Most people seem to be against OMAD. They say it’s bad for your digestive system, that our bodies can’t absorb that many calories at once resulting in a greater calorie deficit and lower nutrient absorption and some people even say it encourages eating disorders like binge eating. How is it generally perceived by the scientific and medical community? Has there been research done for or against it? Does it generally become problematic for people who do it long term (years)?
It’s healthy if you eat healthy during your meal and get all the nutrients that you need. I recommend supplementing with vitamins and electrolytes just in case.
My blood pressure went down to normal and my lab values have improved since doing OMAD. I’d call that more healthy than how I was before.
I have hypertension and OMAD lowered my BP in a few weeks. As long as your One meal isn’t garbage and fast food every day then it should be pretty healthy, but what the hell do I know. I’m no doctor. 😂
I am always reminded of the saying “there is a difference between a therapeutic diet and an everyday nourishing diet”.
Many people doing OMAD are doing it to treat obesity, which is a bigger health risk for them than any theoretical risk from eating one meal a day. The longer time spent fasting every day is healing them of an urgent health concern.
Is it the healthiest possible way to eat for everyone? Probably not. Nutrition just isn’t a one size fits all thing.
I believe that according to studies, intermittent fasting in general is often linked to binge eating. I read some statistic that there was a study that found something like half of people who practice if have issues with bingeing.
Most people who benefit from OMAD and IF are those who already have an eating disorder, and have significant weight to lose.
I would say that OMAD sometimes has made me overeat, but I already have binge eating disorder, so it’s still an improvement. Losing weight is more important than what people view as “normal healthy eating behavior.” I already don’t have normal healthy eating behavior either way.
Dr Prajip Jamnadas: “If you want to be healthy, eat just once a day”
Dr. Berg is also a big fan of omad.
But generally, theres not a lot of talk on omad specifically. Theres tons and tons of research and endless talking about intermittent fasting as a whole, but curiously not much on omad as a specialised interest.
Which is strange because, its kinda the cure everyones been looking for.
OMAD is as healthy as the food you eat. Like anything else…
OMAD is how humans have lived up until very, very recently in the western world, yet how it’s still practiced in many cultures/regions…
Getting people to eat constantly during the day must be one of the biggest marketing victories for the multibillion food industry, not to mention its synergetic effect on other industries that thrive on human over consumption.
Was in ketosis and after blood test my uric acid levels highly increased strick no sugar ,no carbs and inflammatory markers spiked too ,now I’m wondering do I continue? Any advice would be appreciated,
Thank you ,yes I been doing some research and came across that as well saying first couple weeks that uric acid rises then will go back down but in the inflammation aspect I slipped scraped my knee and was bruised and swollen and I’m thinking to could be shown as inflammation in the blood test ,idk,
You shouldn’t be on overloading that much on calories at once… You’re not eating the equivalent of three meals into one. Maybe 1.5x a regular dinner at most, which is not bad. That is the point of OMAD…
Also a newbie-ish here I can say from my experience I tried it in the past a couple of years ago but it’s hard to get all the nutrition you need in one meal.
I am back on and trying a 4 or 5hr window which is ideal for me … because I can eat two smaller meals and have enough calories. I like not eating for a long time. The problem is my appetite decreases dramatically I just cannot stuff myself in one sitting… and I like to eat many different foods… so I do 2 rounds
( round 1: banana, yogurt, waffle, chia seeds, eggs, bacon, )
then round 2 - 4 hours later ( a small portion of kielbasa, green beans with almonds, and potatoes plus 1/2 avocado )
all of this adds up to about 1600 calories.
What I am struggling with is losing a lot of water quickly and sodium… and needing to figure out the electrolyte and sodium balance. That is harder than the diet itself. Because you have to drink more than usual to compensate and you need to drink some salt also to compensate. At least it’s happening to me. I am finding that harder to manage than the lack of food.
That is why I think people have a hard time with the one meal a day thing, because it can feel quite extreme … I am realizing it takes time to figure out the electrolyte balance and so it’s a mix …. going for a longer eating period can be an easier adjustment.
Dr Fung was on a podcast last year where he said some things that I found really interesting. He talked about professional athletes he helps and he contrasted what different people need. When you are trying to lose weight, OMAD is amazing, it really is the most effective way to allow your body to access fat stores by lowering insulin. But for the athletes in season, he really made it clear that for their needs OMAD was terrible and they needed to have high calorie diets and there was no issue with insulin with them at all so they should be eating lots and often. But those same athletes in the offseason really still benefitted from fasting to lower inflammation and in their recovery process.
TLDR Depends on your goals.
Honestly the issue with omad is that everyone in your life thinks they understand nutrition, and maybe like three people in your life actually do. And you’re probably not one of them. So good luck taking care of yourself with one meal a day. Start reading up on nutritional principles of you’re gonna do it