider trying them again. Children, for example, appear to need six to 15 exposures to a new food—and in a positive context—before a preference begins to form (Ventura & Worobey, 2013). Our taste preferences can change over time, and repeated exposure to specific foods could very well increase the likelihood of their acceptance.

Trying new foods and experimenting with new ways of using familiar ingredients and spices can help expand one’s personal food and taste preferences. For example, you might:

• Set a goal or intention to get a new food each time you shop.
• Choose to learn about spices, herbs, or food preparation methods that are less familiar to you and try incorporating them into your routine for new flavor combinations.
• Eat or prepare food with others to learn about different foods, spices, and cooking methods. Events on campus or elsewhere can provide opportunities to try new foods—sometimes for free.
• Attend an event on campus or in the community with the intention of exploring new cultures, food preparations and cuisines, or traditions, as well as meet new people.

Changing things up in ways like these helps promote nutritious and enjoyable eating. In whatever ways work for you, we encourage you to be intentional about incorporating different foods into your diet over time instead of eating the same things day after day and week after week.

Student Perspectives: Trying a New Food

Video Transcript