OMAD: The One Meal A Day Plan For Calmed Inflammation + Increased Longevity

OMAD rules, tips and tricks

What are the rules of OMAD?

As previously mentioned, there is only one rule for this radically simple strategy - eat only one meal a day. This will look different for different people and may take some time to find what time of day to eat and what food combinations work best for you.

OMAD tips

Some people are going to start OMAD and not miss a beat. However, for the majority of people, OMAD can take some time getting used to - even for people who are used to periods of fasting. If you are just starting out on your OMAD journey, follow these tips to ensure a smooth transition.

     1. Do it on rest days / non-workout days

Exercise requires a lot of energy from your body and if you are physically active, it’s likely your body will require more nutrients and calories than the average person. While you may be able to get away with doing OMAD on days you workout, start by doing OMAD on non-workout days. Then as your body acclimates and you understand your caloric needs you may be able to expand your OMAD days to workout days.

     2. Incorporate electrolytes

Electrolytes are essential for our bodies to function optimally with deficiencies leading to weakness, fatigue, headache, cramps, cognitive function and more. They are especially important when fasting because your body not only expels electrolytes at an increased rate, but they can help regulate appetite and curb cravings. Electrolytes can make the difference between feeling great or miserable while fasting.

     3. Assess your one meal

I often find that my patients who are struggling with fasting either aren’t eating enough calories or they aren’t eating the right ratio of macronutrients. While carbohydrates are great for giving you quick energy, your body burns through them quickly leaving you crashing and hangry until your next meal. Healthy fats on the other hand, are a clean, slow-burning source of fuel for your body. 

Focus on incorporating more healthy fats into your one meal and consider looking into a food tracking app that can help you calculate how many calories you should be eating.

What should you eat on OMAD?

Every person’s specific dietary and caloric needs are going to be different. Ultimately, when eating your one meal for the day you’ll want to make sure it includes clean, whole food sources and not a lot of added sugar or processed foods. After all, the idea behind OMAD is to help facilitate healing and optimal health - we don’t want what you are eating to negate the benefits.

Start by understanding your personal caloric needs and then build a meal that reaches that amount with healthy fats, clean protein, and carbohydrates while taking any food intolerances or sensitivities into account.

I personally like to break my fast with a cup of bone broth or a simple bone broth soup to ease my gut into the digestion process. Then after 15-30 minutes I’ll have my main meal. THis usually looks something like two grass-fed burgers on top of a large salad with avocado and roasted sweet potatoes and cauliflower on the side.

To learn more about fasting, how to work your way up to an OMAD fast, and what to eat when breaking your fast, check out my book Intuitive Fasting.

The way I OMAD

I like to switch up my fasting methods. I love doing OMAD some days, especially when I am traveling. OMAD is an easy way to mitigate the health hazards of flying (like airport food, jet lag, and air pressure changes, which can be hard on digestion). It’s also easier not to think about eating when you are on the move. I stay hydrated with lots of water, and I love to sip on Earl Grey tea during my OMAD fast because it enhances autophagy. I feel great on those days and enjoy it. Crazy, right? But I don’t do it every day, and I have had many patients over the years who do well peppering their life with occasional OMAD days.

On other days, I choose different intermittent fasting windows, and sometimes I eat three regular meals and don’t fast at all. There is a grace and lightness to my fasting, and I believe this should be the case for anyone who wants to do fasting in a healthy and sustainable way.

The bottom line is that OMAD (and any other type of fasting) shouldn’t be stressful or miserable. The right way to fast is to do the type of fast that works for you and your body – that makes you feel better, not worse. Don’t force something if it’s not making you feel good or right.

But OMAD isn’t necessarily for beginners. If you are new to fasting, I suggest starting with shorter feeding windows, such as eating within an eight hour period at first, then slowly reducing it to six hours, five, four…until you feel like you can easily eat one meal a day every now and then. And if your diet isn’t a healthy one right now, I suggest backing up even further and focusing on eating real foods and getting the junk (like processed sugar and refined carbs) out of your diet first. 

Learn how to eat and feel satiated by good real food for a while before you explore fasting protocols. This will build a strong foundation on which to build your fasting. Focus on healthy fats, clean protein, and vegetables, with as few added sweeteners as possible. This will be a great natural transition to fasting (here are some meal ideas). This will also help to stabilize your blood sugar and help you to become more fat-adapted. Eventually, this can make fasting happen naturally, as nutrient-dense, low-sugar, fat-burning diets tend to decrease appetite due to how filling and satisfying they are. When you are well-fed, nourished, and no longer hangry, OMAD (and other fasting windows) will happen effortlessly.

As one of the first functional medicine telehealth clinics in the world, we provide webcam health consultations for people around the globe. 

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