The type and the quality of the food you are consuming have a strong influence on how much you weight and they can bring or ruin the balance in your body. The food has an effect on the metabolism, leptin release, insulin production and also other hormonal and chemical balances.
Scientists are examining the benefits of fasting, and what fasting actually does to our bodies. They are more precisely examining the way fasting affects cellular and mitochondrial function, and longevity. They found out that the cells in our bodies react the same way as they react when we exercise, in other words, when we are under stress – be it exercise or fasting, the reaction creates changes at the cellular level that helps extend your lifespan.
For those who are interested to start with fasting, fasting shifts your body from using glucose as a primary fuel to fat, and when you lose fat as fuel you gradually lose weight.
Efficient Fat Burning Promotes Good Health
Fat is far cleaner burning fuel in comparison with carbohydrates and generates less free radicals, glucose in “dirty” fuel because it generates more reactive oxygen species (ROS) than fat. But in order to burn fat your cells must be healthy and normal, for example, cancer cells cannot burn fat and this is why a healthy high fat diet appears to be such an effective anti-cancer strategy. Mitochondrial dysfunction is one of the main sources of all diseases, and nutritional intervention — not only what you eat, but also when, and how often — is of key importance. Мmitochondrial health is promoted by eating real food, avoiding food at least 3 hours before bedtime and periodically fasting.
What Happens When You Fast?
Fasting is a biological stressor that gives several amazing health benefits, including normalizing your insulin and leptin sensitivity, promoting human growth hormone (HGH), lowering triglyceride levels and reducing oxidative stress.
A team of researchers from the University of Southern California also think that they have discovered that fasting regenerates the stem cells. During the initial 14-16 hours of not eating, your body burns all of your carb stores in the liver and in the muscles. Once those stores have been depleted, your body turns to fat stores for energy, and that’s how fasting teaches your body to use your fat as fuel.
Intermittent Fasting Can Help Regenerate Your Entire Immune System
In the adults, the stem cells found in the tissues and organs are used for the body to renew itself, and the primary role of these cells is to repair and maintain the tissues where they are found. Another effect of fasting is autophagy, and the vital process that occurs in the mitochondria is called mitophagy, and this is the process when the body begins to “eat itself” in a formed pattern in order to remove damaged parts of your body.
According to Colin Champ, M.D. and certified radiation oncologist at the University Of Pittsburgh Medical Center:
“Think of it as our body’s innate recycling program. Autophagy makes us more efficient machines to get rid of faulty parts, stop cancerous growths, and stop metabolic dysfunction like obesity and diabetes.”
Three Strategies That Promote Mitophagy and Cellular Regeneration
There are three ways to boost your body’s ability to get rid of old cells and create new ones. One of the methods is exercise, which helps the body to tear down the muscle so the body could rebuild new tissues. Another method to encourage your body for mitophagy is intermittent fasting. Some studies claim that fasting can embetter the cognitive function, the brain structure and will help you to learn more easily, but these studies were completed on rats and it’s not 100% sure if the benefits resulted specifically from autophagy.
There is also another way to promote mitophagy and that is creating a high fat diet that consists high quality products and healthy fats, combined with a moderate amount of protein and minimal dosage of carbohydrates (the pie chart below). This diet will reduce your carb intake to a level that the body has no other choices but to use fat as fuel.
Source: Dr. Mercola