The OMAD (One Meal a Day) diet is a form of intermittent fasting that restricts your eating window to one meal. Most people take their OMAD meals in the late afternoon, allowing for a break in activities to digest such a large calorie intake.

People practice OMAD for its potential to promote various health and lifestyle benefits:

• Simplicity
• More time and mental space for focusing on career and relationship goals
• Boost gut health
• Weight loss
• Cellular renewal (autophagy)
• Reduced inflammation
• Increase hormonal sensitivity and balance

However, it can be a challenge to fit 2000+ calories into one meal. In this article we’ll explore nutrient dense OMAD meal ideas that can help you start your OMAD practice off on the right foot, and make it more sustainable in the long run.

What to Eat on OMAD

Since OMAD requires you to eat all of your calories in one meal, the best OMAD foods will be extremely nutrient dense. In other words, they will be calorie-rich and feature high amounts of essential macronutrients–fat, protein–along with vitamins, and minerals.

It’s important to remember that OMAD diets aren’t aimed at calorie restriction, and most adults require 2000 calories per day. Over-restricting calories, and choosing high carb foods that provide minimal satiation can damage your immune system, thyroid function, and trigger hormone responses that actually make losing weight more difficult [1][2].

Foods to Eat on OMAD

Omad meals are best centered around the following nutrient dense foods:

• Ruminant meats like steak, lamb, bison
• Seafood including oysters and salmon roe
• Fatty fish like salmon, mackerel, and anchovies
• Organ meats like liver, kidney, and bone marrow
• Eggs
• Healthy fats like butter, tallow, ghee, and coconut oil
• Pork belly
• Low toxin fruits and veggies like avocado and berries
• Organ meat supplements for bioavailable nutrients when fresh organ meats are hard to source or unpalatable

Foods to Avoid on OMAD

• Industrial vegetable and seed oils
• Processed foods
• Low nutrient grains like wheat and rice
• Added sugars, dried fruits, fruit juice, and soda
• Veggies high in plant toxins like kale and spinach

OMAD Foods Chart

OMAD Meals

Let’s put the above guidelines to practice with the formulation of  3 types of 7 OMAD meals to get your through the week. Each of these OMAD meal plans are centered on high nutrient animal foods supplemented with healthy fats.

Dr. Kiltz’s OMAD Meal Plan

For most people, Dr. Kiltz recommends a Carnivore Diet-inspired low-carb high-fat approach to OMAD. His foods are based on his BEBBIS Plan. of bacon, beef, bacon, eggs, butter, intermittent fasting, and salt, This approach allows for significant wiggle room/cheat days with the incorporation of french fries fried in animal fat (like duck fat) and Dr. Kiltz’s keto Ice Cream.

The carnivore diet is inspired by research showing that for most of the 2 million years of human evolution, our caveman ancestors ate mostly meat [3].

Day 1: Ribeye drenched in salt and dipped in blue cheese butter⁠ + Duck liver Foie Gras

Day 2: Ribeye drenched in salt and dipped in blue cheese butter⁠ + a small side of pork belly

Day 3: Ribeye drenched in salt and dipped in blue cheese butter⁠

Day 4: Salami and Parmasean appetizer followed by Ribeye drenched in salt and dipped in blue cheese butter⁠

Day 5: Ribeye drenched in salt and dipped in blue cheese butter⁠ + Duck liver Foie Gras

Day 6: Ribeye drenched in salt and dipped in blue cheese butter + French Fries Fried in Wagyu Tallow or Duck Fat⁠ (french fries are a special treat that I only have once a quarter or so)

Day 7: Ribeye drenched in salt and brown butter + my Homemade Keto Certified Ice Cream⁠

OMAD Carnivore 7-Day Meal Plan

This OMAD meal plan is for the all-meat carnivore dieters.

For more carnivore diet meal plants, click here.

Standard OMAD Meal Plan

A standard OMAD meal plan centers your meal around nutrient-dense animal foods with the addition of a few low-toxin fruits and veggies.

Day 1: Tri-tip and Potatoes

• 16 oz tri-tip roast
• 3 tablespoons tallow
• 1 medium russet potato.
• 2 kiwis

Calories: 1850

Day 2: King Salmon and Eggs

• 10 oz Salmon Belly
• 4 eggs
• 1 tablespoon creme fraiche
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 avocado
• ½ Cantaloupe

Calories:1870

Day 3: Pork Belly and Sweet Potatoes

• 12 oz pork belly
• 1 large sweet potato roasted with olive oil
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 tablespoons creme fraiche
• 8oz blackberries
• ½ cup yogurt with 1 tablespoon heavy cream mixed in

Calories: 2000

Day 4: Lamb Chops and Asparagus

• Rack of lamb
• 6 oz. Asparagus sauteed in tallow
• 3 tablespoons tallow
• 1 medium roasted russet potato
• 1.5 oz dark chocolate
• ½ cup strawberries

Calories: 2000

Day 5: Tuna Salad and deviled eggs w/ anchovies

• 10 oz tuna salad with homemade olive oil mayonnaise
• 3 deviled eggs with anchovies and creme fraiche
• 2 tablespoons creme fraiche
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 stalks celery
• ¼ cup olives
• 1 oz anchovies
• 1 kiwi

Calories: 1750

Day 6:Short Ribs and Asparagus

• 12 oz beef short ribs
• 2 tablespoons tallow
• 6 oz. asparagus
• 1 medium russet potato
• 1 deviled egg with anchovies

Calories: 2000

Day 7: Ribeye steak and Eggs scrambled with pancetta

• 12oz. Ribeye steak seared in ghee
• 1 tablespoon ghee
• 2 Eggs scrambled with pancetta
• 1 oz pancetta
• 1/2 avocado (to top eggs)
• 1 tablespoon creme fraise (to top eggs)
• 1 cup blackberries

Calories: 2100

What to Drink on OMAD

You can supplement your calories during the OMAD feeding window by adding heavy cream and coconut oil to tea or coffee.

When not eating stick with water and unsweetened tea and coffee.

Why High Fat on OMAD

If you’re just starting out on OMAD and trying to lose weight, eating a high fat diet might sound counterintuitive.

But it makes sense when considering that the shift to OMAD requires your body to transition from processing chronically high amounts of carbs to breaking down proteins and fats as the primary fuel source.

During this transition, your body may resort to using stress hormones like cortisol to mobilize protein for use as fuel. [3]

For some people, this process feels tangibly stressful. Women may be especially susceptible to cortisol-related problems.

The best way to support your body in making the transition away from carbs and into fat and protein burning is to consume more fat and protein. Your body will adapt by creating more bile to metabolize fats, while becoming more efficient at turning protein into the carbs it needs via a process called gluconeogenesis [4].

For these reasons many people tend to combine OMAD with a keto diet, what’s known as speed keto.

OMAD Meals: The Takeaway

Eating one meal a day is a huge departure from the standard American diet of 3 meals plus snacks in between. For many people starting out this makes it difficult to figure out what to eat on OMAD.

At first, it can feel daunting to try and fit around 2000 calories into a single meal. However, if you focus your OMAD meals on nutrient dense animal foods, supplemented with low toxin fruits and veggies, you’ll both meet your caloric need and provide your body with an abundance of vital nutrients.

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