Getting out of a mealtime rut

IF you find when sitting down to dinner that you’re repeatedly tucking into the same dishes, then you’re not alone. A recent survey of Scots carried out for Scotch Lamb PGI found that convenience is the dish of the day as a whopping 81% of respondents said they were guilty of repeating the same meals. Most (54%) admit to being “stuck in a rut” when it comes to what they eat at mealtimes, typically eating the same dishes week in, week out. While 56% simply struggle to think of other meals to eat, four in 10 Scots admitted it was more than a month since they last cooked anything new. It’s a familiar story for dietitian Dr Carrie Ruxton who says a combination of ease and buying habits are behind our lack of variety as a nation. She said: “It’s the same with all aspects of life. Once things become a habit they’re very hard to break and we also eat mindlessly in that we do a supermarket shop and pick up the same things. “If you’re doing a shop online, because you can save your previous order, it’s just all too easy to say, ‘I’ll have the same again.’ “In the UK we’re quite commoditised and tend to pick up packets in the supermarket, whereas when you go into a butchers you can see the meat in front of you all trimmed and laid out and it’s quite interesting. You see new things and ask, ‘What’s that and how do I cook it?’ That interaction with the butcher, and discovering new types of meat, doesn’t happen so much now, so I think that combination of factors has led to us getting stuck in a rut at mealtimes.” Variety in our diets is important, says Dr Ruxton, both because it makes mealtimes more enjoyable and interesting, and also as a way of ensuring we take in all the right nutrients each week. “The benefits are twofold,” she explained. “There’s the nutrition; we know that the more varied diet you have, the more likely you are to achieve the nutritional recommendations. As an extreme example, there are a lot of diets around nowadays where people have to restrict whole food groups. So we’ve got low-carb eating where people are avoiding things like pasta, rice and bread, and then we’ve also got the drive towards other diets where people are advised to cut out dairy, fish and eggs. And we know when we analyse those people’s diets they are often lacking in nutrients. “On the other side, if you’re eating a varied diet where you’re having everything from the different food groups every single week, then you are maximising your chance of beating the nutritional recommendations. “The second point is we don’t just eat to sustain our bodies, we eat food for interest and if we have a varied diet, trying different recipes and options, we enjoy our food a whole lot better. It is a boring diet if you’re eating pasta and chicken every single day, but if you’re ringing the changes and eating a variety of different foods then eating a healthy diet can be really enjoyable.” Red meat forms part of a balanced diet, yet 38% of Scots say they never eat lamb for dinner midweek. As an ingredient, it is high in protein and a good source of B vitamins which help reduce tiredness and fatigue and support red blood cell production. It also contains zinc which benefits the immune system. One of the reasons for this relatively low consumption, says Dr Ruxton, is consumer perceptions around healthy quantities. She said: “Meat used to be fattier 30 years ago but because of changes to animal breeding and the way we trim the meat, we have meat that is 30% lower in fat, and most consumers are looking for lower fat meats. And you can achieve low-fat with red meat. Some cuts of lambare9%. “The Government recommends no more than 500g of cooked red and processed meat per week. Current intakes in the UK are 490g per week on average, but women and girls eat less than 350g per week, so could actually eat more meat to safeguard their intakes of zinc and iron. “Lamb has a completely different flavour, too, which is very unique, and it goes so well with lots of other things” she added. “And I think the provenance is a big part of why it’s so good to eat. If you think about the way lamb is reared on the hills and fields of Scotland, from a sustainability angle and for people who are conscious about the environment and land use, it’s a very good product to include in our diet.”