If you are trying to lose weight, you may be tempted to eat just one meal a day. You're likely to lose weight -- at least initially. But it's also likely that you'll be hungry. Further, eating just once a day puts you at risk of developing health complications. Many health professionals, including those at the American Academy of Family Physicians, recommend eating regularly throughout the day. Unless you're eating just once a day on the advice of your physician, this is not an ideal weight-loss or weight-management strategy.
Expert Insight
A series of chemical reactions drive your metabolism, and the food you eat keeps your metabolism going. When you eat just one meal a day, cholesterol in your bloodstream can rise. A study published in the April 2007 edition of the "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition" examined the effect of one meal a day vs. three. The researchers found that the healthy participants who ate a single meal a day did lose fat mass, but they were hungry. Moreover, they had increased blood pressure and total cholesterol and a decreased cortisol concentration. Cortisol, a steroid hormone, causes your body to send more glucose into your bloodstream when you are under stress. Over the long term, a slow metabolism can sabotage your weight-loss efforts.
Rationale
You may eat just once a day if you want to lose weight quickly or have a busy schedule. One-meal-a-day diet programs generally include a liquid nutritional supplement that you drink two or three times during the day. Dana Cassell, an author of "The Encyclopedia of Obesity and Eating Disorders," indicates that medically supervised patients using a liquid nutrition product in conjunction with one meal a day tend to lose more weight than those who simply reduce calories.
Cautions
Eating one meal a day may cause you to feel very hungry throughout the day, even if you're supplementing with weight-loss or protein shakes. You may also experience a drop in your blood sugar. If you eat fewer than 800 calories between your one solid and several liquid meals a day, you run the risk of developing a heart rhythm abnormality, which could be fatal, according to the National Institutes of Health. You also run the risk of failing to get adequate nutrition. Someone on a 1,200-calorie diet needs 1 1/2 cups of vegetables and fruits, 4 oz. of grain-based foods, 3 oz. of protein and 2 1/2 cups of dairy. A 1,200 calorie diet pattern also requires about 15 g of healthy oils.
Healthy Alternatives
If you do have one meal a day occasionally, make it nutritious. If you can only have lunch, eat a sandwich on whole-grain bread that you fill with two different vegetables, 3 oz. of chicken or lean ham and mustard. Include a cup of yogurt, a piece of fruit and a cup of milk or juice. A single meal in the morning could include either oatmeal with skim milk or a vegetable, egg and cheese omelet. Have a piece of fruit and a cup of fruit-topped yogurt. One meal in the evening could include 4 oz. of a lean protein such as seafood or chicken, 1/2 cup of brown rice, 1 to 1 1/2 cups of vegetables, a glass of milk and a serving of fruit.
References
- "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition"; A Controlled Trial of Reduced Meal Frequency Without Caloric Restriction in Healthy, Normal-Weight, Middle-Aged Adults; Kim S. Store, et al.; April 2007
- "The Encyclopedia of Obesity and Eating Disorders"; Dana K. Cassell, et al.; 2006
- National Institutes of Health; Weight-Loss and Nutrition Myths; March 2009
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010
- American Academy of Family Physicians; What it Takes to Lose Weight; December 2010
- National Institutes of Health; Cortisol Level; Ari S. Eckman, et al.; November 2009
Member Comments