2 OMAD-ohMan

OMAD … OhMan

Most people have figured out if they eat less, weight gain stops and even may reverse….a little. Until the inevitable point of going back to indulgence. That could be in 

-volume of food in 24 hours

-amount of sugar ANYTIME

-frequent feeding (and old 1990’s suggestion by the ADA)

-late night eating

-alcohol

-sugary drinks

-highly processed meals / drive thru

Yes the food industry made what looks like the same meals as the 70’s-80’s but now end result is a HYPERPALATABLE dish. Grandmother’s can tell the difference with one taste but those who haven’t indulged in true home cooked meals won’t know ingredients are baked-in to make you dependent to the franchise. (Can anyone really stop at 5 chips, 2 cookies, a 7oz soda or a bucket of popcorn?) 

As an example, I take Pellegrino as my indulgence drink and in 1 liter there’s about 32 grams of sodium.  In one 12oz can of soda, there’s around 12 to 45grams of sodium….Coke disguises the salt with sugar and carbohydrate! What happens when you take too much salt? You get thirst!…and so starts the rabbit hole of processed food addiction. 

The general public does the best it can to detox and swear away any repeat offense…but…stress will always bring us back to the drive through. 

Now there’s a new monster in town…the crumble cookie, the frappachino or the mocha cookie crumble frappachino! All less than 15$ but with enough sugar/carbohydrate to account for your entire daily allotment. (And you finish each indulgence in 5-10minutes…causing an insulin spike then 3 hours later an insulin crash…sending you back to satisfy this weird desire for more carb!.

REGARDLESS, if you survive the typical 5 day detoxification / withdrawals…you may be able to think clearly and be motivated to eat healthy as the body now can taste and appreciate real flavors. Tasting sugar on the tongue amps up your sweet tastebuds and that neurological signal dominates the brain in identifying what food is. Salt, bitter, pungent, sour and umami nerve connections to the hunger center of the brain become turned off and mute. You become a sugar zombie. The detox can mimic a heroin withdrawal minus the seizures. 

Say you make it through all the hurdles and challenges. If you didn’t pay attention to grandma or mom with the family recipe and steps to chop veggies, throttle the burner to simmer over hours, allow dough to rise you will be a prisoner to the local food factory and back to square one!

OR

You will have salad with limited flavors, tunafish in a can or pricy steak. (Spoiler alert this won’t last past your first taste of the good stuff again)

So how do I suggest my patients that don’t have cooking talent/knowledge to survive the zombie apocalypse of the food industry? 

Read labels-slow

Learn to cook-slow

Move in with mom or grandma-not available most times

Take appetite suppressants-addictive with side effects

Don’t change food intake but shrink the daily volume-FASTING!

Jason Fung popularized skipping breakfast (another American Diabetes Association creation to eat a well balance meal before school or work fully carb heavy with sugar!!! Waffles syrup hash browns French toast kids cereal!

But people started skipping first meal and doing well! (Little detox notes here and there but folks were driven by motivation) thus started the 16/8 routine. Then the 18/6 routine with decent adherance! Eventually everyone raved about skipping meals and increasing their fasting window! And finally from sustaining an empty stomach for 18 hours, it was the next progression to call on One Meal A Day….OMAD!

Doesn’t take cooking skills, takes a little will power but if you keep yourself busy with what seems to be endless internet chores, 10 hour days you become comfortable with the growling stomach…(I actually enjoy waiting for it! Then when the first growl hits…I picture my metabolism starting to suck fat out of my storage depots) My wrestler friends in high school and college used to “shrink their stomachs” to make weight…I remember seeing them spit in a cup to even stop swallowing their own saliva-dangerous foolish and a building block to body dysmorphism! (A psychological disease label)

It can be argued that all forms of fasting may be boarderline reasons for food aversion and pathologic relationships with food. Unfortunately this is the industry we are up against and at this point the industry is too big to fail. Now the drug industry is taking advantage and making medicines deemed a cure for diabetes BUT actually making more money helping hollywood lose weight. 

Question: Will OMAD help you lose weight?

Answer: Yes but not indefinitely 

Caution: the biggest loser phenomenon found those contestants that won the prior season, were not invited back as they gained the weight PLUS MORE since the season finale. The data suggested those humans were put through so high a starvation signal PLUS INTENSE exercise never experienced before….right about the last episode was when their metabolisms adapted to the morsel of daily food and STILL digestive systems were able to manifest full calorie extraction from even a crumb.
So if you only rely on OMAD without adding exercise (intense) and a calming practice to develop faith…you are walking a temporary bridge that will eventually “crumble” when you enter back into public kitchens, food courts, watch commercials or attend a family event! 

So bottom line is its novel to try this practice…at least build up to it…I would only use is as an accessory technique perhaps once a month to PULSE a change to your metabolism that triggers a good adaptive response but then return to enjoyable eating but do it smartly by building your knowledge base around the kitchen, grill or pantry. And if grandma is still around or mom hasn’t fallen to the dark side of the industry….watch, learn, do and thrive. 

DrRic