Annie Reneau

We all know people's relationships with food varies, but many of us may not realize how vastly that spectrum differs. On one end, we have people whose entire lives revolve around food. On the other are people who genuinely don't care about it and wish they didn't ever have to think about food.

Most of us exist somewhere in the middle, but one man's lunch habits have people pondering exactly where they land on that spectrum—as well as how much their position on it is costing them.

Some of us love food a lot more than others. Giphy

"There's this guy in my office who brings the same lunch to work every single day: one hard-boiled egg, a scoop of rice, and half an avocado," a user on Reddit wrote. "He says it costs him about $1.25 per meal. No snacks, no drinks besides water. Just that. Every. Day."

"At first I thought he was doing some sort of minimalist diet or maybe struggling financially, but nope.." they continued, "he’s just super into optimizing his expenses. Says he’s calculated that this routine saves him over $2,500 a year compared to when he used to eat out. He meal preps it all in bulk on Sunday, packs it into identical containers, and doesn’t seem to get bored at all. Even when we order pizza or someone brings in donuts, he politely declines and says, 'Already got my lunch.'"

The person said they were impressed with their coworker's discipline but they could never do it because they need variety. Then they asked if anyone else goes "this hard with frugal food routines," which got people sharing their experiences with others on the extreme of the "caring about food" spectrum:

"Some people just don’t like food. They just see eating as a necessary bodily function and nothing more. I suspect that might be this guy's secret."

"I'm that guy. I used to do the same for work, and now I'm 71, and I have the identical breakfast, lunch, and dinner Monday through Friday."

"You sound like my vegan great uncle. He's in his late '70s but is healthy as a horse. He wakes up at 5:00 a.m. and walks 5 miles. He then spends 30 minutes chopping his veggies and fruits and preparing his meals for the day. For breakfast he has almond milk, oats, and fruit. For lunch and dinner he has some combination of grilled peppers, vegetables, spinach, tofu, and beans. At night he snacks on Rosemary crackers dipped in olive oil.

My mom said that he told her that he has been eating that same diet for the last 50 years."

Some people eat purely for health and nutrition.Photo credit: Canva

"Some people eat because they have to, not because they want to. You can usually tell because they are ones meal-prepping and eating the exact same thing the whole week. They don't want to think about food. It's the people that say 'if you give me a pill and I wouldn't have to eat, I would take the pill.'"

"I’d even take photosynthesis and have green skin if it meant I could not have to eat."

"100%. Have said before that if there was a pill I could take that was free, 100% nutritionally perfect, never leave me hungry, mean perfect muscle growth, etc, and replaced all my meals but meant that I couldn't eat regular food again, I would take it.

Some people usually agree and some others think I'm completely crazy. It is usually one or the other."

Some people would take a pill if it meant they didn't have to eat food. Giphy

While there's nothing wrong with enjoying food—cooking is an art, after all—there are several reasons people might want to explore a more detached relationship with it. For one, it can save you money, but it also might help you eat more healthfully. The Cleveland Clinic lists healthy habits and eating less (which most Americans could benefit from) as pros for eating the same meal every day. As long as you're getting some food variety for gut and nutritional health, repeating meals can simplify healthy eating while also saving time and energy.

It's also not a new concept. The ancient Stoics took a moderate and self-disciplined approach to food, seeing it as a simply a means to good health and strength. Eating slowly and mindfully, avoiding gluttony and heavy or expensive foods, and mastering the appetite as a means of self-control are hallmarks of the Stoic approach to eating. Eating the same simple, cheap, but healthy meal for lunch every day is certainly one way to live that philosophy.

Simplifying our approach to food can be healthy.Photo credit: Canva

Some of us go far in the other direction, making every meal a major food event, but there's something to be said for letting food just be fuel sometimes. Letting food be unexciting can be difficult when we have an emotional relationship with eating, though. Kylie Mitchell, a counselor specializing in eating disorders, wrote that as she recovered from her eating disorder, she had to remind herself that "every meal does NOT have to be a gourmet experience." She explained how food becoming boring was a transition for her emotionally:

"As my recovery has progressed, I’ve experienced food become less and less interesting. At first, quite honestly, I felt like it sucked. What once brought me so much joy* didn’t anymore because eating satisfying food was no longer a novelty. I ate satisfying foods every time I wanted them and that brought a lot of positives: a less turbulent relationship with food, ease with eating out, and more brain space to focus on living a more whole life. All these things were good (actually they were fan-freaking-tastic), but the sensational, exuberant, flooded-with-relief feeling I once got when eating was gone. I missed that for a while because for several years eating gave me such a high** that I wasn’t getting anymore.

*it wasn’t truly 'joy' I was feeling though. It was really a sense of control that gave me a short term sense of stability over my mood.

**same as above but replace 'joy' with 'a high.'"

This isn't to say that eating can't or shouldn't be a joyful experience, but rather to acknowledge that our relationships with food can be complicated (especially in the U.S. where we have an abundance of food options). Whether we would choose to eat an egg, rice, and avocado every single day for lunch ourselves, the wide range of perspectives on food means we have a lot that we can learn from one another to create a healthy balance.