Autophagy is the process whereby pathogens and old, damaged structures are broken down inside a cell and the parts reused.
ot eating for a while – fasting – hardly seems like a
massive health and nutrition breakthrough, does it? Of
course, fasting is not new, but along with keto it’s the
big thing’ in nutrition right now.
Fasting has been a common practice throughout the ages. In fact,
it’s only since agriculture emerged around 10,000 years ago, that
going without food became considered as ‘not normal’. Before we
tamed nature for our own nutrition purposes, eating would have been
a pretty sporadic activity.
Planned fasting is a common practice in almost every religion.
From short fasting in Judaism’s 24-hour Yom Kippur, and Buddhism’s
daily post-midday fast, to the prolonged 30-day dawn-to-dusk
fasting for Muslims in Ramadan, fasting has long been an integral
part of life from a spiritual perspective. Now it’s back in vogue for
anybody who’s interested in striving for optimal health and longevity.
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The science
There really is no scientific evidence that backs up the need for
humans to eat three square meals a day, plus multiple snacks, for
optimal health. There is plenty of scientific evidence that periods
without food can be very good for us.
Research has shown that just restricting calories may indeed
lengthen lifespan in animals, with the amount varying depending on
the size of creature. The effect may increase lifespan by 20-30% for
bigger animals, and up to double it for small creatures.
The animal research is easy to do, because the experimental
animals are caged and have no behavioural input into when they eat
or what they eat. Unfortunately, the poor animal ends up with side
effects – low body temperature (cold through reduced metabolic
rate), reduced sex drive, hunger, emotional issues… So, you might
live longer, but your quality of life sucks.
Fasting, especially intermittent fasting, allows the same biology
to happen, but without the metabolic and emotional side effects
associated with severe calorie restriction.
How does this happen? Until now, modern nutrition science has missed
or ignored some very important facts about cell repair and regeneration.
Fasting taps into these repair and regeneration mechanisms.
Every single cell in our body has the
ability to spring-clean and repair itself
– we simply need to stop feeding these
cells from time to time
The science tells us that every single
cell in our body has the ability to spring-
clean and repair itself – we simply need to
stop feeding these cells from time to time.
Nature certainly has it sussed – as does
the 2016 Nobel prize winner who figured it
out, Yoshinori Ohsumi. This self-repair of
immune cells, skin cells, brain cells – and
more – is known as autophagy.
Autophagy: your natural recycling
machinery
Like all mammals, we humans have a
recycling plant in every cell in our bodies. The
process is called autophagy (pronounced
‘or-toffa-gee’) – when pathogens (infectious
agents), cell ‘junk’ or old and damaged
structures are broken down inside a cell and
the parts reused.1
Okay, so autophagy is a big word for a
really simple and useful process. It is, in fact,
the way that the human body is able to keep
itself in optimal condition by getting rid of the
old, fixing the used, and growing the new.
This is just like what any decent business
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