One Meal a day

For the past two months, i have been building habits, good habits. The realization that building habits is simply "training the subconsciousness", helped me in making a new habit almost every week. All of us learn to do things by repeating it again and again until it becomes a habit, what you are doing right now is most likely a habit that you do every day, week or even in an year. By "training the subconsciousness", you will start to do these things subconsciously and you can call it a 'habit'.

Building these habits, i also had to make changes to my diet. For a long time i was trying to get on a high protein diet, as Indians are generally protein-deficient. Only thing i could find being protein rich and suitable for me were eggs and chicken. So i increased my diet of eggs to one per day at-least . Although eggs were common in the house, i had to make sure every 2-3 days that chicken breasts were ordered. This chicken craze didn't sit well with my pescatarian and vegetarian parents and i had to soon abandon this diet, except the egg protein.

Although the eggs were good enough and worked well, i couldn't get the satisfaction that my diet was any good, i was just too high on carbs, 3 times a day. I thought this sugar is a necessity for my brain functioning. And while i was making these habits, i realized this and started cutting my carbs intake: limited to 3 dosa / chapathi for breakfast; reduced rice for lunch like 50%; Skipped the normal family dinner, and made my own sandwich and steamed nendran bananas for dinner.

One other habit i made was to give up on tea (i.e. caffeine) for my mental peace ; now my brain doesn't expect tea either in the morning nor in the evening. So, why wouldn't i want more mental peace? So i looked up things that would help me with stress and anxiety. I had only the knowledge to consume magnesium rich foods before. But i found that a lot of things are of more help like 'omega 3 fatty acids', 'folate', 'vitamin B12' and 'Vitamin D'. So i modified my diet to include these. So here comes the sardines, soybeans, lentils, spinach, cabbage, cauliflower, beetroots, etc. Now my meals looked really good and they were good.

Now with these rich meals, the carbs were still in question, even though i was consuming them, i didn't know why? The only effect i had on my reduced consumption of carbs was that i can sometimes salivate over a piece of bread. I looked up and studied about the history of the carbs consumption. What did people eat before they where farming rice and wheat? Before there was agriculture? They were hunter-gatherers, there are only a few select tribes in this world now who live like this. They would go days without food. So these people must have no energy that time, right? No, how do you think will hunt and gather then?. Where would they get their energy from? That is from 'ketosis', the fat in your body is used to get the required energy. From what i have learned, agricultural societies were probably a mistake; our hunter-gatherer ancestors were much healthier than us, without 3 meals a day. You can see this in heights of people, we are much shorter than our hunter-gatherer ancestors. You can also see this in the current world, compare the heights of more agricultural society vs. who are less dependent on agriculture. Now if you live in India, you can witness this easily with how multi-cultural our society is, although difference is small. If your question is whether if height relates to health, you can compare the heights of the two Korea's, South Koreans are taller now after separation while the North Koreans are on poor diet and many starving.

Now i wanted to know how to use this 'ketosis'. This is something i have only heard with weight-loss diets. So i happen to stumble upon some videos recently (Yes Theory's video and this blog ). I recommend you read the blog (which includes a video version). From these I have learned that it is much more healthier to live on 'ketone' bodies generated from the fat cells than the instant glucose produced. I also realise why i always had these energy fluctuations as a kid during a day. So, One meal a day is enough? Yes, that is for the required vitamins, protein and fat. Carbohydrates are not even required for humans. I will start to slowly adapt this into my habit. I am not directly going into one meal a day or cutting of all carbs, which would be really hard. So of the meals i consume, i find the dinner the least important, i will skip it. As i was writing this i had my last meal, which is lunch. Hence, here starts my OMAD journey.

P.S: I know i have not quoted any references for the claims i made, i think anybody can look it themselves or you may choose to not believe me. Opinions are welcome in the comments below.