Discover the benefits of fasting

In ancient times man hunter and gatherer ate only when he was able to find food. During winter when snow and ice raged outside and no edible food was available, he experienced long periods of forced fasting.

After the spread of agriculture and livestock, man began to eat more regularly. But sometimes he had to face natural disasters like famine, floods, droughts that stopped the regular supply of food.

During those prolonged food crises, according to Japanese researcher Yoshinori Nagumo, survival genes were formed. In fact, our body has a wide range of genes that regulate our functions and help us survive in times of food shortage.

The problem with these genes is that they are activated only in particular biological conditions: hunger and cold.

Today we live in heated houses and experience great abundance of food, so these genes not only do not activate, but often exert the opposite effect, promoting the aging processes as well as causing diseases and altering the immune system, which therefore turns against our own biological structures.

Nagumo added that the secret of good health is to eat only until the stomach is filled for 8/10. In other words, stop eating before you feel a full belly.

One of the most frequent dietary mistakes in the West is to eat too much and too often. This habit makes the body lazy and less efficient in the processes of repair and cell renewal.

INTERMITTEN FASTING effectively mimics the eating habits of our ancestors, who had limited access to food. They alternated periods of satiety with periods of fasting and modern research has shown that these cycles are beneficial and useful for improving all metabolic and immune activities.

In prolonged intermittent fasting, the body gets rid of damaged cells and tissues more easily by replacing them with new tissues, triggering the activity of cell regeneration and immune reset.

Fasting promotes the expression of a key gene that controls protein Kinase A (PKA) enzyme. When abstaining from food, PKA is reduced and triggers the regeneration process that activates stem cells. This also has implications for biological ageing and longevity.

Fasting tends to normalize insulin (hormone that lowers blood sugar levels) production and leptin (hormone that controls overeating) sensitivity, while boosting mitochondrial energy. Insulin and leptin resistance is one of the main causes of chronic-degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, cancer, diabetes and many others.

Intermittent fasting, combined with a proper diet in the periods in which we eat normally, helps the body to use fats instead of sugars as a primary source of energy. This greatly decreases the risk of disease.

It also normalizes levels of ghrelin, the hunger hormone, so it reduces sugar cravings. In addition, fasting enhances the internal secretion of growth hormone, which helps to repair damaged cells and tissues by reducing oxidative damage.

Fasting also stimulates the production of a protein called BDNF (Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor), which induces the production of new brain cells and protective factors against the mechanisms of neurodegeneration.

During fasting days, reduce the daily caloric intake to 1/4 (600 Kcal for men and 500 for women). You can concentrate the food consumption of the day in a band of 8 hours, fasting the remaining 16 hours.

WEIGHT LOSS is one of the many health benefits that come with fasting. With decreased fat and body weight, there is less loss of muscle mass compared to a low-calorie diet.

Other benefits include decreased blood glucose levels, decreased insulin levels and insulin sensitivity, increased lipolysis and fat oxidation, increased mitochondrial decoupling protein Thermogenin, which is located in the mitochondria of brown adipose tissue and is used to generate heat in shiver-free thermogenesis.

Thermogenin decouples the respiratory chain allowing a fast oxidation of the substrate with a low production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), increased levels of norepinephrine, increased levels of glucagon (hormone that increases blood sugar levels), modulation of growth hormone levels, decreased stress related to food, decreased chronic systemic inflammation, mitochondrial autophagy, during which mitochondria elongate in response to nutrient deficiency.

Elongated mitochondria have a greater number of ridges and greater activity of ATP synthase. They continue to produce ATP and energy, despite calorie deprivation.

​Reference

Giordo, Paolo. Superterapie: Nuove Grandi Prospettive Per La Tua Salute. Macro, 2019.