Appetite fatigue?

[Ultralight]

I have noticed something about appetite fatigue. It barely effects some people. A colleague of mine eats the same things most every day -- a green apple, some peanuts -- for lunch. He says for dinner he has lentil soup or clam chowder with a spinach salad or a couple bowls of cheerios. On Fridays he will order Chinese food or maybe a pizza. Day in and day out this is what he eats.

But appetite fatigue hits me hard! I get bored of almost all foods very quickly. I crave diversity in my meals!

Anyone else experience or not experience appetite fatigue?

[SteveinMN]

Anyone else experience or not experience appetite fatigue?
Yes, I do. It's the intersection of what I can eat to manage my diabetes, the energy I want to expend on cooking (sometimes much higher than at other times), and how much money I want to spend on food (I could go for meal boxes like Blue Apron and just discard what I don't eat but that's tremendously wasteful). I try to keep things fresh with minor variations. I can cook the breakfast eggs differently. On lunchtime salads I can switch out the protein (chicken, cheddar brats, tuna, etc.) and the dressing and some of the components (cilantro instead of parsley, and so on).

I used to be the kind of person who rarely made the same meal twice except by popular demand. I used to be interested in trying new foods at the grocery store. Not so much anymore. But it works. I've lost more than 60 pounds and it's been good for my blood glucose levels and cholesterol. So, eh, it's just food, right? *shrug*

[Teacher Terry]

It takes me a long time to get sick of something. I ate the same lunch at work daily for 15 years. I did get sick of eggs when due to dental surgery had to eat soft food daily for 6 months. 2 years later I can barely look at a egg.

[iris lilies]

I dont know because I dont eat the same thing regularly. But I do believe that if you allow yourself to get truly hungry, you will experience less fatigue at the sight of the same old same old. I am not saying it erases the fatigue, but Americans sledom get hingry and that is why we are fat.

[JaneV2.0]

My actual hunger waxes and wanes, but I definitely get preparation fatigue. I try to limit myself to food I actually like.

[bae]

Depends.

If I'm fat-and-happy at home, I like to take the time to research and prepare lots of different sorts of foods, and hate eating the same meal multiple times in a row - I have taken to freezing single-serving portions to re-use later to help reduce the waste now that I am cooking for on.

However, when I'm out doing Demanding Things (search & rescue, firefighting, logging, ...) I'll pretty much eat anything I can get my hands on, including bugs and such, because I burn through 8-10k calories a day. Sticks of butter with nuts embedded in them, wrapped in bacon would be about the perfect food for this. I get so hungry doing this work that I view food as purely fuel.

[Gardenarian]

I don't need a lot of variety in my diet. I have about 10 basic things I eat, and I don't get tired of them or crave new foods.

[JaneV2.0]

The thing about living in New York that would make me happiest is having access to an infinite variety of deliverables (in the true sense of that word) from small neighborhood eateries. I love variety--in practically all things--and that would solve the preparation issue (as well as the kitchen cleanup issue.)

[pinkytoe]

Other than oatmeal every other morning, I rarely eat the same thing. With DH in the specialty food business for years, one of our great interests is trying new recipes. As I've read somewhere, food is the new sex.

[iris lilies]

The thing about living in New York that would make me happiest is having access to an infinite variety of deliverables (in the true sense of that word) from small neighborhood eateries. I love variety--in practically all things--and that would solve the preparation issue (as well as the kitchen cleanup issue.)
I don’t know about infinite, but here in my city which is a restaurant heaven, there’s a rich array of choices and many of them now deliverable through one of the generic delivery services. We are not limited to pizza and Chinese anymore

[JaneV2.0]

We're kind of short of deliverables around here--the suburban equivalent of a food desert--but we do have a few. I should invesiigate Uber Eats.

[iris lilies]

We're kind of short of deliverables around here--the suburban equivalent of a food desert--but we do have a few. I should invesiigate Uber Eats.
But I am not much into deliverables, anyway. I like going out for a good dining experience.

however, I will confess to spending $$$ in grocery store deli food, which is equivilent to takeout.

There are a couple retailers who prepare standard American fair and package it and sell it as takeout. By this I mean noodle dishes, I suppose some meat-based dishes, etc. One of them is in a very busy location with a lot of drive-by traffic and it has a fair number of parking spaces right in front of the place for parking, dashing in and dashing out. It is also a bakery. It has been there many years and it seems to do an OK business, since it is also in an expensive suburb.


But the other one that I see is kind of hidden in an old strip mall and they seem to be struggling.


I really do not understand what but their business model is because to me, grocery store deli s serve this purpose much better.

[JaneV2.0]

But I am not much into deliverables, anyway. I like going out for a good dining experience.
....

That used to be us, when there was an us. At this point, I'd rather have my solo dining experience in the comfort of my own home. I did find quite a few restaurants within delivery range--Indian, pan-Asian, Chinese, Thai...I'm cocooning for now.

ETA: I must have been living under a rock--Amazon has a restaurant delivery service with all kinds of offerings! Bezos for the win!

[HappyHiker]

I think I could happily live on the same circulation of foods:

Pad Thai
Sushi
Roasted vegetable brick oven pizza with extra garlic
Salmon with roasted potatoes and a salad
Pot roast with roasted vegetables
Stuffed cabbage
Falafel
Gyro
Spinach omelet with feta
Bagel with lox, red onion, capers, and cream cheese
Eggplant Parmasean