Weight Loss, Productivity Boost & More
OMAD Diet Benefits | How to Get the Best OMAD Diet Health Benefits | OMAD Fasting Duration | Precautions while OMAD Fasting
OMAD Diet or one meal a day plan is an extreme form of intermittent fasting. It involves eating for one hour a day and fasting for the rest of the 23 hours. Many people have experienced great weight-loss results with the OMAD diet.
However, weight loss is not the only benefit this dietary pattern has. There are many lesser-known benefits of OMAD, including better metabolism and productivity boost. We will get into the details of these benefits in this article and discuss some of the associated risks with this diet plan.
OMAD Diet Benefits
Many scientific pieces of research related to intermittent fasting have revealed various health benefits of OMAD. As opposed to the popular belief of using OMAD only as a means of weight loss, these studies indicate that OMAD can improve overall well-being and helps maintain an internal balance in the human body.
We will discuss these benefits one by one below:
1. Weight Loss
The time-restricted diet combined with a calorie-deficit diet in OMAD naturally helps lose weight faster. It is because of the decreasing levels of leptin hormone during intermittent fasting that signals the brain to eat less.
When a person does not eat for a long time, the body starts fulfilling its energy needs through the glucose produced from stored fats and proteins. This glucose breakdown with fatty acid oxidation can help a person lose around 2-3% body weight within approximately three months.
With an OMAD diet, a person can expect to lose around 2 kg of body weight. However, severely obese people can expect to lose as much as 5 kilograms within a week by eating one meal a day. On average, a person can expect to lose around 15 kilograms of weight within half a year.
To help you learn more about OMAD and decide if it is right for your weight loss regime, read – One Meal A Day: All You Need To Know About OMAD Diet
2. Diabetes Control
OMAD fasting helps control diabetes as the body gets more time to lower the fasting glucose levels and reduce insulin resistance in diabetic patients. Some studies show that patients found a reduction in the need for insulin therapy through therapeutic intermittent fasting.
Intermittent fasting also increases the fat-derived hormone- adiponectin, which plays a significant role in protecting against diabetes.
3. Inhibits Cardiovascular Diseases
As OMAD fasting improves the lipid profile in a person, it reduces the bad cholesterol or the low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and triglycerides in the body. Moreover, it increases high-density lipoprotein (HDL) or good cholesterol, which together lowers the risks associated with cardiovascular diseases.
OMAD intermittent fasting also reduces the risk of atherosclerosis or the fat deposit in the arteries by increasing adiponectin hormone with anti-atherogenic and anti-inflammatory properties.
4. Improves Metabolism
The reduction in cortisol levels or the stress hormone during OMAD improves body metabolism. The steroid hormone also enhances the natural immune response of the body and helps to deal with stress.
It also upregulates ASGR2 or asialoglycoprotein receptor, which stops apoptotic cell debris, further preventing the risk of inflammation, liver cancer, and fibrosis.
5. Prevents Cancer
Studies show that intermittent fasting is linked to anti-cancer serum proteomic signature, which in turn reduces the risk of metastasis and also improves the body’s response to chemotherapy. It is thus a possible non-medicinal and natural treatment against cancer.
6. Regulates Circadian Clock Protein
Intermittent fasting regulates NR1D1, a circadian clock protein to control the body’s natural biological rhythms. It helps improves metabolism and reduce inflammation.
OMAD fasting regulates your circadian rhythm, thus reducing the risk of fatty liver and benefits patients suffering from metabolic syndrome.
7. Improves Brain Function
Intermittent fasting regulates the HOMER1 gene by producing a serum proteome. It helps patients with Alzheimer’s disease, improves cognitive function and multiple neuropsychiatric disorders, such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and extreme depression.
8. Regulates Blood Pressure
Intermittent fasting moderates blood pressure by regulating tropomyosins, which in turn protects against hypertension. It also reduces pulse pressure and improves the function of cells by regulating actin or the cytoskeletal protein that affects muscle contraction.
9. Reduction in Inflammatory Markers
The rise in C-reactive protein and reduced adiponectin hormone can lead to inflammation. Intermittent fasting by increasing the adiponectin hormone also reduces these inflammatory markers and improves body metabolism. It also protects the body against related diseases such as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), reproductive disorders, and gallstones.
10. Cell Repair
Intermittent Fasting kicks in autophagy, the body’s natural mechanism with which the cells heal themselves. Thus intermittent fasting is seen as a safe and straightforward way to induce a positive neuronal response.
11. Maintain Internal Balance
OMAD fasting influences the secretion of growth hormone that helps to burn fat and build muscles. Growth hormone or GH secretion lessens with age.
Intermittent fasting thus helps to create internal homeostasis by balancing internal conditions of the human body such as temperature, fluid balance, the concentration of calcium, sodium, and potassium ions, blood sugar, etc.
12. Increases Productivity
Studies show that intermittent fasting releases serotonin which is the mood-alleviating hormone. It helps patients to better deal with chronic pain and rheumatic diseases and, in turn, improve their overall activity and productivity.
What to Do to Get the Best OMAD Diet Health Benefits?
It is often not recommended to start on an OMAD diet just like that. You should give time for the body to get used to fasting before you move to a full-fledged OMAD diet.
An important point to note in any form of intermittent fasting is that the fasting duration does not mean not eating anything at all. Maintaining the electrolyte balance in the body is essential while fasting. To do that, you can have water mixed with salt and electrolytes even during the fasting window.
Along with these, you can also have unsweetened coffee or tea and sometimes fruits if you find difficulty resisting hunger. Eating lots of grains, proteins, legumes, vegetables, and fruits during the eating window is a healthy way to get the benefits of the OMAD diet.
Unhealthy and processed foods, sweetened drinks, and junk food should be avoided at all times to help the body experience the holistic benefits of eating one meal a day.
OMAD Fasting Duration
Often people have a question regarding the duration of time for OMAD Fasting. Since it is a difficult form of fasting, it cannot be done endlessly. However, you can do it once or twice a week for quick detox and when your body feels too full for days together.
You need to know what best fits your routine and your eating and calorie-intake pattern in the normal course to decide on the time duration for your OMAD plan. However, there isn’t a fixed recommended duration.
Precautions while OMAD Fasting
Hypoglycemia
Diabetic patients can suffer from hypoglycemia or low blood sugar while following OMAD as they already are on blood glucose-reducing medications. They should watch out for fatigue symptoms. Thus, people who have diabetes should follow OMAD only under strict doctor’s supervision.
Experts have recommended fasting as a safe and tolerable eating pattern for diabetic patients. To know more read –Intermittent Fasting And Diabetes: Benefits And Risks.
Bloating
Eating the entire meal in a short period of time may cause bloating in your stomach. It may make the person fuller before actually meeting the body’s calorie requirements. You might want to eat slowly and avoid foods that make you feel fuller soon.
Nutrition-Lag
The lack of the required amount of protein, vitamins, and minerals can lead to muscle loss, fatigue, irritability in mood, and low energy levels. Having a nutrition-rich diet is most important to keep such health issues away.
Eating Disorders
The constant anorexic feeling can make the person binge eat and disturb the body’s metabolism. You must include tasty foods in your diet in your eating time to minimize cravings as far as possible. However, eating anything that activates the liver may beat the benefits of OMAD fasting.
Pregnancy and Lactation
Since the body’s calorie requirement increases during pregnancy or lactation, OMAD fasting should not be done at these times. The presence of kisspeptin protein that regulates female puberty and reproduction makes women more vulnerable to hormonal fluctuations. It is, therefore, advised for them to be more cautious of possible health concerns relating to following OMAD.
The Bottom Line
Whether choosing OMAD or other forms of intermittent fasting, you should try to look beyond weight loss and carefully analyze all other health benefits. You can always mold the plan according to the requirements of your body as long as the changes are within limits and do not affect the expected results.
If you’re new to intermittent fasting and want to lose pounds, the 21 Day One Meal A Day Challenge may be the perfect option for you. You will receive all day-to-day information and tips on intermittent fasting that will keep you motivated. This challenge is for you if you are looking for motivation, support, and information on OMAD fasting and the best way to lose weight with it.
