Makes sense right? If you have more food to choose from, the more likely you are to try it all.  We have all been to a buffet, because there’s lots to choose from, you are more likely to over indulge and try everything…on average, additional 50-60 calories for each additional food offered, if at least 5 different foods are available.

This leads onto my next question which I am currently writing a blog on, is IIFYM what it’s cracked up to be? At first glance If It Fits Your Macros (IIFYM) is a great concept, the fact you can eat anything you want and still lose weight. The reality is when you are left with a broad spectrum of foods to eat, it can make it harder to manage things. Increased food variety has been shown to increase calorie intake by an average of 29%. Some of the disadvantaged to a wide food variety include

🔸Harder to track calorie intake
🔸More likely to over eat
🔸Added stress of knowing the calories of all the different foods
🔸Less structure to your nutrition

The advantages of reducing food variety include

🔸More educated on the food you are consuming
🔸More structure
🔸More consistency
🔸Less likely to over eat

This is not to say IIFYM is bad, I am personally a big fan of it as it’s creates some flexibility with food choices and gets away from the stigma of ‘diet food’. I feel a lot of people could benefit to reducing their food choices, especially if you lead a very busy lifestyle. You can spend more time executing the diet rather than stressing about what you are eating.