What is the One Meal a Day Diet?
The One meal a day diet, as the name suggests focuses on only one meal per day. Usually dinner time meal is preferred in one meal a day diet. The main focus of this type of diet is on weight loss using the principle of ‘fasting’. Fasting is done in a way that the person doesn’t eat or drink calorific food for 23 hours and can eat for one hour. The estimated ratio is 23:1. This diet promotes fast weight loss as the diet requires you to restrict your food intake to just one meal a day. There are different patterns of OMAD diet such as intermittent fast, alternate day fast or eating one meal a day.
This OMAD diet is a simple form of diet, no other complicated thing is required. In a regular diet the calorie intake is not restricted and the meals in a day are not well specified, but in OMAD diet the food intake is only once in a day, therefore, there is an obvious restriction in calorie intake. In most cases, the person is allowed to take either green tea or coffee or some fruit for safety reason.
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How does the One Meal a Day Diet Work or Idea behind OMAD?
The principle of the OMAD diet is based on how the body uses its own fat to regulate itself (the body). In the food consumption of normal diets, the body gets its regular calories but in this diet since the calorie content is quite restricted the body uses its own fat to nourish its need.
OMAD Diet Chart:
People usually prefer to have only the dinner than having lunch and breakfast and there is no specific requirement of food or limitation of calories required in this diet. The diet is easy but there is no place for cheat days, but people can casually enjoy the low calorific food.
Here goes the list of some healthy food you can consider to consume:
Vegetables: Lettuce, sweet potato, spinach and cabbage
Fruits: Apple, orange and pineapple
Protein-rich meal: Mushrooms, fish, tofu, beans, and eggs
Others: Dairy products, whole grains, good fats and oil such as olive oil, peanut butter etc and nuts and seeds.
List of Food Items to be avoided as part of OMAD Diet:
Fruits: Jackfruit, grapes, mango and pineapple
Low-fat dairy products: Cream cheese, flavored yogurt
Others: White rice, hemp, seed oil, packaged fruit and vegetable juices, soda and energy drinks.
What are the benefits of OMAD Diet?
- It is easier than other diets as one can consume one meal per day without any hassle in one sitting. There is no calorie counting, eating knick-knack snacks and no struggle to prepare a full planned meal.
- No concept of ‘cheat meals’ because one can eat anything ranging from a crunchy freshly dressed salad to a lip-smacking double cheese margarita pizza, once a day without any guilt trips.
- There is no sudden energy rush after eating a hearty meal after a long period of time. Researches show that a person feels more energized than tired after a huge meal.
- No restriction on the choice of food to be consumed during this diet.
- The OMAD diet can be more than a diet, it can be a way of life since this diet can befriend you with food rather than seeing food as the enemy. Therefore, no guiltier trip regarding food.
- This diet is shown to help with memory and increasing lifespan by reducing the chances of diseases. It can also help in increasing energy.
- This diet is a good option for weight loss.
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What are the OMAD Diet Cons or Risks?
- The person who is going through this diet may feel extreme pangs of hunger, shakiness, fatigue, brain fog and weakness.
- This may cause the inability to concentrate on certain tasks, as their mind will be focused solely on their hunger.
- This may lead to binge eating which is very harmful.
- In medical conditions like diabetes, this diet is very harmful, as it negatively affects the body.
- Since every ‘body ‘is different, the body takes a lot of time to adapt to a certain condition. Similarly, with this diet, it can take a lot of time for a body to adapt and thus during the process of adaption, the body can be harmed.
- It can affect the rate of metabolism in the body since it can fluctuate the body functions.
- After the completion of diet, the body may take time to adapt to its regular self.
- In this diet, a person can consume more than 3 types of fruits and vegetables, lean protein sources and a controlled portion of red meat.
- Proteins such as nuts seeds and pulses, a dairy product such as buttermilk and curd can also be consumed.
- Few unsalted nuts and a piece of dark chocolate with fruits can be a sweet treat
- Four liters of water and a few cups of green tea during the fasting period.
- An egg can be consumed before workout and coconut water after the workout to replenish the body’s water and electrolyte content
OMAD Diet for diabetes patients:
Type-2 diabetes is caused by many factors such as genetics obesity and unhealthy lifestyle. Researchers have found that people suffering from this disease, who have followed the OMAD diet were able to lose weight, had lowered glucose level and high insulin levels that helped them to lose their weight. The OMAD diet makes you more tolerable to carbohydrates and allows you to regulate your blood sugar levels a lot better as intermittent fasting increases the sensitivity of the body to insulin.
OMAD diet is also safe for people with Type 1 diabetes which is not a lifestyle disorder, but an autoimmune disorder. But, it is better to make sure that the insulin doses and medications are properly tuned before continuing this diet for a longer period of time. During the first week of dieting, the blood sugar level of the body has to be constantly checked to see the how the body responds to it.
How much of Calories do you gain with OMAD Diet?
There is no set level of calories for an intermittent fasting diet. It all depends on why you are pursuing this diet. For example, people who want to lose weight should eat less than their average intake of calories.
However, those who want to add muscle or bulk up should eat more. For both the methods, change your calorie intake by no more than 10 percent every week. But, changing the methods too quickly can be a dangerous mistake for many.
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OMAD Diet Exercises:
- Although exercising is always encouraged for a healthy lifestyle, initially, it might be a bit difficult to gather the energy for a workout. When the body is in the fasted state, the mental fatigue makes it impossible to put any effort required for working out. In these cases, keeping the body type in mind, stretching exercises, yoga, and muscle toning exercises can be included to keep the muscle activity and prevent the sagging of skin.
- If you are trying to lose excess body weight with the help of this diet, then it is better to start working out at least a couple of times a week.
- Many studies have noted that a body in the fasted state starts breaking down fats instead of burning sugar for energy, which means that exercising while in a fasted state will burn more fat when compared to exercising in a fed state.
- The workouts definitely should not be more than 60 minutes and consuming water before, during, and after the workout sessions is also necessary for optimal hydration.
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OMAD Diet for Beginners:
Following the OMAD diet is not easy for a first timer. The person might feel hungry, restless, and dizzy more often than ever. The first four days will be especially difficult, but the body will adjust in time. Taking the first step towards improving your health might be difficult, but the OMAD diet is an effective and result-oriented diet that will help you achieve your dream weight. Initial preparations before starting the OMAD diet include picking a goal weight range and doing an initial weigh-in to track the progress.
Following a simpler way, you can also take pictures of yourself in a tight T-shirt throughout the diet and use these pictures as a measuring tool. Staying away from carbohydrates during the initial days helps you with the pain and hunger prangs during the fast. But, in case you eat, try to forgive yourself and do your best to continue eating clean and healthy. Include green leafy vegetables and bone broth in your meals to help with the headaches. Optimal hydration is extremely necessary in this phase and hence, drink lots of water. You can also have other calorie-free beverages like teas and coffee.
Things will be easier if you to take up hobbies during this time. It can be anything you like, music, dancing, weight training, painting, etc., anything to prevent you to sit in front of the TV and snacking.
OMAD Diet for Hair Loss:
Reasons for hair loss can range from the simple and temporary, a vitamin deficiency to the more complex, like an underlying health condition. Most hair loss is not associated with systemic or internal disease, nor is poor diet a frequent factor. Hair may simply thin as a result of predetermined genetic factors and the overall aging process. Stress, lack of protein, and a sedentary lifestyle can also be causes of hair loss.
Hair Loss can come from a hormonal imbalance or malnutrition. Be sure to supplement yourself with multivitamins if you are experiencing this. This can help overcome any deficiencies that may be coming from lack of nutrients in your meals due to the OMAD diet.
OMAD Diet Results:
Whether one wants to lose a lot of weight, tone some muscles or simply build a stronger and healthier body, OMAD can be an excellent solution for these instances. Although, adjusting to eating one proper meal can throw many people for a loop and cause them to overeat, but after the initial few days the body starts adapting to these changes and it becomes easier to maintain the diet. The lack of strict guidelines may also confuse people who need more guidance in this process.
There are many positive health benefits of intermittent fasting. While there are drawbacks as well, the numerous benefits outweigh them. These include an increased rate of weight loss, improved heart health, a reduction in the risk of diabetes, and many more. There is a seemingly endless amount of positive intermittent fasting results.
- Increases the levels of Human Growth Hormone- Human growth hormone is essential for cell reproduction and cell repairs in your body. Those who are on an intermittent fasting diet will have an increase in this hormone that can be as high as 500 percent. This increase helps your body recover more fully from damage.
- Boosts cell repair process- Aging causes severe damage to the cells which requires specialized cell repair processes. Intermittent fasting helps increase the effectiveness of these repair procedures. As a result, one can look younger for longer periods of time by following this type of diet.
- Improves the Health of the Heart- Intermittent fasting helps improve many risk factors that can contribute to serious heart health issues. It can decrease blood pressure, improve cholesterol levels, balance the triglycerides, and avoid inflammation that can otherwise have a negative impact on the health of your heart.
- Fights against Cancer- It has been noted from many studies that intermittent fasting can not only reduce the risk of serious cancer but even help fight against tumors.
