Why do we take forever to figure out what we want to eat?

They say Marriage is basically two people constantly asking each other what they want to eat, until one of them dies. 

As someone who has now been married for a few years I can tell you that it isn’t far from the truth. If I could get a dollar for every time my husband and I had to debate what we were going to have for lunch or dinner, I would be able to afford my very own restaurant. 

The truth is, when it comes to deciding what to eat, the human mind can’t seem to cope and I’ve always wondered why. 

This week however, my husband and I had yet another ‘what do you want to eat’ saga and I decided that it was enough. I needed to know why we can’t seem to decide and more importantly, how we can make the decision easier. 

Turns out it’s all thanks to what is called ‘The Paradox of Choice’ – the phenomenon where the more options there are, the harder it is to choose and the less satisfied you will be with your decision. 

Yes we can’t seem to decide what to eat, not because we’re necessarily indecisive, but rather our brain gets overwhelmed by all the options. 

That’s nice to know but it still begs the question – how can we make it easier on our brain to decide? 

I did some more research and the answer lies in simply cutting down the available options you have to choose from. See, there is a sweet spot in the number of options that will make it easier on you and your brain. 

What is this number? 

Well it depends on the person but the special number for most people is between eight and 15. Anything less than that and you’ll feel as though you didn’t have enough of a choice. Anything more than that and you’ll be stuck trying to figure out the best choice for the next decade. 

So, there you have it! 

Be sure to keep the number of food options between 8 & 15 and avoid recreating that one scene from ‘The Notebook’ every week.