today we're going to be talking about how meal timing can affect weight loss
and your overall health mainstream wisdom over the last several
decades has told us to eat small frequent meals if you want to lose
weight but is this strategy actually effective
recently a new completely opposite approach has gained popularity the one
meal a day diet in this video we're going to talk about the pros and the
cons of the one meal a day diet who it might be beneficial for and who might
benefit more from a different approach
hey guys welcome back to my channel if you need here my name is Kait I'm a
health coach and I post videos on a high-fat nutrient-dense way of eating if
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trial today the one meal a day diet also known as Oh Matt is a way of eating
where a person eats one meal per day and fasts for the rest of the day Oh matt is
a version of intermittent fasting and is said to be extremely effective for rapid
weight loss and managing blood sugar and insulin now well I do think this
approach is beneficial for some people there are other people who this might
not be optimal for and who might benefit more from eating multiple meals
throughout the day in this video we are going to look at the pros and the cons
of eating multiple small meals throughout the day and then the pros and
the cons of eating one meal per day let's start off by talking about the
logic behind both ways of eating small frequent meals as I said at the start of
this video mainstream wisdom has been telling us
that eating smaller frequent meals and snacks through
the day is the best way to lose weight the thinking behind this is that if you
eat smaller meals more frequently you are not hungry throughout the day and
you will end up eating less calories overall the other part to this is that
frequent eating throughout the day means your body is always digesting food and
this is thought to speed up your metabolism but when we see this approach
tested through scientific studies the results are all over the place some
studies find the participants do end up eating less overall while others find
the participants actually end up eating more the research also shows that
there's no significant increase in metabolism from eating more frequently
throughout the day and I think that if we look at how this approach is played
out in the real world where we are encouraged to always be snacking and
eating smaller meals the rate of diabetes and obesity shows that this is
not working the average American eats five to six times every day a contrast
to the three times per day that was common in the 1970s a recent survey also
reveals that more Americans are opting for smaller meals and snacks throughout
the day with 86% saying they've replaced at least one meal with a snack meal
instead so if people are following this approach yrb City rates only increasing
even if this is a result of people under estimating how much they are consuming
it still shows that this isn't working one meal a day the one meal a day diet
is based off the thinking that insulin drives fat storage when insulin levels
are high our body is in fat storing mode when insulin levels are low our body is
in fat-burning mode insulin rises every time we eat and is lowest when we are
fasting by eating only one meal per day you are maximizing the amount of time
spent in fat-burning mode when your body is using your stored body fat for energy
and therefore the one meal a day diet is thought to be a more effective strategy
for weight loss the pros and cons as someone who has tried this frequent
small meal I found that instead of not being hungry
throughout the day I was actually always hungry I would finish my perfectly
measured 300 calorie meal and feel like I could eat three more serves I would
then tell myself okay I'm just gonna have my snack now instead of in a couple
of hours and everything would snowball from here the end result was me and
finding it impossible to get anything done because I was always hungry and
thinking about food or eating from a practicality standpoint the small
frequent meals is completely inconvenient because so much of your day
is spent preparing food and eating not to mention that when we have this
mindset that we need to be eating every couple of hours this means that we are
always reaching for a snack on the flipside only eating one meal in a day
means you have a huge time-saving advantage and this provides so much food
freedom you don't have to be worrying about what you're gonna eat when you're
out running errands or how you're gonna squeeze in a meal between meetings but
there is a catch it takes a lot of initial and ongoing willpower to stick
to this way of eating a lot of people are up to it and more power to you
personally though when I have tried to follow the one meal a day diet I found
it really difficult and there is a concern about overeating when you do
have your one meal although I think it is pretty tough to casually overeat
2,000 calories in a meal can it be done sure but I think you are going to be
well aware that you were overeating by the time it gets to this point so if you
are able to stick to the one meal a day diet this is going to be far more
effective than eating smaller frequent meals throughout the day but there are
some exceptions and I do not think that this is the only approach one of the
exceptions is for people who are insulin resistant insulin resistance is when
your body's response to insulin is impaired normally when you eat a meal
insulin is released and takes the glucose to where it needs to be in your
body and then the insulin levels return to baseline in someone who is insulin
resistant however the body becomes less sensitive to the actions of insulin and
blood sugar and insulin levels remain high for longer after eating as I said
before when insulin is high your body is in fat storing mode and this is why it
is really hard for people who are insulin resistant to lose weight fasting
is known to be an effective strategy for those who are insulin resistant because
when you're not eating this is when insulin is lowest so you would think
that the one meal a day diet would be ideal for someone in this situation but
that's not always the case someone whose insulin resistant is going to have a
greater insulin response to food and the insulin will stay in their bloodstream
longer after eating combine this with the fact that if you are eating all of
your daily calories in one meal your insulin response is going to be much
higher and the one meal a day diet might not be as effective for someone whose
insulin resistant as it is for someone who is not what important note here is
that not all foods raise insulin levels the same amount carbohydrates have the
greatest impact on our insulin protein has a moderate impact in fact very
little now although the response to protein is only moderate when you are
consuming all of the protein that you need for the day in one meal this can
add up although this is probably okay for someone who is metabolically healthy
for someone who is insulin resistant this response is magnified and that
brings us to the middle ground two meals a day while fasting is beneficial for
improving insulin resistance one meal a day might not be as effective and eating
two meals instead might be a better approach by breaking the total insulin
load up into two meals the insulin response after eating each meal will be
lower and this isn't just beneficial for weight loss for
myself personally I find two meals a day to be the sweet spot because I eat a
very low carb diet it is relatively easy for me to go several hours without
eating and two meals a day just comes naturally I think a lot of people have
realized that this small frequent meal isn't effective and returning to a time
restrictive eating instead however less isn't necessarily more Oh mad it might
be beneficial for some but it is not necessarily the gold standard if you can
short you're eating window even a little bit you'll experience some of the
benefits of fasting that can look like eating all of your calories within a
12-hour window three meals and no snacking or an eight hour window with
two meals or in the case of ohm at a one-hour window all of these approaches
can work it's about finding what works for you and what is helping you progress
towards your goals I have a whole other video on intermittent fasting so if you
want to know more about that you can check that video afterwards anyways guys
that's all I have for you today let me know in the comment section down below
how many meals you eat per day and why and before you go I'm going to tell you
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Squarespace for sponsoring this video and if you made it this far thank you so
much for watching if you like this video you might also
my video on intermittent fasting which I spoke about earlier if you want to catch
up on my most recent upload you can click the video here and if you're
interested in starting a keto or carnivore diet you can check out my
coaching programs here thanks again guys I'll see you next time bye