First Reference:
Dr. Eric Berg DC
The 7 Powerful Ways to Increase Autophagy
Autophagy (pronounced “ah-TAH-fah-gee”) is a cleaning system for the body. It means “self-eat”
It self-heats, and “eats” the junk in your body … unusable damaged cells, proteins, organelles. It is the consumption of the body’s own tissue as a metabolic process. It recycles old cell parts.
It gets rid of pathogens like bacteria, fungus, molds, viruses & viral antigens; it gets rid of “cellular junk”
To create any significant autophagy, you need to deplete your energy reserves in your body
Two things will stop it fast: sugar and protein, because they are fuel sources; and any significant number of calories stops it; if the body has a fuel source, there is no need for it to go into autophagy and recycle old cells.
It can help most humans, but can hurt anyone with cancer; because it can aid the growth and progression of cancer.; so if you don’t have cancer, you can practice autophagy to clean up your body system
The single biggest thing you can do to get into autophagy is fasting. It gets started around 18 hours into fasting, and really gets going strong from 48 to 72 hours.
Go on a low sugar and low carb diet to help increase autophagy
Fat is the least of the three macronutrients to impact autophagy
It is OK to have vitamins and minerals and sea salt when you are fasting but not any calories
1. Intermittent fasting: 18 hrs. is good; 20 hrs. is better. A dry fast (no water) is better than a wet fast (drinking water) – about 3X the benefit! You are forcing a deeper cleansing
2. Cutting down calories & not overeating
3. Fasting consistently – 18 to 20 hrs.
4. Exercise – it depletes your resources & stimulates autophagy; a lower exercise level will stimulate more autophagy than an anerobic exercise for a shorter duration. He recommends both, with more time spent at the lower level. Doing your workout during your fasting time period promotes more autophagy. You are using up your resources quicker … no calories, and exercise is also depleting your stores. You are using up your Adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is the sole fuel for muscle contraction.
5. Reduce carbs as low as possible
6. Don’t go too high with your protein … have a moderate amount.
7. There are certain phytonutrients that create a hermetic or stress response in the body that can trigger autophagy.
Second Reference:
Exercise vs. Fasting 2022 3 min
It is triggered by the suppression of glucose, with the increase of ketones. It forces the body to use up glucose. It also increases insulin sensitivity.
Exercise while you are fasting to get a compound effect/benefit. The intensity level, and duration of the exercise has a big effect / impact on the amount of autophagy you will get.
A study of mice showed 30 minutes on a treadmill increased autophagy by 40-50%; if they increased that time to 80 minutes, the autophagy increased by 100%.
Autophagy breaks down old, damaged materials into raw material that can be used to make new tissues.
Vitamin D regulates autophagy. You need enough in your body to help autophagy to work.
Third Reference:
Top Autophagy Benefits (Weight Loss) Dr. Jason Fung
Autophagy breaks down old, damaged cells & proteins and taken to the liver where they are either burned for energy or broken down into component amino acids. Amino acids are the cellular parts that make up proteins. It’s like when you take a LEGO set and break it into the individual components. You can then take those “bricks” and build something new. That’s what the body does with the proteins … they can be broken down into amino acids and then reassembled into new proteins.
Autophagy is a survival mechanism under conditions of stress. It maintains the cellular integrity by regenerating these metabolic precursors and clearing out the debris. Think of it like renovating your old bathroom. You pull out the old stuff and make room for the new stuff. Some of the old stuff you can reuse.
How to activate Autophagy: through nutrient deprivation. Our body has nutrient sensors.
When we eat carbs, insulin goes up. When we eat proteins, mTOR goes up. Both of these signal the rest of the body that food is now available, and we should grow.
When we don’t eat, such as when we are fasting, both insulin and mTOR go down. It send the signal to the body that no food is available, so it’s time to hunker down, slow down the cell growth, stop growing, and go into this regeneration / maintenance mode.
For Autophagy, mTOR is the key regulator:
As you can see in the picture, it integrates the information from nutrient availability, hypoxia, growth factors and insulin, and when mTOR is high, it gives the signal to go ahead and grow, and stop autophagy. When it’s low, it says slow down growth, do cell maintenance, and activate autophagy.
Rather than go on a low calorie, low protein diet, you are better off using fasting to put yourself into autophagy. You cutting off all “food” signals to the body, so you are maximizing the effect of autophagy. Fasting also stimulates growth hormones, so that when you do eat again, your body is now primed to replace all those proteins that you need. This is called rejuvenation.
Fourth Reference:
The Biggest Fasting Mistake | Jason Fung
Excellent video on eating, losing weight, etc.!
The #1 mistake of fasting is overeating when you start back into eating again! Eat a NORMAL meal when coming off a fast. Just eat a regular meal or a little less.
Alternating fasting with overeating is NOT a good weight loss strategy.
Also cutting your eating window down is another effective way to control insulin.
Fifth Reference:
What is the Best Fast Length? (Fasting Basics 3) | Jason Fung
Consume high-quality electrolytes and sea salt during the fast. Do your research: Read Dr. Fung’s book
Dr. Fung says the first 48 hours are the hardest, so if you want to do an extended fast, do at least 72 hours, since you are through the hard period, and consider going even longer.
And it really helps you in terms of the autophagy benefits.
Dec. 2023: UFC president Dana White stated: 86 hours is about three and a half days. “I feel incredible and I want to tell you how I did it. I love sharing this kind of stuff with you,” White said. “When I left the event on Saturday night, I started fasting so Saturday to Wednesday.” White then shared before and after photos of himself, noting that he did a water fast. Doctors have done studies on this and this thing is legit, he continued. “It gives you an over 70% chance of not getting cancer, Alzheimer’s, and other nasty diseases.” White later added: “You get absolutely shredded on this thing.”
White pointed out in his video that this is a variation on a “seven-day water fast,” adding that he was advised that a shorter water fast was a “safer” approach. “The first 24 hours, all you drink is water—but you can put electrolytes in your water,” White said in the video. (He notes that the electrolyte powder should have no calories.) “The next day, you can have bone broth twice a day for the next two days,” he said.
The danger comes from consuming massive amounts of water with no minerals, which could cause issues with heart functioning.
One study published in the journal Nutrients in 2022 had 13 participants do a 10-day fast under medical supervision and found that participants lost weight and achieved a lower blood pressure. They also achieved a “new metabolic homeostasis,” which means their metabolism was able to function at a different level than usual.
Another 2022 study published in Nutrients on restrictive eating and intermittent fasting—which is not a water fast—found that fasting for 18 hours and eating during a six-hour window causes fatty acids to be metabolized into ketones, which are then used for energy. The researchers also found that this eating pattern increases the chances of weight loss and has been linked to better blood pressure and cholesterol levels.
While human studies are limited, in regards to the effect of fasting on Alzheimer's prevention there are some interesting new studies that could point to its benefits. An article in Nutrition Reviews concluded that the evidence available lead to a hypothesis that intermittent fasting over the years will potentially reverse or delay Alzheimer’s disease.
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