What’s the first thing we learn as children? Our ABC’s. So, we thought it would be a fun idea to do the ABC’s of keto! This blog series looks at some of the main ideas and the not-so-main ideas of keto as we work our way through the alphabet. The next one in our series is: O is for OMAD – One Meal a Day.
What is OMAD – One Meal a Day?
Bill tried eating one meal a day back in June of 2022 and offered his thoughts on the process. OMAD is an extended fasting process of 23 hours and taking in all of your calories in the last hour of the day. Intermittent fasting often accompanies keto. Keto really imitates fasting, and that’s why it was originally used for children with epilepsy. When you are on keto, you don’t have the intense periods of hunger that glucose gives you. So, fasting is easier to do. Often, keto people do a 16:8 intermittent fasting approach, but OMAD is a bit more extreme.
When Bill did it, he ate all his calories at dinner (usually between 5-7 pm). He tried to get about 1800 calories a day. This created a calorie deficit, and he actually lost about 5 pounds in the two weeks he tried it. But, it is important to do it properly. It’s also important to note that many health professionals tell you that a man should have a minimum of 2000 calories a day. A couple of hundred more calories wouldn’t hurt.
How To Do It
You really need to eat nutrient dense foods when you are only taking in one meal a day. This would include dark, leafy greens, avocados, eggs, meat, and nuts. You will notice that all of these foods are keto-friendly, which is great for us. Bill found that his first couple of days were pretty rough, almost like the keto flu again. To compensate, he took in more electrolytes, magnesium and potassium. He was soon feeling great, and ready to take on the world.
It’s important to ensure you are preparing a meal plan to get enough calories and nutrients in your one meal. It does mean you’re only prepping for one meal instead of three, and that can be pretty freeing! OMAD also has the benefit of your body working less on digestion so your insulin levels remain more constant, and that can be a very big perk to this way of eating. When Bill did it, he truly felt great.
Should We All Be Eating One Meal a Day?
According to Healthline, intermittent fasting has many benefits. You’ll notice many of these are the same benefits to eating keto. They include reducing heart disease risk factors, decreasing blood sugars, and reducing inflammation. Also like keto, they cite many of the same difficulties with OMAD. The main one is it is hard to sustain. Well, sure, but I think that any healthy way of eating can be hard to sustain. There’s a reason why I didn’t follow our nation’s food guide before turning to keto.
Still, I get their point that OMAD might be difficult to do long-term. Bill found that the one meal at dinner time sat heavily on his stomach. Having your one large meal before bed was difficult. It also messed with his family’s routine. We enjoy having meals together, especially on the weekends, and that didn’t happen when he was doing OMAD. We had dinner together, but breakfast and lunch I was on my own.
One last point made by Healthline is that you can’t just eat whatever you want for your one meal and stay healthy. Just like some keto people try to cheat the system and save up all their carbs for one piece of junk, it’s not going to make you healthy. You still need the nutrients and vitamins offered by vegetables, healthy fats, and proteins. Sorry.
The Big Learning From Eating One Meal a Day
The big thing Bill took from his experience with OMAD was how much of his eating is still based on emotions and habits. Adults teach us from an early age to eat three meals a day. Sometimes he wasn’t even hungry, but his brain assumed he should be eating. It was almost hard to figure out what to do with that time he would usually be eating.
The first day, he found he was hungry because he didn’t have the big meal the night before to carry him through. After that initial day, he rarely felt actual hunger. In fact, the only times he craved food was when he was feeling bored. When he distracted himself, he forgot that he wanted to eat.
So, are we hungry, or are we bored? I remember my mother saying if I wasn’t hungry for an apple, I wasn’t truly hungry. The nice thing about doing OMAD with keto is that you will rarely be truly hungry. If you’re able to distract yourself, you should be just fine with one good, healthy meal a day.
Wendy
