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I wanted to document my recent 11 day fast!  I am not crazy!  There are many benefits to fasting including decreasing inflammation which is the main reason I have fasted over the years.

Other benefits include reversing the aging process, preventing Alzheimer’s, lowering cholesterol, improving fat burning, increasing energy, improves insulin sensitivity, lowers blood sugar levels, improves mental clarity and concentration as well as improves weight loss. It can also help reset the immune system through something called autophagy.

 

 

The word autophagy is derived from Greek words “auto” meaning self and “phagy” meaning eating. Autophagy is a normal physiological process in the body that deals with destruction of cells in the body.

It maintains homeostasis or normal functioning by protein degradation and turnover of the destroyed cell organelles for new cell formation.

During cellular stress the process of Autophagy is upscaled and increased. Cellular stress is caused when there is deprivation of nutrients and/or growth factors.

Thus Autophagy may provide an alternate source of intracellular building blocks and substrates that may generate energy to enable continuous cell survival.

 

So how does one fast for 11 days! Or even longer in some cases. I teach a class on fasting and have studied this as an alternative to improving health for many years. I do not recommend you fast until you speak with your primary care doctor or a practitioner who understands fasting. When someone is on medications you cannot just stop those medicines and fast.

There are different types of fasting including intermittent fasting which also has some great benefits in reducing insulin resistance and improving blood sugar. So I plan on doing a series of posts on fasting so please follow and ask questions on the forum/community as I document my journey!!

 

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