The OMAD diet or One Meal A Day, which is an extended version of intermittent fasting, is ready with its own set of rules to get you into good shape.
What brings you here today? You must be looking for a game-changer weight loss diet plan that can help you burn fat faster and make you feel healthy inside out.
Many popular diets like Keto-diet, Paleo-diet, Low-carb-diet, Atkins-diet, Vegan-diet, Dukan-diet, Macrobiotic, and Liquid-diet have stood the test of time and helped people lose excessive weight. Here’s a new fish to your pond.
Read this article to enlighten yourself about its benefits and side-effects. Let’s embark on this journey!
What is an OMAD Diet?
The constant desire to remain fit and gracefully lean keeps us falling for different weight-loss trends and formats every now and then.
The diet that has recently taken the world by storm is the OMAD diet which stands for One Meal A Day.
It focuses on eating once a day without any calorie and carbs intake restrictions, which simply means that you need not part ways with delicious cheesecakes, greasy fries, and burgers.
Sounds interesting, right? With excellent weight management benefits, fitness fanatics have been gushing about intermittent fasting, which is all about fasting for 23 hours and eating one meal a day in the remaining one-hour window.
With this time-restricted eating pattern, it is believed that those who are morbidly obese and are free from medications can certainly shed pounds in a few weeks. Having said that, it may be detrimental to health as it keeps you starved for a long time, which leads to the craving for unhealthy food options.
Some of the expert nutritionists and dieticians do not recommend it to children, pregnant women, senior citizens, and people with health problems like diabetes.
There is so much skepticism in the air as some people swear by this 23:1 regimen while others do not find this approach feasible at all.
Besides reducing your cooking time and simplifying your meal schedule, the OMAD diet meal l can help you get rid of the extra flab around your body.
However, you might be wondering how does it happen? To quench your curiosity, we have covered every possible question that might be hovering over your head right now. Keep reading, and thank us later!
What Do I Need to Include in OMAD Diet?
Since you have decided to follow the OMAD diet, make sure you don’t gobble up junk food, munch or nibble snacks or unhealthy food items as this regimen doesn’t restrict you to eat anything of your choice.
You might find yourself wrapped up in childlike glee that now you are allowed to devour things you shouldn’t be eating. Stick to your dinner plate and do not overstuff it as it might lead to overeating.
Wisely utilize that one-hour window for eating a well-balanced meal that consists of the right amount of protein, healthy carbs and fats. For the sake of your overall health, strive to include fruits, lentils, vegetables, whole grains, nuts. You can even take multivitamins and omega-3 supplements on a daily basis.
In the rest 23 hours of the fasting process, you can drink calorie-free beverages like black coffee, green tea, vegetable juice, or water.
Try to add some variety to your meal every day so that your body doesn’t feel deprived of any important nutrients, vitamins, and minerals.
Moreover, this way you can keep the boredom of eating a similar meal every day at bay.
After doing extensive research, we have come up with the food items that you must add to your OMAD diet meal for better results. Take a quick read:
List Of Food that You must Add in your diet
- Health experts suggest that when you are eating once a day, then make sure your meal has at least five types of veggies. You can use spinach, swiss chard, rice, beetroot, white potatoes, carrots, broccoli, beans, mushrooms. Don’t forget to include at least three types of fruits like apples, berries, kiwis.
- Take 100 to 180 grams of healthy fats by including eggs, olive oil, avocados, seeds in your One Meal A Day diet plan.
- If you are a vegan, then consume at least 30% protein as the amino acid present in it will help in building the lean muscle. Add lentils, nuts, kidney beans, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, garbanzo beans to your diet to give your body the required protein.
- Drink water to keep yourself hydrated and take sugar-free juices and coconut water.
- You can have 3 to 4 cups of green tea as well throughout the day.
- Herbs and spices like coriander, parsley, fennel seeds are also rich sources of micronutrients that contain zero calories.
You might not be aware of the right amount of calories that you can take in the one-hour eating window.
Well, in that case, you can ask an expert or seek consultation to know the foods that you should include in your OMAD diet meal according to your age, weight, gender, and height.
The important thing is to meet your daily energy needs to keep your immune system and breakdown muscle mass strong.
Dedicate yourself an eating time and continue to eat one meal a day, particularly at that time every day to ensure a 23-hour fasting period.
What Should I Stop Eating for Better OMAD Diet Results?
- In your fasting window time, avoid foods that are high in saturated fats, such as butter, cheese, beverages with artificial sweeteners, inflammatory foods like pastries, icecreams, candies.
- Shun the excessive intake of fries, cookies, and other junk foods as it will stop you from achieving your goal to lose weight.
- If you have any food allergies, then do not consume those allergenic food items that can harm your immune system and might cause indigestion.
Are There Any Advantages of Eating One Meal A Day?
The most significant benefit of following the OMAD diet is the simplification in preparing meals as it requires eating once a day.
Now you need not spend much time planning what should I eat for breakfast and lunch, let alone doing the dishes after every mealtime.
Those who struggle with gruelling work schedules and travel frequently find this pattern extremely convenient.
Even though many doctors and nutritionists do not entirely vouch for this fasting style, we’ve found out certain benefits that will encourage you to give it a shot if you are stout enough and carrying an extreme amount of weight.
When you fast for prolonged durations, the little amount of fasting stress imposed on your body will help in contracting the cells and make them more resilient.
The process also leads to improved metabolism as it slowly trains your body to tolerate hunger pangs and prevents obesity and controls the sugar level.
OMAD results are impressive only when you don’t binge eat and kibosh the habit of nibbling snacks throughout the day.
We strongly advise you to work on this diet only after consulting a doctor or dietician who can guide you to do it in the right way.
Is OMAD Diet Detrimental to Health?
One Meal A Day regimen is definitely not advised by doctors as many of them consider it a disordered eating practice.
This pattern has certain risks and negative consequences involved which is lethal for some specific groups.
Also, those who are taking certain medications every day should certainly avoid the idea of following the OMAD fasting pattern as they will have to eat something before taking medicines.
According to expert nutritionists, there are many other ways for people to remain fit and healthy.
You can eat quality fats and healthy carbs in the right amount to meet their fitness goals instead of keeping yourselves starved for stretched hours.
Eating once a day can also shoot up the blood pressure and cholesterol levels if the one-hour window meal is replete with high processed or greasy foods.
Your body needs antioxidants, minerals, phytonutrients and other important nutrients that you can get by consuming veggies, fruits, nuts, whole grains, etc.
However, you cannot eat everything in one sitting to meet your body’s needs.
In addition, by doing intermittent fasting you might also feel physical weakness, fatigue, dizziness, uncontrollable cravings, stomach discomfort, brain fog, trouble focusing, mood swings, dehydration, nausea, and whatnot.
When you are on the OMAD diet, your body isn’t fueled enough, and thus, you might not be able to do any rigorous physical activity or exercise every day.
A mindful eating practice is suggested by health experts, and that is why they find the OMAD pattern challenging and not suitable for everyone.
Alarming Signs of Breaking the OMAD Food Jail
Fasting for 23 hours every day is not as easy as falling off the log.
The more difficult part is meeting all the requirements of the body from the OMAD diet meal.
When you push yourself to follow intermittent fasting, your body may respond to it in a different or unusual way.
It will give some alarming signs and that’s how you will know it’s high time to stop abiding by this eating pattern.
Let’s read about it in details
Mental Stress:
People on the OMAD diet meal often feel stressed as they have to keep reminding themselves every hour that they are not allowed to eat anything even if they are famished.
It may take a toll on your mental health as it is taxing to remain unfed.
Well, don’t be too rigid and strict with yourself and if you are feeling ravenous, then go and eat something in small quantities to appease your hunger immediately.
You can tone down your anxieties and maintain stress levels by practicing meditation or yoga as it is beneficial for your mind and body and doesn’t require you to lift heavy-weights.
Don’t ignore your body’s cues:
When you begin with eating once a day, don’t expect your body to accept this drastic change in routine in a positive way.
When you always force yourself to follow this 23:1 regimen, your body might feel sluggish or inactive as it starts releasing extra adrenaline and cortisol.
In such a situation, listen to your body and if it requires energy.
Give your body what it truly needs by taking a balanced meal.
Identify the red flags to know when you should stop
One Meal A Day pattern is not appropriate to be followed for a long time.
Therefore, it is good to break the routine when you have achieved your goal or maybe closer to it.
Consistent long-term fasting has adverse effects on the body, and thus, slowly step back and come out of this schedule to keep yourself miles away from health problems.
Final Thoughts
OMAD is a tried-and-tested diet that has helped many people accomplish their fitness goals with the lightning speed.
Having said that, you need to be extra careful and vigilant while sustaining it as there are some drawbacks attached to it.
Avoiding hunger for stretched hours is a tough row to hoe.
Thus, mental toughness is needed to stop yourself from eating.
Some people find it a great way to test their discipline and willpower while others find it no less than punishment or some kind of retribution.
Whether you decide to go for it or not, make sure you have in-depth knowledge about it and hold sufficient information related to it.
Don’t forget to consult a doctor, nutritionist, or health expert before you start with it.
If you think you can make this pattern work for you, then take good care of your body and give it the essential daily nutrients by eating a balanced OMAD diet meal.
