OMaD

Eating one meal a day

Moo Garden
March 21, 2023

OMaD Eating one meal a day.

When I started my carnivore diet, I wasn’t paying attention to how many times per day I should eat. I just continued to eat when I usually would, breakfast/lunch around 11 am and dinner when I got home. At some point a few weeks in, I just wasn’t hungry for dinner. I thought this seemed strange, so I continued eating twice per day and decided I would eat a smaller dinner. Surely I should eat at least twice per day! Because I was only eating fatty meat, I just stayed satiated and, eventually, I just couldn’t force myself to eat twice per day anymore. I decided that since I find myself hungry early in the day, I would skip the second meal. I didn’t feel “snacky” during the day, and I felt good going to bed feeling “light”. Without even trying, I became an “OMaD”.

I dug into this, looking for research on how and why and should I eat more meals every day. Isn’t that what our mothers and grandmothers always told us? Instead, I kept coming across research that supported fasting. The benefits are many, but here are just some examples;

Insulin levels return to low/normal, making it easier for your body to burn fat.
Your human growth hormone (HGH) levels increase by 3X - 5X. HGH also helps burn fat and encourages muscle growth!
Cellular repair increases, helping your cells eliminate the “junk” and run more efficiently (increased mitochondria function=more energy)
Increases your metabolic rate (up to 15%).
Decreases inflammation in your body (benefits those with asthma, arthritis, etc).
Reduces rate of heart attack and stroke.
Burns belly fat! (the most dangerous area on your body for fat storage)
Fasting is also practiced by many religions; Muslims, Catholics, Jews, Buddhists, and more. Fasting is a way for a person to purify themselves, atone for their sins, focus on their spirituality, and increase their focus on God and their relationship with Him.
Listed below are a handful of studies, but there is a lot of research on the benefits of fasting!

Alternate-day fasting in nonobese subjects: effects on body weight, body composition, and energy metabolism - PubMedAlternate-day fasting was feasible in nonobese subjects, and fat oxidation increased. However, hunger on fasting days did not decrease, perhaps indicating the unlikelihood of continuing this diet for extended periods of time. Adding one small meal on a fasting day may make this approach to dietary r …pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15640462

Intermittent fasting vs daily calorie restriction for type 2 diabetes prevention: a review of human findingsIntermittent fasting (IF) regimens have gained considerable popularity in recent years, as some people find these diets easier to follow than traditio…www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S193152441400200X

Fasting enhances growth hormone secretion and amplifies the complex rhythms of growth hormone secretion in man.Studies in man have shown that the episodic release of growth hormone (GH) is infrequent and erratic, and unlike that in the rat does not appear to have discernible ultradian periodicities. However, these observations in nonfasted subjects may be invalid ...www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC329619

Short-term fasting induces profound neuronal autophagyDisruption of autophagy—a key homeostatic process in which cytosolic components are degraded and recycled through lysosomes—can cause neurodegeneration in tissue culture and in vivo. Upregulation of this pathway may be neuroprotective, ...www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3106288

Alternate day calorie restriction improves clinical findings and reduces markers of oxidative stress and inflammation in overweight adults with moderate asthma - PubMedAsthma is an increasingly common disorder responsible for considerable morbidity and mortality. Although obesity is a risk factor for asthma and weight loss can improve symptoms, many patients do not adhere to low calorie diets and the impact of dietary restriction on the disease process is unknown. …pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17291990

On-and-off fasting helps fight obesity, study finds: Researchers investigate why periods of sporadic fasting can be beneficial for the metabolismUp to sixteen weeks of intermittent fasting without otherwise having to count calories helps fight obesity and other metabolic disorders. Such fasting already shows benefits after only six weeks, according to a new study.www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/10/171017110041.htm

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