omad breakfast lunch or dinner

[bao]

hi all

what does science say about the difference between breakfast, lunch or dinner only per day? which is optimal? pls share your experience? what about the risk of gallstones? thanks everyone

[Dean Pomerleau]

Hi Bao, 

Welcome to the CR forums. 

I've been eating a single meal per day in the morning for about 5 years now and I am quite happy with the practice. There is evidence that getting the bulk of your calories in the morning improves the circadian rhythm of many metabolic processes, as discussed here, and illustrated in the diagram :

Note: night is the active period for rodents, so restricting them to night feeding is like daytime feeding for humans. 

--Dean 

[mccoy]

My experience is that the benefits, or the detriments, are specific to specific individuals. In my case, contrary to other members of this forum. a single daily meal would be highly deleterious, resulting in a bloated stomach and conspicuos tachycardia.

The gallstones hazard is cited by Longo, a possible mechanism being the concentration and precipitation of mineral salts in the bile when stagnating.

[Sjors]

Hi Dean,

Your post piqued my interest. I'm wondering what your daily meal generally looks like. Don't you need to eat a lot of food (quantity) in one sitting to reach the RDIs?

Thanks!

Edited August 26, 2019 by Sjors

[Dean Pomerleau]

Welcome Sjors!

25 minutes ago, Sjors said:

I'm wondering what your daily meal generally looks like. Don't you need to eat a lot of food (quantity) in one sitting to reach the RDIs?

Yes I do eat a lot of food in my one meal a day, especially since I exercise a lot. There is a thread devoted to my unusual diet, complete with CRON-O-Meter profile and photos. 

Although that thread is from a few years ago, my one meal hasn't changed much since then except:

1. I don't weigh my food anymore - too much trouble.
2. I stopped growing my own sprouts.
3. I've kicked my durian addiction, except on special occasions when I visit the Asian market.
4. I only eat a single banana, rather than three.

--Dean

[BrianMDelaney]

I've seen the gallstone risk mentioned by no one by Longo. It makes some theoretical sense, but I don't know whether there's any evidence for it.

[Sjors]

29 minutes ago, Dean Pomerleau said:

Welcome Sjors!

Yes I do eat a lot of food in my one meal a day, especially since I exercise a lot. There is a thread devoted to my unusual diet, complete with CRON-O-Meter profile and photos. 

Although that thread is from a few years ago, my one meal hasn't changed much since then except:

1. I don't weigh my food anymore - too much trouble.
2. I stopped growing my own sprouts.
3. I've kicked my durian addiction, except on special occasions when I visit the Asian market.
4. I only eat a single banana, rather than three.

--Dean

Thanks Dean! The thread you mention is more than I could've hoped for!

[mccoy]

20 hours ago, BrianMDelaney said:

I've seen the gallstone risk mentioned by no one by Longo. It makes some theoretical sense, but I don't know whether there's any evidence for it.

Googling fasting + gallstones a little material appears, not too much nor too recent

Johns Hopkins

Quote

Fasting. Fasting decreases gallbladder movement, which causes the bile to become overconcentrated with cholesterol.

 

 

Gut. 1993 Oct; 34(10): 1443–1447.

doi: 10.1136/gut.34.10.1443

PMCID: PMC1374559

PMID: 8244118

Correlation between gall bladder fasting volume and postprandial emptying in patients with gall stones and healthy controls.

J Pauletzki, M Cicala, J Holl, T Sauerbruch, A Schafmayer, and G Paumgartner

Author information Copyright and License information Disclaimer

 

This article has been cited by other articles in PMC.

Abstract

To evaluate whether the extent of postprandial gall bladder emptying is correlated with gall bladder fasting volume, gall bladder motility was studied in 56 patients with cholesterol gall stone and 19 control patients. Gall bladder volumes were determined sonographically, while cholecystokinin plasma values were measured radioimmunologically. Twenty three per cent of gall stone patients were classified as pathological contractors (residual fraction > mean +2SD of controls) and 77% as normal contractors. Normal but not pathological contractor patients exhibited larger gall bladder fasting volumes (mean (SEM)) (24.7 (1.7) ml) than controls (15.3 (1.2) ml, p < 0.001). In normal contractor patients and controls fasting volume was closely related with ejection volume (r = 0.97, p < 0.001) and residual volume (r = 0.80, p < 0.001). Although ejection volume was enlarged in normal contractor patients it did not compensate the increase in fasting volume. Thus, residual volumes were considerably increased not only in pathological contractors (12.7 (2.5) ml, p < 0.001) but also in normal contractor patients (7.0 (0.5) v 4.6 (0.6) ml, p < 0.001). Postprandial cholecystokinin secretion did not differ between patients and controls. It is concluded, that in normal contractor patients gall bladder fasting volume is closely correlated with ejection and residual volume. Thus, fasting volume may be an essential factor affecting postprandial gall bladder emptying. Large fasting volumes in cholesterol gall stone disease could thereby contribute to bile retention, which facilitates gall stone growth.

[Gordo]

One consideration with meal timing/ intermittent fasting that has been discussed is the impact on sleep. Off the top of my head, I believe that at least some research has shown that optimal sleep quality is achieved when last food intake occurs approximately 4-5 hours before your bedtime. Eating only in the morning could compromise your sleep quality which would be counterproductive for health & longevity.  Individual results of course can vary, so it may be a good idea to monitor/track sleep quality.

As for gallstones, yes I have read of the association between fasting and gallstones. I myself had my gallbladder removed after starting CR and intermittent fasting, but I don’t think this is evidence for cause/effect as I have a family history of gallstones (5 close relatives) and none of them have done any type of fasting or CR as far as I know, plus I had symptoms of gallstones for years, going back to even before I started CR or any fasting. That said, the CR/fasting may have made things worse, impossible to know.