Looking for a way to achieve autophagy with intermittent fasting ? There are many people who ask themselves every day how to improve their health, strengthen it and feel their body healthy in the face of any external threat, but the way to achieve this is very varied. Focusing on food is one of them: in fact, fasting is becoming more and more popular due to its benefits. But to what extent can it help us feel better? We will tell you everything in this article.
What is autophagy?
If you want to achieve autophagy with intermittent fasting , you must first properly understand the meaning of this concept. It is a natural mechanism that takes place in our body, through which cells degrade and recycle their own components. This fact provides energy to our body and eliminates all those proteins that no longer favor it . It also allows people to become stronger against viruses and diseases. Ultimately, it is a cellular cleansing process, in which the body does not expel what it no longer needs, but rather “eats” it (hence its name).
What is intermittent fasting?
On the other hand, intermittent fasting consists of following a diet for certain periods of time while fasting in others. Today this method is followed to lose weight or maintain the line, and improve health, whatever it is at that time. For example, fasting favors the correction of type 2 diabetes .
Intermittent fasting can only be carried out by those who have a normal or higher weight than recommended in order to have enough stored fat to be able to live on it when necessary. In this way, if it is followed in a correct way, it should not cause any type of suffering , much less any vital risk.
Autophagy and intermittent fasting
Taking into account that we already know the two concepts, in this section we will focus on the union of both. First of all, it should be noted that fasting goes far beyond autophagy, as it is also related to stimulation of growth hormone . This causes some parts of the body to renew themselves.
As in any situation, if we want to promote the birth of new things, we have to leave the old ones behind. Thus, not only the production process is important, but also the disposal process .
How does the process of autophagy and fasting work?
The metabolic protein mTOR has a very important link with the development of energy . It is anabolic, which means that it produces the synthesis of molecules from simpler ones. The main consequence of the above is the great consumption of energy by our body . Likewise, there is also the pathway known as K-AMP. It is a protein that is closely related to saving energy . This is characterized by being catabolic, that is, it causes the degradation of organic nutrients while transforming them into simple end products that are also more useful.
If our goal is for our body to function in a healthy way, it is important to achieve the balance between the two proteins that we have just described. MTOR is activated when we eat any type of food, especially if they contain carbohydrates. Now, the AMP-K begins to work after a period of fasting, which results in autophagy and the elimination of bad organelles . In this way, the body, through fasting, analyzes that something is not working correctly and burns the stored energy faster.
Of course, experts never tire of saying that it is very important to take care of the balance between intake and food shortage so as not to take any risks, since forcing this process can be really dangerous.
Types of intermittent fasting
If we want to achieve autophagy with intermittent fasting , we have several ways to do it. Here we explain the most outstanding ones.
Fast 16/8
It is the simplest method and it is recommended to start with. It consists of 16 hours of fasting and 8 hours of feeding . Taking into account that we normally spend 8 hours sleeping, we only have to delay the first meal of the day for a few hours to get it done.
Method 20/4
In this method we would only have four hours a day to be able to eat . If we choose this option, we should only have one meal a day, or at most two.
Fasting on alternate days
Alternate day fasting is somewhat more extreme, but if we take it seriously and are clear about what we want to achieve, we don’t have to go hungry. We just have to accustom the body to a new routine so that it does not need to eat so often.
12/12 method
This method is as simple as leaving 12 hours between meals . For example, a good option would be not to eat anything from eight in the afternoon until eight in the morning.
