Via Brain Pickings, here’s William James on the usefulness of habit (emphasis mine):
The great thing, then, in all education, is to make our nervous system our ally instead of our enemy. It is to fund and capitalize our acquisitions, and live at ease upon the interest of the fund. For this we must make automatic and habitual, as early as possible, as many useful actions as we can, and guard against the growing into ways that are likely to be disadvantageous to us, as we should guard against the plague. The more of the details of our daily life we can hand over to the effortless custody of automatism, the more our higher powers of mind will be set free for their own proper work. There is no more miserable human being than one in whom nothing is habitual but indecision, and for whom the lighting of every cigar, the drinking of every cup, the time of rising and going to bed every day, and the beginning of every bit of work, are subjects of express volitional deliberation.
I find this interesting … essentially eating the same meals 6 days a week with an off-plan meal once a week worked really well for me in 2011. I may go back to something similar once the post-move craziness is over.
Weight Maven is written by Beth Mazur. Beth believes that obesity is more symptom than cause and that the real problem is our Western diet -- especially sugar, refined grains, and industrial oils. Beth writes about nutrition, ancestral health & food policy. And cats! 
I first encountered the writings of William James about 30 years ago, particularly his (still in print) theoretical volume, “The Varieties of Religious Experience,” in which he focuses on the transformation of human individuals— from persons struggling with “divided selves” (self working against self)—into persons who feel whole, renewed, and more at ease with daily existence. The “religious” aspect suggested by the title, perhaps, puts many people off, yey I believe James approached the topic of personal change from a much greater (more inclusive) standpoint than that which we customarily think of as a religious conversion. He discussed transformations that happen almost instantly (as with one who feels lost before becoming “born again” as a Christian), and he writes about change that happens slowly, over many years, but is nevertheless equally significant. James’ influence on Bill W., a founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, has been discussed by many scholars. I mention this because of your recent posts about addiction and because of James’ words you include in the above quote…”The more of the details of our daily life we can hand over to the effortless custody of automatism, the more our higher powers of mind will be set free for their own proper work…”
My own understanding of this passage (in context with James’ other writings) places the emphasis on lessening one’s grip on control—by turning over much of one’s decision-making processes to one’s “higher powers of mind” rather than compulsively striving to predict and control the outcomes of one’s choices and actions. By learning, through practice, to increasingly trust these inner “powers” (of which one remains largely unconscious during normal daily functioning), one may perceive at first that one is losing “control” over one’s life yet, ironically, one may instead gain access to sources of power (gradually putting an end to the struggle of self against self) which are far mightier than one’s previous illusions of control.
In other words, the more I fight to gain control of my eating, for example, the more my divided self fights back to keep control—much like an internal tug of war, or like two ends of a rubber band being pulled in opposite directions, which of course only creates more and more tension and more struggle—a point at which, typically, an individual goes on a binge (to escape the built up tension). However, when I admit that “I”, the identity who I commonly think of as “myself”, do not have control anyway, the struggle and tension ceases. Thus, I am in partnership with myself rather than in a battle to maintain control.
An inner partnership creates a very different kind of power. Creating and nurturing such a partnership is very much like trading in an old (unhelpful) habit for a new one. The old habit may have felt safe and reliable (may have even allowed one to function “quite fine” in the world), and it can be scary to try out a habit that remains unproven and mysterious.
No religious convictions are required. One merely begins to practice the internal behavior of leaving behind the notion of needing to be in control, and practices a different connection within self, one of trusting the inner parts of yourself to help direct your choices and actions-while trusting that the whole of “you” is far more complex and powerful than the “I” part of you, the “I” part which habitually tries to keep “in control” but-instead-sacrifices power.
By the way, William James’ brother, as you ptobably know, was Henry James (the prolific American writer of novels such as “Daisy Miller,” “Portrait of a Lady,” and “The Bostonians”, among many others!), whose fiction often delved deeply into hidden aspects of human consciousness and explored various ways in which human thinking (and social discourse) distortion our perceptions of reality—and sabotages our choices.
The two of them, I suspect, were often writing about similar observations and social construction but with distinctly different approaches to inquiry and analysis.
Hope these remarks are relevant and helpful to your own explorations! I get easily carried away with my own passionate perspectives, sometimes, and often fail to clarify the implicit connections between what’s racing around in my brain and what ends up on the page. :)
William James is also quoted in the book, Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life, by Winifred Gallagher. Quoting from the book jacket: “much of the quality of your life depends not on fame or fortune, beauty or brains-or on what happens to happen on you-but on what you choose to pay attention to. (The word “choose” is in italics).
This concept fits into the usefulness of habit. It applies to many areas, not just eating. People who are organized and efficient not only have a certain place to keep keys, glasses, etc., they actually put the keys, glasses, etc., in these places.
How does a person let go of wanting control-keeping the discussion on food? My husband eats cereal plus fruit every morning, while I try to put various combinations with egg whites (for example, mushrooms and/or tomatoes and/or bell pepper and/or kale). I’m going to seriously consider having the same egg-white omelet every day. Thanks for the post.