Everyone Should Be Fasting.....

With everyone making the claim that their "FAD" diet is the greatest, our choices have become quite difficult when selecting options to better our health. The Human Body is an extremely complex network of pathways that have distinct protocols, coding, signaling and so much more that come together to form nothing less than us. Astonishing multicellular creatures! The Fact we still don't completely understand these pathways despite our scientific advancements in the last 20 years has a lot to say about our anatomy and physiology. But what do we know and how can we utilize it in our favor? Since we understand our body has specific hormones for catabolism and anabolism we know we can either be growing or reducing but not both at the same time. This is important because it provides the very basis by which we are able to understand fasting, muscle growth, Weight loss and gauge health in general. There are many energy sensors our biology possesses that keeps us at homeostasis, of these energy sensors the ones we will look at today are mTOR, AMPK, and ULK1. These 3 form the Kinase Triad that sense the energy status of the body and determine whether your cells will be favoring anabolic processes of growth or catabolic processes of self-devouring and preservation. First, we will look at mTOR. Since mTOR is an anabolic process anabolism is always favored, so therefore mTOR always takes precedence. your body favors anabolic or growth pathways because ultimately they will contribute to prolonged survival and the normal functioning of cells. This process by no means efficient. Rates of the efficiency of nutrients are represented by their "Thermic Effect" with protein being around 30% thermic, Carbohydrates being around 10% thermic and Fats Being around 5% thermic. The Lower the thermic effect, the more efficient your body is at utilizing the whole energy source without wasting calories through digestion. Autophagy, on the other hand, is catabolic and proudly represented by AMPK-1 signaling ULK1 to perform this metabolic process. AMPK is the main fuel sensor that helps to mobilize the body’s internal energy stores in situations of energy deprivation and ULK1 (Unc-51-like kinase 1) is a protein that’s involved with activating autophagy and other catabolic reactions to amino acid deficiencies. Autophagy itself is your body's understanding that it needs to utilize its own energy stores to remain in homeostasis so it is the "recycling and utilization of old or wasted genetic material". Autophagy seems to be provable as far as its beneficial ties to our health go and some of its benefits include:

-Reduced inflammation(due to an absence of insulin mainly)

-Stronger immune system

-Suppressed cancer and tumor cells

-Elimination of pathogens and toxins

-Improved insulin sensitivity

-Improved nutrient absorption

and the list goes on...

Autophagy can be overall a major asset to your health and well being and in turn make you healthier and happier. Extended fasts like that of a 72-hour water fast can be huge in improving your health but should be realistically set to be done once every one to two months. Fasting should be performed to some extent every day to keep even some of its benefits working like improved insulin sensitivity and an elevated immune system. for example, if you eat your last Meal at 8 pm at night and have your first meal the next day at 2 pm you have done a 16 hour fast. Not so bad, was it? and don't worry about your gains, your body elevates growth hormone(the best muscle preserving hormone) to protect Skeletal muscle. Remember your body's ultimate goal is to survive so whether or not you give your body credit its extremely intuitive. Your choices influence the outcomes, to optimize your choices is to optimize your results!

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