OMAD and Mental Acuity
It is often said that One-meal-a-day or OMAD increases mental acuity. There is scientific evidence to back this up. Because I started my OMAD 10 years ago, at age 53, I have some experience in the matter. In this video my goal is to figure out if OMAD has benefits for your brain. Please stick around and find out if the theory does apply in practice. At least in my own case.
Would OMAD make me smarter?
Is it really possible that one meal a day makes you smarter? Or is that too good to be true. Let’s take a simplified look at the science as I relate to you my own experience. But before I do that, please be sure to subscribe to this YouTube channel, right now!. Then click on the bell icon so you don’t miss anything. It is hard to believe that anything you eat, drink or do without much effort would make you smarter. I do believe that flexing your mental muscle, so to speak, doing mentally demanding tasks will help.
My intellectual background, before OMAD
Personally, I wasn’t much of a high performance student in my high school years. Then at university, I went to the top of my class. All the while I was learning a new language, that is Portuguese in Brazil. I believe that the change of environment and studying subjects I enjoyed, made me perform better. Back then, though, my diet was not what it is today, it was a carbohydrate rich diet. In my mid 20’s I went to Canada. First to polish my English and then to get a PhD in Veterinary Pathology. These were probably the most stressful, demanding and wonderful years of my life. These endeavors required the most from me mentally and physically. Yet neither my years in Brazil nor in Canada compare to my mental accomplishments lately. I mean, since I started my OMAD regimen 10 years ago.
Ulla’s imput
Hi I am Ulla. Since 2009 Juan learned 3 additional languages (Italian, French and German). Remember, he was already fluent in Spanish, Portuguese and English. He ran a pathology consulting business, traded stock market options and also created a business of teaching options trading. Juan taught himself how to create websites from scratch and built 5 different websites, 4 are still active. He even created some music using garage band. Lately, he has learned how to create videos for YouTube without much prior knowledge. Was this really the result of OMAD?
What the science appears to indicate today is that ketone bodies (or ketones for short) are a better source of energy.
Ketones with OMAD
Ketones are avidly oxidized in heart, skeletal muscle, and brain. This is specially true during periods of fasting and extended exercise. People that intermittent fast routinely, make a remarkable change in their metabolism that makes use of body fat for energy. This is called the metabolic switch, which typically occurs starting at 12 hours after the last meal. At this time, there is a negative balance of energy, because the liver and muscle stores of glycogen are depleted.
It is then that the fatty acids from our body fat are mobilized to the liver. There, the fatty acids are transformed into ketones to supply the missing energy. Our bodies learn to use our stored fat and not our muscle mass or glucose from food to produce energy. This is how we can gain muscle and lose body fat at the same time. Besides being the preferred fuel source, ketones could extend human physical and mental performance beyond current expectation.
Fasting and Evolution
From an evolutionary point of view, it makes sense that fasting will help us maintain mental acuity. Carnivore species, such as lions in Africa and wolves in the Nothern Rockies hunt only every 1 or 2 weeks. Since we evolved as hunter-gatherers, it makes sense that our best performance would be when we are fasting. I mean both mental, and physical performance. Similarly, our ancestors, like both wolves and lions cooperated in their hunting. Communication within the hunting party would appear critical too.
Brain energy and Evolution
Survival for a hunter species would depend on their ability to switch from fat storing to fat mobilization for energy. When food is available, our insulin is high, so we store energy as fat. When food availability is low, we convert to a high level performance. In our evolution, individuals whose brains and bodies performed optimally in the fasted state, had a survival advantage. We humans evolved as a supremely adaptable species: We were able to fashion tools, make fire, and eventually domesticate animals, invent agriculture and food storage. Clearly, our adaptability was born of our cognitive abilities out of necessity. It would be interesting to determine the levels of ketones in primitive humans living today. Whenever you see primitive humans struggling to survive, they show unique adaptations to their environment.
Keeping a sharp mind with OMAD
Most people at my age are less concerned with being smart. They are more concerned about not getting Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease or stroke, or even a cognitive decline. This is a risk that increases with excessive energy intake in midlife. Animal studies show that fasting can delay the onset and progression of these diseases. Intermittent fasting does this by multiple mechanisms, including: bolstering mitochondrial function, the formation of new synapses and stimulating autophagy, neurotrophic-factor production, antioxidant defenses, and DNA repair. In simple terms, our brains may reach a greater potential, thanks to intermittent fasting.
Considering that I am now 63, keeping a sharp mind as I age is important to me. I don’t want to sound boastful. But if OMAD has anything to do with my mental acuity, the world needs to know about it. Don’t you think? Since I have been an OMADer for so long, it is only fair that you too learn from my experiences. I am only happy to share. Thank you.
