Intermittent Fasting enables the body to divert prioritised energy and resources away from food digestion, to repair the body and heal diseases. The body should not be fed for at least 12 hours, after which body repair functions commences. Greater than >18 hours fasting enables cell “autophagy”, the dismantling and recycling of old cells for regeneration of new cells, keeping you younger and living longer. Stem cells are regenerated. Your hormonal regulation is rectified to its natural state.
Autophagy (recycling & regeneration healing), kicks in approximately after 18hrs to 3 days max fasting. Eating mostly proteins also starts this recycling of your intracellular organelles as energy. These organelles are replaced when you recommence eating, but with upgraded cell versions, better and more disease resistant, from stem cells produced by your bone marrow. Nature’s way of generating stem cells anew.
Growth hormone is generated after 24 to 48hrs Fasting.
Autophagy
Autophagy is achieved after <18hrs fasting. It’s the body’s way of cleaning out damaged cells, in order to regenerate newer, healthier cells. An evolutionary self-preservation mechanism through which the body can remove the dysfunctional cells and recycle parts of them toward cellular repair and cleaning, according to board-certified cardiologist, Dr. Luiza Petre.
It is recycling and cleaning at the same time, just like hitting a reset button to your body. Plus, it promotes survival and adaptation as a response to various stressors and toxins accumulated in our cells,
Dr. Luiza Petre
Why Bother?
Do your own research to validate, but supposedly it can not only reduce risk of, but actually help heal:
- Increase glucose regulation. Reducing risk of and reversing diabetes.
- Increases stress resistance
- Down regulates inflammation
- Increase anti-oxidents
- Increase DNA repair
- Mitochondrial biogenesis and Autophagy
- Insulin regulation, reversing insulin resistance.
- Reduce obesity
- Reduce cardiovascular disease, heart attack etc
- Heal Autoimmune conditions like Crohn’s disease and Ross River Virus
- Heal arthritis
- Reduce risk of cancers and improve success rate of cancer treatments.
- Improve cognitive abilities, given aging and healing Alzheimer’s, Dementia, Parkinson’s and other neuro-degenerative conditions.
- Improve lifespan, reduce aging
- Asthma
- Multiple Sclerosis
- Improve healing capacity of the body from injury.
Fasting
It’s much easier than you think…
Fasting can be included daily for general health by cutting down meals to 2 meals per day, as in an 18 hour fast with dinner by 6pm, skipping breakfast and fasting till 1pm lunch. Ideally this should be later reduced to 1 meal per day to invoke Autophagy. Intermittent fasts on a time restricted feeding on a daily basis or weekly basis is for day-to-day maintenance repair.
Long term fasts >36hrs, treat and reverse disease processes.
Modern humans certainly won’t starve. Average humans have about 50,000 Kcal stored in their bodies, but they need a way to access them. There is enough vitamins to last a month without eating.
Gradually build up Fasting discipline by trying:
- Cut down sugar, fruit, carbs, vegetable “seed” oils: for 2 weeks prior, to reduce food addiction cravings. Cut out snacks inbetween meals. Reduce carbs to <50 grams per day and less.
- Cut sugars, carbs, sucralose, glucose, fructose, multodextrin, … honey,
- Up intake: of Vitamins D + K2 and magnesium, potassium (bananas), omega3, multi-vitamins, Probiotics, fibre, fermented foods, kefir, kimchee, Saukraut, etc.
- Whole foods only, non-ptocessed foods.
- Slightly increase pink Himalayan salt intake.
- Randomly skip a meal: skip breakfast, or lunch or dinner. Learn to skip meals. For 2 weeks. Working up to an 18hr fast.
- Whenever you start to feel hungry, drink a glass of water! Keep a glass of water always handy.
…if headaches, dizziness or cramps occur, then up your water with pinch of pink salt. Magnesium tablets avert this. Potassium, VitD and K2 (a spray under the tongue), are crucial too.
…keep re-feed meals, (after a fast), to what you might usually have. Don’t over-eat extra. But treat yourself with a desert.
…Monk fruit is a better substitute for sugar.
Eating after a fast is much more forgiving as the body is more sensitive to insulin and very little is produced.
Fasting Foods
See: Fasting Foods
18 hr fast:
Dinner by 6pm, fast til 1pm lunch. 3 times per week or more. Maintains your system.
- Drink water regularly, as soon as even slightly hungry.
- Add pinch of pink Himalayan salt in water occasionally for electrolyte and magnesium. To avoid dizziness, headaches, or cramps.
- Expect to urinate a lot!
- Autophagy kicks in >18hrs.
- Vitamin up at lunch/dinner after fast. Take hydration electrolytes.
- Start 2 meals a day: 8 hour window for eating. Like breakfast at 11am, lunch/dinner by 6pm. Enabling 16 hrs+ fast OVERNIGHT!
- Increase to 18hr Fasting windows
- 5pm dinner to 12pm lunch, skip breakfast.
- 6pm to 12pm
- 7pm to 1pm
- 8pm to 2pm
- 9pm to 3pm
- 10pm to 4pm
- 6am breakfast to 12 midnight dinner, so you are better off OMAD.
24 hr fast: OMAD
Eat one meal a day: OMAD
- 3 to 5 times a week.
- Autophagy kicks in >18hrs.
36 hr fast:
Done once a fortnight or weekly.
Long Term Fast:
After 3 to 4 months of successful intermittent fasting discipline, try a longer term continuous fast for disease healing. But health levels should be monitored with your GP and done in support of friends/family that have done a long term fast.
- 3 day fast: a good milestone.
- 5 day fast: Ideal and ‘significantly better’ than 3 day. As body goes into overdrive repair on day 3. To best combat any diseases.
- 7 day fast: every 6 months. For severe diseases.
- Prepare with:
- eating plenty of bone broth, marrow.
- Vitamin intake, VitD, K2, magnesium.
Breaking a Fast, Refeeding
After a prolonged fast, you may temporarily experience digestive issues, until your digestive system restarts, reproduces necessary enzymes and microbes. The following may help reboot, depending on symptoms:
- Electrolytes!
- Apple cider vinegar for low stomach acids
- Physilliym husk for diarrhoea
- Probiotics, kefir, pickles, Saukraut, kimchi
- Bile salts
- Bone broth
Ease into eating slowly, by waiting an hour then having…
- Avacado
- Fish, egg, or chicken
Health Monitoring & Amendments
Higher or lower levels may injure you.
- Blood pressure monitoring: <130/85 for south asians
- BMI: <23 for south asians
- Abdominal obesity HWR: Hip waist ratio: <0.95
- Vit D: level between 50 to 60.
- Vit K2:
- Magnesium:
- Ketone: via a urine test you can buy.
- Insulin levels:
- Glucose levels: monitor sugar levels to ensure you are not becoming hypoglycaemic.
- Coronary heart risk: 2:1 ratio of Triglyceride over HDL. So triglycerides should be upto <2x or less HDL. So HDL should be not higher than half of triglycerides. Shows a high carbohydrate problem, showing up in the lipid panel.
- Phosphate deficiency: at refeeding stem cell generation consumes Phosphate, resulting in muscle weakness. Bone broth after or if necessary even during a fast.
Amendments:
- Probiotics: Kefir, warm yoghurt, sauerkraut, balsamic vinegar,
- Bone broth
- Pinch of pink Himalayan salt with water.
- Magnesium spray on skin, tablets or sit in a bath of Epsom salts.
- You may get dizziness, headaches or cramps, do the above 3.
- Eat low GI fruits
- Regulate protein intake, 0.35grams per pound of weight. circa 50grams
- Don’t eat fish more than twice in a week, to avoid toxic overload.
- Ratio of omega 3 to omega 6 is off. It should be 1:1. Omega3 comes from fish oils, omega 6 in surplus from seed oils.
- Stop using skin creams, estrogen disruptors, cause diseases like cancer.
- Don’t put plastics into food. With food storage, microwave or cooking in plastic.