OMAD – One Meal a Day intermittent fasting are there any potential problems or pitfalls if a person eats only one meal a day for a long time, in terms of months, years or even as a permanent lifelong lifestyle choice? Hi guys, welcome back to my channel. If you are new here, I am Dr Chan, I am a medical doctor from Singapore, my passion is in activating people to unlock the tremendous power of lifestyle habits to combat diabetes, cardiovascular disease and other lifestyle-related chronic diseases. This video is a follow up to my other video on OMAD where I shared my views about whether OMAD is Effective, Safe, Sustainable or Healthy, but for this video, I shall only focus on highlighting 4 potential problems / pitfalls that people who are intending to practise OMAD, eating only one meal a day long term, need to be aware of and address. Let’s jump straight into it. Potential Problem of practising OMAD long term No. 1 Not Eating Enough CALORIES. From my observation of people, including my patients who practise OMAD, most of them would find it difficult to eat enough in a single meal, or in a single one hour window to meet their daily calorie requirements when doing OMAD, but because most people who practise OMAD are doing so for weight-loss, having not enough calories daily is actually desired, because that is helping them to achieve their weight loss goals. But when OMAD is practised long term in terms of many months or years or even potentially as a lifelong dietary pattern, then this chronic caloric restriction over a long period would potentially pose a health problem Potential Problem of practising OMAD long term No. 2 Not Eating Enough PROTEIN Regardless of whether a person is a meat eater, vegetarian or vegan, eating one’s daily needs for protein in a single meal is not easy or even manageable for many people, not just in terms of the sheer amount of food that one needs to eat but also because protein promotes satiety, makes one feel full, it can be difficult to eat one’s daily protein requirement in one single sitting. Of course, some people, the big eaters, people who are used to eating big meals, might not find that a problem at all. but there are many who do and would fail to eat enough protein for most meals which would then become a potential problem if that person practises OMAD over a long period of time. Potential Pitfall, potential problem of practising OMAD long term No. 3 Not Eating Enough VARIETY / not eating enough MICRONUTRIENTS Potential Problems No. 1 and 2 of Ensuring that one eats enough calories or protein in a single meal, when practising OMAD though challenging for most people, might still be possible to overcome by a minority of people, those who are able to and willing to carefully count and ensure adequate calories and protein for their daily requirements through detailed meal planning for every single meal. But even if one is prepared to do meticulous meal planning daily And only eats carefully calculated, planned and prepared meals most of the time, one would still not be able to overcome this potential problem No. 3 of long term OMAD, and that is in ensuring enough intake of all the different micronutrients that are needed for long-term good health, the vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients and other essential health promoting micronutrients that can only come from having a diet pattern that is of adequate variety. And from my observation and experience coaching people, including my patients, in modifying and optimising their dietary habits, having a diet that has enough variety of all the different micronutrients rich foods is already a common problem for most people and even more so for people who practise OMAD. Because we are all creatures of habit and add to that the demands of today’s busy lives, most people would turn to convenience foods or comfort food most of the time, so most people tend not to have a dietary habit that has enough variety on a regular basis to provide them with the optimal levels of all the different micronutrients necessary for long term good health and this potential problem of not having enough variety and consequently not enough or optimal amount of essential micronutrients is potentially exacerbated when a person practises OMAD long term. Potential problem of practising OMAD long term No. 4 Eating large amounts of food during the least optimal time of the day. Have you heard of the popular saying, Eat breakfast like a King, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper? Well, there is actually some good scientific basis behind this old saying, because from a chronobiology perspective, our circadian rhythm, our body clock affect how our body handle food taken at different times of the day. For example there are weight loss studies that suggest that taking most of one’s calories earlier in the day may lead to greater weight loss than taking most of the same amount of calories later in the day and also many studies that suggest many different potential health benefits of not eating in the 2-3 hours period before going to bed. That is why most health experts would recommend that we should be taking more of our daily food intake earlier in the day, with dinner being the lightest or lighter meal of the day and that we should stop eating 2-3 hours before bedtime, But for most people, their eating patterns are the exact opposite because of social and lifestyle reasons. Dinner tends to be the highlight meal of the day for most people, because dinner is a time when we eat with family or friends, dinner is when we eat to celebrate or socialise. And so from my observation of people, including my patients who choose to practise OMAD, most of them would choose to take their one meal of the day at dinner time, few would choose lunch and even fewer would choose breakfast to be their only meal of the day, the complete opposite to what is ideal, what is optimal for health from a chronobiology perspective. So these are the 4 potential pitfalls, potential problems of doing OMAD long term, of course some might argue that these potential challenges can be overcome by supplementing with liquid meal replacement, protein shakes or various other supplements for vitamins and other essential micronutrients. Although supplementationdoes play an important role in certain unavoidable circumstances such as for people who have various nutrient deficiencies or have difficulty eating enough after surgery or because of illness, I would not recommend supplementation as the go to solution for people who are healthy and are able to eat normally, I recommend that regardless of whether we are vegetarian, vegan or meat-eaters, we should be getting most of our nutritional needs in the form of whole foods, minimally processed whole foods. So doing OMAD long term could potentially result in chronic caloric restriction, inadequate protein intake suboptimal micronutrients intake because it is not easy to eat enough, enough variety from the one single meal or the single one hour eating window every day. Lastly, I know that most people who practise OMAD are not doing because of recommendation from their doctors. in fact, most people are more likely to be doing OMAD in spite of the recommendations of their doctors not to, or at least are doing OMAD without letting their doctors know that they are. In my previous video on OMAD, I explained the rationale why I recommend that people who practise OMAD to work closely with their doctors or at least have an open communication with their doctors, so that they are aware that you are doing OMAD, something important for them to know If you are practising OMAD or are considering practising OMAD long term, I hope that you would at least consider, be mindful of these 4 potential pitfalls, potential problems of doing OMAD long term. For my other video on OMAD where I shared my views on whether OMAD Is Effective, Safe, Sustainable or Healthy, you can watch that video, linked here, I am Dr Chan. Let Habits be Thy Medicine Let’s unlock the power of habits as medicine, one dose, one habit at a time.