Fasting: Learn the proven benefits of this practice and whether you can benefit from it

Fasting

I am taking advantage of this time when, after the season of festivities, meetings and celebrations, everything in our environment is ready for renewal and resolutions for the coming year. I hope, with the following reading, to convince you to include fasting among the new habits for your life.

Fasting is the act of abstaining from food or drink for a period of time. It can be done for various reasons, either as a religious manifestation or as a healing technique in the field of alternative medicine.

Science is currently investigating whether the benefits of fasting that are beginning to be promoted and gaining more and more followers are just another fad, or are real. Learn about the proven benefits of fasting, the types and who can benefit from this practice.

Oxidative stress caused by fasting must have a positive effect on the body as it forces the organism to produce substances that counteract stress, protecting the body from aging and promoting mitochondrial activity.

In an experiment published by the Scientific Reports Journal, a group of researchers from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) and Kyoto University revealed other effects of fasting beyond just burning fat. By performing a blood test on four young human participants in the study who fasted for between 34 and 58 hours, the scientists found 42 different substances that rise during the time a person is fasting (and two that fall), of which science was only aware of 14 when a person fasts. This means that, after this study, there are now 30 substances discovered that the human body produces in large quantities during fasting time. ( 1 )

The fact that the body produces these substances indicates that fasting activates many processes that have significant health benefits, including a strong antioxidant defense, which may explain its supposed anti-aging effects. Because this research on fasting is just beginning, many more discoveries are expected about the benefits that this practice brings to humans.

Fasting, intermittent fasting and cyclical ketogenic eating

As we have seen and will see later in this article, the benefits of fasting are conclusive. However, with the pace of life we ​​have, prolonged fasting is difficult to bear and sometimes undesirable side effects arise that make it difficult to comply with the time of abstinence.

It should be clear that, of all the experiments carried out to date, fasting is the only practice with profound metabolic effects. It not only promotes the mechanisms of autophagy and mitophagy (the natural cleaning processes that take place at the cellular level to recycle old cells and waste and allow optimal functioning of cells and mitochondria); as well as the regeneration of stem cells.

Going through periods of food abstinence followed by periods of replenishment stimulates mitochondrial biosynthesis exponentially.

One of the best things that can happen to your body is to have many large mitochondria that function optimally since they are our source of energy.

There is evidence that fasting helps prevent or even reverse dementia by helping the body rid itself of toxic waste products. By reducing insulin production, it allows for an increase in growth hormone, which is crucial for muscle development and body vigor. Most of these regenerative benefits happen, not during fasting, but during the replenishment period, and the same is true when cycling on ketogenic diets .

According to Dr. Mercola, who has published numerous articles on the subject, fasting is an effective technique for combating obesity, insulin resistance and other health problems. The reason for this is because when autophagy is activated, the body begins to break down and recycle old proteins, including the brain's beta-amyloid protein, which is believed to contribute to the onset of Alzheimer's. Then, during the replenishment phase, growth hormone production increases, causing new cells and proteins to be created.

A water-only fast can be very beneficial for those struggling to lose weight and/or combat type 2 diabetes, but the fast itself is demanding. ( article )

Fortunately, science has taken a leaf out of our ancestors’ book by re-evaluating the Paleolithic diet. You should know that they did not wake up in the morning and eat bacon and eggs for breakfast. In fact, the strong men of the community would go hunting for up to 2-3 or even 4 days and return with food for the community after this period of “fasting.” They would eat for one or two days (if we are talking about meat) and then go hunting again. In recent years, it has become clear that the body simply cannot function optimally when it is constantly being supplied with calories.

What has been defined as intermittent fasting works in such a way that the body is subjected to cycles of supply (feeding) and hunger (fasting), mimicking ancestral eating habits to restore the body in a natural way, allowing biochemical benefits to occur in it.

How intermittent fasting works

For starters, by eating all day long and without skipping a meal, the body becomes accustomed to burning sugar as its main source of fuel, which reduces the function of the enzymes that are used to burn stored fat in the body. As a result, you become more insulin-resistant and begin to gain weight, even if you make efforts to lose weight or reach your ideal weight.

It should be clear that in order to lose fat, the body must be in a state where it “can” burn fat. The two most effective ways to get the body to switch its fuel source from glucose to fat are fasting and/or doing a ketogenic diet cycle. For best results, you can do both, as these two strategies support each other.

For now, according to Dr. Mercola, the proven benefits of fasting that are known are the following:

• Activation of autophagy and mitophagy mechanisms
• Increase in the production of growth hormone which promotes muscle development and health.
• Stimulates stem cells to renew themselves
• Prevents, slows the progression and reverses type 2 diabetes
• Stimulates efficient energy production and mitochondrial biosynthesis.
• It reproduces some of the cardiovascular benefits associated with exercise.
• Reduces inflammation
• Improves pancreatic function
• Improves circulating glucose and lipid levels in the body
• Protects against cardiovascular disease
• Reduces hypertension
• Controls visceral fat levels
• Improves metabolic function
• Reduces LDL (bad cholesterol)
• Helps to lose weight
• Improves immune function
• It stimulates the production of brain-derived neurotrophic factor which stimulates the formation of new neurons and stimulates brain chemicals that protect against brain changes associated with Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

The effectiveness of intermittent fasting depends on a healthy diet

Remember that the benefits of fasting come when you break the fast and give your body the nutrients it needs to replenish, strengthen and rejuvenate itself. So losing weight alone is not going to improve the underlying health problems. That is why it is advisable to combine intermittent fasting with a cyclical ketogenic diet.

It is key to balance the proportions between the macronutrients you consume, that is, for your body to start burning the fat it has stored, you must consume a diet with a high content of healthy fats (70%), a moderate proportion of protein (20%) and low-carbohydrate vegetables (10%) when you break the fast.

You should know that the ketogenic diet provides many of the same health effects as fasting and intermittent fasting mentioned above, and when done together, people can experience significant health improvements beyond weight loss. Here are some of the benefits:

• Improved insulin sensitivity
• Increase muscle mass
• Reducing inflammation
• Reducing cancer risk
• Increased longevity
• Weight loss

Why cycle?

Both a ketogenic diet and intermittent fasting allow your body to switch fuel sources from sugar to fat, which is called metabolic flexibility. This metabolic flexibility promotes optimal functioning of all cells and systems in the body. Both techniques work wonders, but when practiced together, it is proven that the results are much faster and more consistent.

Although the practice of intermittent fasting alone will get you closer to your ideal weight, it is important that what you eat during the “replenishment window” is nutritious in order to give the body the best nutrients to rebuild itself.

The same goes for the ketogenic diet. Once you start seeing results, people want to do it continuously, but this is not advisable for several reasons.

• It's true that you start to feel a lightness in your body, mental clarity, and your body changes rapidly. But prolonged ketosis has side effects that you don't want, for example, insulin suppresses glucose production in the liver. But if insulin is suppressed for long periods or chronically, the liver tries to compensate for the deficit by making more glucose. As a result, blood sugar rises even if you're not consuming carbs!

• Although it is during the fasting phase that cellular recycling occurs, it is during the replenishment phase that the rejuvenating effects occur because the body is “cleared” and ready to receive nutrients to rebuild it.

• Ketosis can produce effects in some people due to metabolic changes, but this is at the beginning and if you do it cyclically, they should not appear, they may be milder or disappear when you increase your protein or carbohydrate intake. Possible side effects are:

1. Hypoglycemia
2. Constipation or diarrhea
3. Frequent urination (urine)
4. Light dizziness
5. Muscle cramps
6. Craving sweets
7. Flu-like symptoms
8. Difficulty sleeping
9. Different mouth breath
10. Heart palpitations
11. Weakness and slightly diminished physical performance.
12. Hair loss.

Remember that these symptoms are temporary while the body makes the metabolic change, so it is good to do the cycles, so that the body adapts little by little.

How to get started with intermittent fasting and ketogenic diet in 3 steps

The steps below are suggested by Dr. Joseph Mercola to make the transition easier, and because my style is a bit more extreme, I find these steps to be very relevant, especially if you have never fasted or dieted before.

1. Organize your intermittent fasting schedule. Although there are several modalities, I suggest you try the 14-hour or 16-hour fast (preferably 16). That is, you will have a 10-hour window (if you do a 14-hour fast) or an 8-hour window (if you do the 16-hour fast). So, eat all your meals during the Replenishment Window . While you are getting used to eating your meals on this schedule, don't make too many drastic changes to your foods so that the process doesn't feel jarring.

Once you've gotten used to the schedule, you can start implementing the ketogenic diet (that would be step 2), followed by the cyclical component (step 3). Once you've reached step 3, you can cycle with ease by adding a few healthy carbs.

2. Switch to a ketogenic diet until you have enough ketones.

To do this, three guidelines must be followed:

• Restrict carbohydrate consumption to a maximum of 20-40 grams per day.
• Replace carbohydrates with healthy fats, so that approximately 70% of your caloric intake in a day comes from fat.
• Limit your protein intake to 1 gram per kilogram of your body weight. That is, if you weigh 60 kilos, you should consume up to 60 grams of protein.

You can eat moderate amounts of green vegetables. The carbs you should eliminate during the ketogenic cycle are grains and all forms of sugar, especially refined ones.

What are healthy fats?

Healthy sources of fat include avocado, olives, coconut oil, ghee (clarified butter), nuts (some soaked and sprouted - see my article where I explain why you should sprout some nuts), but mainly macadamia nuts, pecans and almonds; seeds such as flaxseed (excellent source of omega-3), hemp seeds, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds.

Likewise, MCT oil (medium chain triglycerides from coconut oil), full-fat coconut cream, and raw cocoa butter.

Avoid trans fats and refined polyunsaturated vegetable oils as adding these fats does more harm than good.

It is sometimes difficult to estimate the amounts of these nutrients in meals, but to start with, I recommend that you do the ketogenic cycle that I propose here , with some special recipes, after having fasted for 14-16 hours.

3. Once you've established that you're in ketosis, start cycling in and out of it to give your body flexibility. This is done by adding slightly higher percentages of carbohydrates once or twice a week. One suggestion is to triple the amount of carbohydrates compared to the days you're on a ketogenic diet.

You should know that the transition to metabolic flexibility can take between two weeks or several months, depending on the state of your body and until it is able to effectively use fat as an energy source.