A few months ago, I became stuck in what I now call my chicken quesadilla phase. Every night for a week, I sprinkled cheese and grilled chicken onto a flour tortilla, toasted it to a golden brown, and served it with sour cream and salsa. Every night. By Friday, I dreaded the very idea of dinner. I couldn’t bring myself to think about cooking anything that night, but I was salivating over the idea of a fat, juicy burger … or a big bowl of spaghetti … or a rich slice of chocolate cake.

Yes, I was in a food rut.

Most on-the-go Americans can identify with my situation: A busy life causes a rut that results in boredom, which ultimately leads to bad food choices. You’ll know you’re in a food rut when the thought of preparing a meal fills you with despair instead of enjoyment.

“Food becomes uninspiring because you’ve had it so many times and you don’t know what else to eat,” says Jennifer Stack, MS, RD, CDE, a registered dietitian, certified diabetes educator, and chef who teaches at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y. “When our meals are not very enjoyable or exciting, we tend to eat too much or look for that one thing [to satisfy us].”

Yet not every food rut is bad. If you’ve eaten oatmeal every morning for the past 10 years, enjoy the taste, and reap health rewards, mixing things up in the kitchen may not be necessary. But if you feel tired and constrained by your food choices or make up for boring food with between-meal indulgences, it’s probably time to try something new. Break the monotony with one of the four chef-tested tips that follow.

» Click here for great recipe ideas.