Hen: It’s what’s for dinner…once more. Salad: It’s on the facet…once more. Yogurt: It’s your fast workday breakfast…once more.

We’ve all been there: discovering a meal or snack we like after which consuming it on repeat. And there are apparent perks to a constant menu: Having go-to meals could make grocery buying and mealtime much less irritating, particularly while you’re time-crunched or too exhausted to make choices. But when comfort is your solely motivation, you is perhaps lacking out on getting all kinds of vitamins—and a few enjoyable too.

Meals serves a larger goal than offering carbs for power, protein for muscle tissue, and fiber for digestion. “Meals isn’t simply gas; it’s not simply macro and micronutrients,” Nicole Rodriguez, RD, a New York Metropolis–primarily based nutritionist, tells SELF. “Meals is household reminiscences; it’s our tradition. In case you’re not wanting ahead to mealtime, it may affect your temper and may forestall you from consuming in a means that makes you are feeling full, happy, and energized,” Rodriguez says.

In fact, an unvaried weight-reduction plan may also simply be…boring, and in case your response to your fridge is “Ugh, not that once more,” it’s possible you’ll be extra prone to order in. Typically that’s a plus (see under), however steadily cooking at residence may also help you eat a wider vary of meals and have a extra balanced weight-reduction plan total, analysis suggests—and it’s typically cheaper.

Really feel such as you’re in a meals rut and craving some selection? Listed here are 5 issues you are able to do to interrupt out of it and luxuriate in (no, actually get pleasure from) your meals once more.

1. Make one small tweak—or a number of, if you happen to’re up for it.

Studying a brand new recipe may be enjoyable and scrumptious, however stepping out of your consolation zone within the kitchen doesn’t require drastic measures. “Comply with the identical meal template you normally do, however change up one or two issues,” Rodriguez suggests. For instance, if you happen to typically eat rooster, brown rice, and broccoli, perhaps swap the rooster for sirloin steak, fry up a few eggs, or toss salmon chunks within the air-fryer. Or you would mess around with the veggie portion, exchanging broccoli for sautéed spinach or roasted mini bell peppers. That brown rice? Make it wild rice, quinoa, or farro—you get the purpose.

You may experiment with switching up one, two, or all the objects in your trusty lunch, dinner, or breakfast (altering the kind of fruit in your oatmeal or yogurt bowl is one other easy improve). No matter what number of modifications you make, these tweaks are “a straightforward solution to expertise totally different flavors and provides your physique totally different micronutrients,” Rodriguez says.

2. Give “well being halos” the side-eye.

Sure meals, like spinach and kale, are well-known for his or her diet advantages—and deservedly so!—however it may be tough to look previous what we’re instructed are the “healthiest” meals for us. “The pondering typically goes, Kale is sweet for me, so I ought to eat kale. However if you happen to don’t like kale, or aren’t within the temper for it, there’s a complete household of cruciferous veggies that you would be exploring and having fun with. It’s not kale or nothing,” Rodriguez says.