Last updated on March 12th, 2024 at 01:29 pm
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You’ve Probably Heard Of OMAD
If you keep up with the latest ways to lose weight, you may have heard of this “one meal a day” plan. Some might think it sounds crazy and like it would be more trouble than it’s worth. But in reality, this way of fasting has many benefits.
This way of eating can have big health benefits, like helping you lose weight, think better, and stay healthy. Not only that, but it can save you time and money. It’s easier than it sounds once you get used to it.
I’ve written a list of the top 23 benefits of OMAD below. But first, let me tell you what OMAD is, how it works, and what you should think about before starting this fasting plan. ONE MEAL A DAY
How Does OMAD Work?
One meal a day is less of a diet and more of a way to fast once in a while. Intermittent fasting involves going between times when you eat and times when you don’t eat anything at all (also known as fasting). With OMAD, you only eat once a day, just like the name says. You can’t eat for 23 hours a day, but you can eat for one hour. At that time, you eat your one big meal. During those 60 minutes, you eat all the calories you need for the whole day.
The longer fasting period of the one-meal-a-day diet is good for the body for a number of reasons, which I will explain in more detail below. One of the most significant things to know is that a hormone called Fat Storing Hormone drops in the body when we fast. Fixing resistance to fat-storing hormones and blood sugar problems is important if you want to avoid common health problems. By doing this, fasting can help fix a lot of problems in the body and help you with everything from losing weight to remembering things.
Who Should Try the One Meal A Day Diet?
It’s important to remember that the OMAD diet should only be tried by people who have done intermittent fasting before. I don’t think you should go from eating three meals a day to just one. This puts too much stress on your body, which does more harm than good. Slowly increase the amount of time you fast every day until you can only eat one meal per day.
When Is the Best Time To Do One Meal A Day?
Figuring this out is solely based on the person’s preference on when he or she wants to eat. Some people like to get all the calories they need for the day at breakfast, others at lunch, and still others at dinner. There are many different points of view out there, and there is no single best answer. If you want to work with your body as much as possible, I think it’s best to eat later in the day.
The sympathetic branch of our nervous system is in charge of most of what our bodies do during the day. This system controls the fight-or-flight response and helps us deal with stress. So, our bodies are a little more stressed during the day.
The parasympathetic part of the nervous system takes over as the day and night come. This branch helps people relax and eat. In the evening, our bodies are better able to digest the food we eat. This is one reason I think you should eat one meal in the afternoon or evening.
When you eat later in the day, it’s also easier to eat with other people. You can still have dinner with your family at the dining room table, go to a dinner party, or meet up with friends for dinner. ONE MEAL A DAY
Avoiding Nutrient Deficiencies
In some versions of the “one meal a day” diet, you can eat whatever you want at your one meal. I think that meals should have as many healthy nutrients and hearty superfoods as possible. Avoid carbs and eat a plant-based diet with lots of healthy vegetables, healthy fats, and lean protein.
A healthy version of fasting and ketosis, commonly referred to as Healthy Ketosis, is the basis of the diet plan I recommend. It helps you get the nutrients your body needs to stay healthy. Watch this video if you are worried about not getting enough nutrients while doing OMAD. In the video, I talk about some of the early signs that you might be getting low on certain nutrients. When you only eat one meal a day, choosing healthy foods is important. Make sure you get all your body’s micronutrients and macronutrients in that short time.
Potential Side Effects and How to Address Them
The one meal a day diet (OMAD) may bring about potential side effects. Consuming just one meal in a day can lead to digestive problems like bloating and discomfort due to large food intake. Energy levels might swing, affecting daily tasks and focus. Meeting all nutritional needs within a single meal can be tough, possibly causing nutrient deficiencies. Managing weight might become complex, as the body adjusts by slowing metabolism. Social interactions during meal times could strain relationships. Adhering long-term to this restrictive eating pattern may pose challenges.
Here is the list of all the potential side effects that you might experience while doing OMAD:
- Excessive keto fatigue
- Nausea and headaches due to low blood sugar
- Feeling weak
- Persistent dizziness
- Having a slow thyroid
- Hair loss due to a lack of nutrients
- Kidney Stone
- Keto Flu and Cold
- Diarrhea
- Sleep disturbances such as nightmares and insomnia
- Experiencing brain fog
- High cholesterol
- Gout
To know more about the solution to these potential side effects, you can read our blog post below.
Top 20+ Benefits of the One Meal A Day Diet
What are the best things about eating just one meal a day? Here are the best reasons to eat just one meal a day:
1. One Meal A Day Make You Spend less
When you only eat one meal a day, you will definitely save money. I think the amount you save each month is at least $600. When you cut down on the number of times you eat out and the number of groceries you have to buy, you can save a lot of money.
When you cut down on the number of times you eat out and the number of groceries you have to buy, you can save a lot of money.
2. It Make You Save Time
People spend a lot of time figuring out the food to prepare. Whether you have to go grocery shopping, make meals ahead of time, eat, clean up, or pack something to eat on the go, making several meals a day takes work and time. If you don’t spend as much time on food, you can do other more useful and interesting things. ONE MEAL A DAY
3. It Improves Your Digestion
When you fast for so long every day, it takes a lot of stress off of your digestive system. Your gallbladder, stomach, pancreas, and large intestine all get a break. People with digestive problems like irritable bowel syndrome may find the one-meal-a-day plan especially helpful.
4. Boost the Body’s Defences
Long-term fasting is a powerful way to make your immune system work better. Intermittent fasting is a great choice for people with allergies, autoimmune diseases, or conditions that cause inflammation. In this video, I talk more about this link and how fasting might even help fight cancer. ONE MEAL A DAY
5. Make More Autophagy
Autophagy is a process that happens in the body where damaged parts of cells are used to make new tissues. It also helps get rid of viruses, mould, fungi, and candida from the body. Fasting speeds up this process of recycling and getting rid of waste. This helps the immune system work better and keeps the body healthy and fresh. Watch this video to learn more about autophagy.
6. One Meal A Day Help You Live Longer
Fasting is a great way to slow down ageing and help you live a long, healthy life. This has to do with how fasting makes autophagy happen more. It also has to do with the fact that fasting increases human growth hormone, which is a powerful anti-ageing factor.
7. Help Reduce Your Hunger
You might think that if you can only eat once a day, you’ll be hungry for the other 23 hours. But when you’ve gotten used to this way of eating and your body is fully in fat-burning mode, you won’t feel hungry anymore. In general, you feel a lot less hungry.
8. Stop Having Hunger Pangs
Once your body has fully adapted to the keto diet, you no longer have cravings. It takes some time, but never having to fight cravings again is a great benefit. ONE MEAL A DAY
9. Help Your Skin To Look Better
If you eat like this, your skin will look and feel great. Due to the anti-ageing effects and increased autophagy, your skin may feel smoother and look younger. ONE MEAL A DAY
10. It Boost Energy
When you do the one-meal-a-day diet, you can expect to have a lot of physical energy. ONE MEAL A DAY
11. One Meal A Day Improves Your Mood
Blood sugar problems are often the cause of mood problems. Things like depression and anxiety are like this. When you fast, and your Fat Storing Hormone and blood sugar problems get under control, your mood gets better, and you feel so much better.
12. Make Your Brain Work Better
This way of eating is a great way to improve your mind. It can help people who have dementia, a bad memory, trouble focusing, or trouble remembering things. All of that gets better once your body gets used to this way of eating.
13. Reduce Conditions That Cause Inflammation
When you only eat one meal a day, you might feel better from things like arthritis, tendonitis, and bursitis. This is because problems with blood sugar often cause inflammation. When these problems are fixed, the inflammation goes down.
14. Bring Down Your Blood Pressure
High blood pressure is caused by a hormone that helps the body store fat. OMAD lowers the amount of Fat Storing Hormones in your body and lowers your blood pressure.
15. Take Care Of Your Heart And Arteries
Your arteries are better protected when you skip some meals, especially if you only eat once a day. Again, this comes down to how much FSH is in your body. Resistance to hormones that make you store fat and diabetes can cause a lot of problems with your arteries and even heart problems. Fixing this with long-term fasting helps keep the heart healthy. ONE MEAL A DAY
16. One Meal A Day Improve Dementia
As we’ve already talked about, problems with fat-storing hormone resistance can make it hard to remember things, which can lead to dementia. These conditions can be helped by fasting for short periods. In this video, you’ll learn more about the link between FSH and memory. ONE MEAL A DAY
17. Improve Diabetes
Do you have too much sugar in your blood? Do you have diabetes? The ketogenic diet and fasting every so often can help you feel better. A low-carb keto diet and fasting every once in a while are both great tools for people with diabetes. Watch this video to learn more. It helps both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes patients. ONE MEAL A DAY
18. Fix A Fat Liver
Intermittent fasting in this extreme way actually helps get rid of fat from the liver. This can help fix liver disease caused by fat. Check out more about how to get rid of a fatty liver here. ONE MEAL A DAY
19. Turn your body into a machine that burns fat
People love the OMAD diet because it helps them lose weight. When you are in full fasting mode, your body gets good at burning fat. This way of eating helps you burn fat and get a flatter stomach. ONE MEAL A DAY
20. Get more discipline in your own life
It takes a lot of willpower to be able to go 23 hours without eating anything. You need an extreme dedication and it requires practice to follow this extreme intermittent fasting schedule. It is a hard one that requires a lot of self-control. It’s a way to strengthen your self-discipline and willpower. ONE MEAL A DAY
21. Improves Your Muscles
You might worry that not eating for so long every day will hurt your muscles. But fasting increases the growth hormone, which helps keep the muscle from being lost. In fact, fasting makes muscles stronger and bigger, not the other way around. ONE MEAL A DAY
22. Fix a Slow Metabolism
If you have a slow metabolism, this is really the way you should eat. It helps your metabolism to speed up and helps you lose weight. Find out how to speed up a slow metabolism here. ONE MEAL A DAY
23. Make your mind clearer
People say that they feel mentally great after trying the One-Meal-A-Day Diet. Some people even say they feel happy. In fact, they start to feel worse once they start eating. Fasting is a powerful way to improve your mind’s clarity and sharpness. ONE MEAL A DAY
Syktohealth Conclusion
Suppose you are willing to step out of your comfort zone and try something a little out of the ordinary, like eating only one meal a day. In that case, you may be pleasantly surprised by the good results. This type of fasting has many health benefits and makes life easier in some ways. To review, some of these are:
- saving time and money on food
- protecting yourself from disease and common health problems
- losing weight or fat
- feeling mentally and physically better
- getting rid of constant hunger and cravings
OMAD may be worth a try, whether you want to try it to lose weight, make your life easier, get more energy, or do something else. I strongly suggest adding one meal daily to my keto diet guidelines. This means you should avoid carbs, eat a lot of superfoods full of nutrients, and choose good sources of fats and proteins. Find out more about my eating plan right here. ONE MEAL A DAY
Remember that we only recommend this one-meal-a-day diet if you slowly work up to it. Take your time with intermittent fasting and slowly add more time to how long you fast every day. Once your body has gotten used to fasting, you can fast for 23 hours per day. ONE MEAL A DAY
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Ali Webster is a seasoned researcher, communicator, and Registered Dietitian with a diverse background encompassing government, nonprofits, academia, and health care. The core belief is that science should be made accessible, understandable, and relevant to all individuals, driving the motivation behind their work. Proficient in conducting and interpreting research to shape nutrition policy decisions, the individual also excels in nutrition and health communication, consumer research survey development and implementation, and clinical nutrition. Holding a Doctorate of Philosophy with a focus on Nutrition and Epidemiology from the University of Minnesota, their dietetic internship emphasized medical nutrition therapy.