What To Eat On One Meal A Day

Hello Health Champions. Many of you are asking  about what to eat on intermittent fasting and  

when you're doing one meal a day, so today I will  give you a seven day sample meal plan and this is  

actually what I ate last week and I have a feeling  there's going to be a few surprises for some  

of you. And one day I had sausage with vegetable  scrambled eggs it was kind of like a variant of an  

omelet and you start off with some onion and bell  pepper you just brown it sauté it a little bit in  

some butter and then you scramble three eggs and  you mix them together then you cook some sausage  

and you serve it on a plate and you add some  cheese and serve it with some avocado so it's  

really really simple and here are how much I put  in in grams if you want ounces you just divide  

by 30 but I'm not going to go through all of the  details but I want to give you a few key numbers  

and you can just go back and look through this  should be pretty self-explanatory so this came  

up to about 1,350 calories and we had 77% of  calories from fat 20% from protein and only 3%  

of calories from carbohydrates so this is  combining intermittent fasting with a very  

strongly ketogenic meal plan and for those of  you who are new I just want to quickly review  

the benefits of OMAD of one meal a day in  intermittent fasting so it's basically all about  

reducing insulin and why do we want to do that  because insulin is the primary factor responsible  

for weight gain so the way to lose weight is to  reduce insulin and at the same time of course  

we will probably reduce the risk or reverse the  type 2 diabetes which is just insulin resistance  

and there are two ways to drive insulin and those  are carbohydrates and the frequency of meals that  

we eat so when we look at the relationship between  carbohydrates and insulin then if we eat 300  

grams of carbohydrate like a lot of people do on a  standard diet we're going to have a lot of insulin  

then if we reduce the carbohydrates we're going  to have a pretty much linear reduction in insulin  

as well and the other factor of course is  frequency so if we eat six meals a day we  

have big meals and we have snacks but we eat  six times then we're going to trigger insulin  

six times and the more carbohydrate we eat those  six times the more insulin we're going to trigger  

six times if we eat ketogenic or low carb we're  going to trigger less insulin but we're still  

going to do it many many times a day so if we  really want to reverse insulin resistance we  

want to reduce the carbs and the frequency of  meals and even though most people do this for  

weight loss it's important to understand that  insulin resistance is responsible for about  

90 percent of all the degenerative disease  that we experience in the modern world today  

and also when we do fasting and OMAD then we're  also improving longevity and our immune system  

another day I had a hamburger salad and a salad  is so classic it's so versatile you can put just  

about anything you want in there these are just  examples and instead of the hamburger of course  

you can put another meat of your choice like steak  or chicken or salmon so here I use 20% fat ground  

beef and then you just brown that up and I put  some malty seasoning some seasoning salt on there  

and then it's pretty simple just lettuce tomato  onion avocado bell pepper cheese bacon bits  

and olive oil and for dressing when you have  these many things in it and has so much flavor  

you don't need any fancy commercial dressings with  seed oil so I just use salt pepper oil and vinegar  

and it's fantastic so what are the numbers  on this it's about 1450 calories we get 79%  

from fat 19% from protein and only 2% of calories  from carbohydrate and again virtually all of these  

carbs are from leafy greens so it's almost like  zero your body is really not going to notice that  

at all everyone who has transitioned from high  carb multiple meals down to low carb and one  

or two meals a day they know how easy it is to  maintain that lifestyle but if your body isn't  

used to it then don't try to get there all at once  because your body is going to protest so remember  

be nice to yourself get fat adapted gradually  start by just reducing carbs if you've been eating  

300 grams of carbs a day then don't try to get  into ketosis right away because you probably  

will suffer so try to go maybe 10% less so drop  it by 10% every week and it doesn't really matter  

how long it takes you to get there as long as you  are consistently changing something it's going to  

go faster than you think within a few weeks you're  going to be low carb and you're not going to miss  

any of the things that you ate same thing with  the eating period you want to reduce it gradually  

a lot of people eat 16 hours a day they have  something to eat first thing in the morning  

and the last thing before bed so don't try  to go to one meal a day all of a sudden go  

cut off an hour or two at each end of your eating  period and before you know it you'll be down to  

eight hours and six hours and four hours and then  when you're fat adapted and you're used to that  

then it's a cinch to go to one meal a day and  then you'll find that it's both effortless  

and pain-free change doesn't have to be painful  I bet you didn't think you could have fajitas  

just cut out the tortillas and everything  else is pretty much fine I love guacamole  

I keep it simple I just put some onion garlic  and a squeeze of lemon in there with some salt  

and pepper I like to use about three avocados for  two people that comes out to about 250 grams or  

about eight ounces give or take then I use some  tomatoes and I chop them up with some raw onion  

to make a Pico de Gallo and I also use refried  beans and all the good versions the ones with a  

little bit of fat in the stores they have soybean  oil even the Mexican brands so I add my own lard  

I try to find something without soybean  oil and I just add a little bit of lard  

then I put onion bell pepper and olive oil in  a frying pan and brown that sauté that together  

I put the skirt steak on the grill with just salt  and pepper and I get it as hot as I possibly can  

and then just cook them one to two minutes per  side it's really really quick so you do that at  

the end and have everything else ready and then I  serve that with some sour cream now that comes out  

to about 1,300 calories and if this is too much  food for you you cut back a little bit if it's not  

enough you just increase it by a little bit you're  getting 71% of calories from fat 19% from protein  

and 10% from carbohydrate so if you're trying to  get into ketosis I wouldn't do this every day but  

only your net carb count is 31 grams so for a lot  of people you're still going to be able to stay  

in ketosis with that but if your body is stubborn  and you have trouble burning fat and getting into  

ketosis then just cut out the refried beans and  then you'll be about half of that carb percentage  

now one of the main challenges of one meal a day  is to eat enough food and this depends also on  

who you are because some people do one meal a  day to lose weight but others are trying to get  

the benefits of autophagy the immune benefits and  so forth so if you're skinny and you're using up  

2,500 calories then it's hard to eat all that food  in one sitting the meals I give you are about 1300  

to 1500 calories for the most part and then if  you're thin insulin sensitive and you're active  

on top of that you might need 3,500 calories  so for those people you probably want to do  

one meal a day some days a week and then try  to catch up on the other days but if you are  

overweight meaning that you have a fortune of  energy stored on your body as reserve energy then  

you have some to take off and now if you eat 1200  to 1500 calories then the whole idea of that is  

to get into fat burning to lower insulin so your  body has access to those fat reserves and then  

you can burn anywhere from 500 to 1500 calories  of body fat and that's why you're not hungry  

your body isn't starving it's just eating some of  the calories from food and some of the calories  

from the body but if you're skinny you can't  do that because there's a point where you're  

too thin and the body says I can't burn anymore  I don't have this reserve and you have to start  

eating a little bit more so you can do if you're  thin you can do one meal a day for the autophagy  

benefits but probably not try to do that every  day another one of my favorites is lamb chops  

and then you could have that with a variety of  things and this time I had cauliflower casserole  

and some tabbouleh I cooked the cauliflower  with garlic and some olive oil you sprinkle  

the olive oil or brush the olive oil with  the garlic on the cauliflower you cook it  

for about 15 minutes then you take it out you mix  it with sour cream and cheese and you put it in  

for another 15 minutes and then the Tabouleh is  one of my favorites but the original version from  

the middle east has bulger wheat in it so I just  took out the bulgur wheat and I put pecans in  

so we take parsley chopped lemon you peel  off the peel and then you chop the rest of it  

you chop some pecans and some onions and then you  put in an equal weight so I use about 15 grams  

of each of these ingredients and then with that  you put a tablespoon of olive oil on top of it  

so that's part of this olive oil and then you  mix it all up with some salt and pepper and  

it's super delicious I eat that a couple of three  times a week probably and it goes with just about  

everything it's fantastic with steak and then you  grill the lamb chops and you serve it all up so  

this is a big meal it's 1,700 calories we get 74%  of calories from fat 22% from protein and 5% from  

carbohydrates so this is pretty much a classic  ketogenic meal the the ratios but how do you get  

enough nutrients that's always the thing people  say if you eat keto if you're going one meal a day  

if you're fasting you're gonna starve your body  you're gonna get nutritional deficiencies but  

that's not true because your body has some  reserves and if you eat quality foods not  

anything processed that's the thing everything  should be cooked from scratch when you eat one  

meal a day it is the processed food that is devoid  of nutrients and the food has to be satisfying  

it has to be very rich and that's where we eat  things that have most of the calories from fat  

so rich satisfying and filling and that's  important because you don't want to get  

hungry you want something that really fills  you up that really stabilizes the blood sugar  

so that you don't have any swings because  that's where you're going to get the cravings  

and if possible eat as much low carb as you can  because it's all about the insulin another one  

of my favorites is steak of course and this time I  had it with some roasted broccoli and cream sauce  

I start off with the broccoli and garlic I put it  in a Pyrex dish and I cover it with aluminum foil  

so it doesn't dry out and I cook that for about 15  minutes then I add some cheese on top and I grill  

it I roast it a little bit higher temperature for  another five or eight minutes just to brown it and  

melt the cheese super delicious salt and pepper  of course then I cook the asparagus in a pan  

with some butter maybe a teaspoon of  vinegar or lemon and salt and pepper again  

the steak I used this time was a ribeye which has  about 15% fat so if you use a fillet or a leaner  

cut then the numbers are going to go down just a  little bit and something I love to do is to make a  

crème fraiche sauce in the end so crème fraiche is  like sour cream with twice the fat sour cream has  

about 15% fat and this one has about 30-35% it's  a little difficult to find but I get mine from  

trader joe's maybe I shouldn't say that because  then I won't be able to find it there anymore  

but I like you guys so I'll share that  secret with you and then I put I put a little  

dab of cognac or cooking wine or something just to  kind of clean out the pan before I add the crème  

fraiche and it makes its own sauce you don't need  any thickener you just very very carefully warm it  

up and it's a done deal it's super super delicious  can't fail and this meal comes out 1,658 calories  

69% fat a little bit higher in protein because  of all the steak but also some cheese 26%  

and carbohydrates at 5% so again pretty classic  keto diet ratios let's touch a little bit on the  

macros a classic ketogenic diet is going  to get about 75% of calories from fat 20%  

from protein and 5% from carbohydrate  and I don't think the macros are super  

important when you're doing intermittent fasting  if you're only eating one meal a day it is not  

that critical it helps to keep the carbs low as  well but here's why you tend to end up here anyway  

because you only eat once a day you have to eat  rich food you have to eat something that you can  

fit in a certain volume that still gives  you all the nutrients and it has to be very  

dense calorically rich food so most people  kind of end up there anyway and five percent  

carbohydrate calories from carbohydrate would  be about 25 grams of net carbs if you eat  

70/ 20/ 10. 10% carbs would be 50 grams  65/ 20/ 15/ 15% of carbs would be 75 grams  

and 60/ 20/ 20 would be a hundred grams of net  carbohydrates so a lot of people might have to  

be more toward the 25 or the 50 grams even on one  meal a day while they're reversing their insulin  

resistance but as they get leaner as their bodies  heal as they reverse their insulin resistance  

then they can probably try a little bit higher and  find a new balance point that works for them and  

how do you know then long term what balance point  really works for you well the answer is blood work  

but you can't measure just glucose you have  to measure insulin and why is that let's  

take an example if you are young and healthy and  insulin sensitive your glucose sits at about 85  

when you're fasting and it takes about three units  of fasting insulin in the blood to maintain that  

glucose because your body makes a little glucose  from gluconeogenesis it breaks down some glycogen  

and then you need just a tiny little bit of  insulin to process through and get that steady  

slow flow of glucose into the cells but then  let's say that you eat like most people do  

and five years later you get more blood  work and now your glucose looks perfect  

they're saying you have nothing to worry about  but you went and you checked insulin as well  

and you found out that your insulin was up to  nine it was three times higher so how could that  

be because your glucose is still good because  glucose is a controlled variable it is super  

super important for the body to maintain it at  a steady level the brain needs steady fuel and  

that's why there's a very narrow band where the  body works desperately hard to keep the glucose  

in that range and here now we see five years later  your body has to work three times harder because  

the cells are becoming insulin resistant and if  you only checked glucose you changed nothing then  

five years later your glucose is probably about  the same and your insulin is probably way higher  

again so now it's up five times from the initial  level 15 years later you see your glucose is still  

normal it's still in the normal range but it's  starting to creep up and your insulin is up  

seven fold so 85 is a really good number it could  be even lower if you're on a keto diet and that  

would still be fine but if you can a borderline  just low carb then 85 is a great number so what  

we have to understand is when it slips up to 92  94 that's still considered normal but it means  

something the body is starting to work really hard  and then eventually when it loses the fight and we  

get a higher glucose when it gets above that  ideal range that only happens because there's  

almost no amount of insulin that will keep the  glucose down the cells are so insulin resistant  

that the glucose are only going to go up after  the body has completely lost the fight and when  

we look at these yellow arrows and this person  is a full-blown type 2 diabetic pretty far gone  

and his blood glucose is at 170 that doesn't look  dramatically different relative to the insulin but  

again for the glucose to double for the fasting  glucose to get to 170 the body really has to lose  

the fight and that's how you figure out where you  need to be because if you check this every year  

then you can monitor your insulin and you can do  some calculations and you can easily figure out if  

you need to be a little bit higher or a little bit  lower another favorite is chicken wings I pretty  

much only eat favorites by the way and chicken  wings we probably have about 10 or 12 of them  

400 grams or so I like to have celery and bell  pepper I know some people like carrots but I just  

like these and then I make my own dipping sauce  I melt some butter and then I just pour in some  

wing sauce and some chili sauce and some lemon and  whatever you like just mix it up but it's great to  

have that butter because it makes them so creamy  and so yummy and I forgot to put that on the list  

but sometimes I sprinkle some parmesan cheese  on top of it all and this gives us 1250 calories  

75% from fat 21% from protein 4% from carbohydrate  and I bet this is the biggest surprise from most  

of you pizza dr. Ekberg eats pizza? Yes  probably about once a week and you can too  

the trick though is to not go to the store  and get those pizza crusts that they say are  

keto with cauliflower because if you check the  list they're just regular pizza crusts that they  

sprinkle some cauliflower into they sometimes  have more carbohydrate than the regular ones  

if you're one of those people who can make a  100% cauliflower crust that is good I applaud you  

mine ended up too soggy so what I do is I use a  tortilla and there are actually some really good  

low carb tortillas out there now without a bunch  of weird stuff in them and this one I found has  

about six grams of net carbs so that's well within  a keto budget and we'll show you the numbers here  

then you just add all the toppings pretty simple  and I sometimes I like a lot of tomato flavors  

I sometimes use a tomato paste just like a  tablespoon of tomato paste on the bottom of  

it and then I top it with tomatoes bell pepper  onion mushroom sausage bacon bits and cheese  

so the toppings are like 10 times the thickness of  the tortilla obviously and then what I like to do  

is in Sweden there's something called pizza  salad and what it is it's like coleslaw but  

without sugar and without cream all you do is it's  finely sliced cabbage with vinegar salt pepper  

and a little basil or some Italian spices or  something like that a couple of tablespoons of  

olive oil so about one tablespoon per person  and this is super delicious it's fast to make  

it doesn't have to sit and when you're done you  kind of squeeze it to soften it a little bit  

and then just serve it straight up this gives you  1292 calories 72% of calories from fat 20% from  

protein and 7% from carbohydrate which is 24 grams  so even pizza if you do it this way can fit well  

into a keto lifestyle. If you enjoyed this video  you're going to love that one, and if you truly  

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