Prisoners get three square meals a day — but for some people, that’s two meals too many.
Rocker Bruce Springsteen, British Prime Minster Rishi Sunak and Coldplay frontman Chris Martin have reportedly hopped on the OMAD, or One Meal A Day, diet train.
OMAD may sound extreme — and to some diet experts, it is.
Here’s what you should know:
What is the OMAD diet?
Eating one meal a day is basically a form of intermittent fasting, in which you limit your food consumption to a brief window of time each day.
People on the OMAD diet eat just one standard-sized dinner plate of any food they want each day, at roughly the same time each day. It’s that simple.
And no, you cannot stack 12 pork chops and a mountain of buttery mashed potatoes on your plate — your food cannot reach higher than three inches above the plate.
But you can have pork chops, mashed potatoes, pizza, hamburgers, french fries, enchiladas, chocolate cake, lasagna or whatever else you want. There are no limits to the type of food that goes on your dinner plate.
During the other 23 hours of the day, OMAD dieters drink just water, plain tea or black coffee — no calories from cream, sugar or other additives.
Is it healthy?
For simplicity, diets don’t get much easier than that. But that’s where the problems arise, say experts.
“Eating a diet like this does not help keep blood sugar steady and can also lead to nutrient deficiencies,” Dr. Lisa Young, a registered dietitian nutritionist and author of “Finally Full, Finally Slim” and “The Portion Teller Plan,” told The Post.
Other experts agree: “The OMAD diet’s lack of nutritional guidance on what to eat for that one meal a day raises many red flags,” Dr. Nicholas Fuller of the University of Sydney Faculty of Medicine & Health wrote in The Conversation.
“The meals we eat every day should include a source of protein balanced with whole-grain carbs, vegetables, fruits, protein and good fats,” Fuller added. “Not eating a balanced diet will result in nutritional deficiencies.”
Does intermittent fasting work?
Despite this, there is evidence that intermittent fasting overall does work: One meta-analysis of 27 studies found that the diet resulted in weight loss of up to 13% of overall baseline weight.
And a 2023 study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that those who participated in intermittent fasting lost the same amount of weight as those who counted calories.
“This indicates long-term weight loss achieved with intermittent fasting is … on a par with that achieved by traditional dieting approaches (daily calorie restriction),” Fuller wrote.
Is one meal a day sustainable?
But it’s the long-term sustainability — or lack thereof — of the OMAD diet that concerns nutrition experts.
“While it can create a calorie deficit and result in weight loss, as a nutritionist, I don’t think it’s a sustainable way to live,” said Young.
“Extreme diets – especially ones prescribing extended periods of fasting – aren’t enjoyable, leading to feelings of deprivation and social isolation during meal times,” Fuller wrote.
“It’s hard enough to refuse a piece of office birthday cake at the best of times, imagine how this would feel when you haven’t eaten for 23 hours!” he added.
Fuller and other experts advise staying away from extreme fad diets and focusing on the basics of good health and weight management.
Fuller advises: “Successfully losing weight long-term comes down to losing weight in small manageable chunks you can sustain, specifically periods of weight loss, followed by periods of weight maintenance, and so on, until you achieve your goal weight.”
He also recommends “making gradual changes to your lifestyle to ensure you form habits that last a lifetime.”
