Fasting has been used since ancient Greek times by Greek physician and philosophers such as Hippocrates, and Plutarch to heal the body. Even 2400 years ago, these highly conscious Greek philosophers intuitively knew the amazing benefits of fasting and used it as a tool to heal the body without understanding the exact science behind why it worked so well.
Here is a quote from Hippocrates, "Everyone has a physician inside him or her; we just have to help it in its work. The natural healing force within each of us is the greatest force in getting well. Our food should be our medicine. Our medicine should be our food. But to eat when you are sick is to feed your sickness".
Another Greek philosopher, Plutarch, has also said, "Instead of using medicine, rather, fast a day".
In both these cases, Hippocrates and Plutarch were talking about Autophagy, without really understanding the exact science behind what Autophagy is. Because only as recently as 2016, Dr. Yoshinori Ohsumi won the Noble Prize in physiology for discovering the mechanisms for Autophagy, and of all the great weight loss, and mental benefits of fasting and intermittent fasting we have discussed so far in this series of videos, Autophagy has to be the most exciting and beneficial part of why fasting is so essential for better health.
Welcome to Info central and In this article we are going to break down how fasting initiates autophagy and why it is so crucial to live a healthier life.
Autophagy is a mechanism your body uses to clear damaged cells from the body, which includes senescent cells that no longer serve a function in your body but still lingers around inside the tissues and organs. If these senescent cells are not removed through the process of autophagy then they can trigger inflammation and cause various diseases and sickness
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Autophagy is so crucial in maintaining a healthy body that it is now being thought of as playing a key role is preventing diseases such as cancer, neurodegeneration, diabetes, liver disease, autoimmune disease and infections as discussed in this research paper https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2990190/
Autophagy is active in all cells but increases tremendously when fasting. In my other videos I have talked a lot about Intermittent fating, and while Intermittent fasting does increase autophagy significantly, studies have shown that a 24-48 hour fast has the strongest effects in inducing autophagy. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3106288/ In this study mice we food-restrcited for 24-48 hours and researchers found a significant increase in autophagosomes after 48 hours of fasting, which is a indicator of cellular recycling in the body.
In the video tittle "why intermittent fasting improves brain health" I talked about how at any given point your body is either in a anabolic state or catabolic state. Your body goes into a building phase called anabolic when you eat and insulin is triggered and then goes into a cleansing phase, called catabolic, several hours after your last meal when insulin is at it's lowest. Being in this catabolic phase is a key factor in living a healthy life as we have discussed the many benefits that comes from being in this state. Benefits ranging from increase in human growth hormone, to autopagy.
So I hope you are able to use the knowledge in these videos/articles to understand the great health benefits of fasting and intermittent fasting, and if you enjoyed the content please visit my channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJZ8Sr2XKEXPoCi5ULRsaIQ and hit the like and subscribe button.
And until next time, Stay Informed My Friends.
Whats your thoughts on Aubrey de Grey view on fasting and longevity?
I did my Hons on mTOR, the literature can definitely indicate a beneficial response via cellular clearance of misfolded/dysfunctional proteins but there are worries that fasting can increase available nutrients for pathological growths ..
Yikes, I don't I can go even a day without eating... haha
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I've been (pretty much) intermittently fasting for about 2 years now, with a few longer fasts in between, and it's great! I don't get hungry until 1 or 2 p.m. most days, then start with a power smoothie to get in all of my nutrition and then eat whatever I want....
I have tons of energy and feel amazing and have lost weight without trying to at all! :))
Humans are eating 90% too much and 99% the wrong stuff. Returning to simple, whole food meals makes all the difference in the world!
Thanks so much for the info here on autophagy!
❤️P
Fasting is the best way for being healthy..
Do you think religions use this as a way to reinforce the spiritual belief when your body shows positive results? How else can you argue with the divine results?
Well the ancient greeks knew about the benefits of fasting way before any of the big modern day religion came into existence. I think at this day and age when food is so easily available, something as simple as the benefits of fasting has become lost in the modern day hustle
When you talk about fasting, are we talking about all of the things that you intake? Would drinking fruit punch be considered an infraction? What about smoking cigarettes or pipe tobacco?
Super interesting, I feel much healthier myself and I naturally do intermittent fasting intuitively, and have noticed that when I go climbing I perform a lot better on an almost empty stomach, except for a few fruit before the work out and after wards I eat a good meal.
Fascinating concept, but makes so much sense, that this process will help rid oneself of sick diseased cells.
hola, me encantaria conocer de forma mas sencilla lo que es la autofagia. igualmente lo felicito por su interes de expandir esta informacion.
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More of a reason to stick to intermittent fasting
This information is educative. I love it.
One should take some medicine so that gastric juices don't burn the stomach lining. I consulted a Gastroenterologist who prescribed a syrup containing sucralfate, oxetacaine and simethicone to be taken six hourly while fasting. It forms a coating on the stomach so that digestive juices don't burn it. Also it is safe as not absorbed in the body but excreted through urine. You all can dare to fast using it.
Can't stress enough about the benefits of intermittent fasting and relating them to religion had made these practices common among people. Ultimately their bodies are getting benefits of such practices.
I like to see how long I go without eating and how much money I can save at the same time.
There are several problems with this. Autophagy is the break down of healthy muscle tissue to serve as a fuel source while the body is in a state of starvation. This is not the process of "cleansing" the body of dead cells. When people run marathons or exercise for a prolonged period of time and become depleted of muscle glycogen (sugar), the body begins to catabolise its own muscle tissue (or goes catabolic) in the process of autophagy.
Furthermore, the notion that fasting will improve brain health is preposterous. Our brains synthesise around 80% of the body's available glucose in order to function. So the notion of depriving the entire body of glucose or any other calories for that matter to"improve brain health" is just backward.
On a side note, basing health advice of what the Ancient Greeks did in order to create or distribute health advice daft also. Yes they had some brilliant philosophers and mathematicians. Greek doctors would commonly taste their patient's ear wax to aid the process of making a diagnosis.
Please do your homework on the topic in future.
Interesting article - I had never heard the term "Autophagy" before now, but it makes since to me. I myself was recently diagnosed with an auto-immune disease (Scleroderma) so I am always on the lookout for anything that will help my situation. This is something that I can do that costs nothing (except a little self control).