Autophagy: Its Powerful Role in Detoxification & Health

Dawn (00:00):

Hello and welcome to the Gastric Health Show. My name is Dawn Boxell and this week’s topic is autophagy. Its powerful role in detoxification and health. And we are going to dig into this because for one, we’re kind of continuing this conversation of detoxification, but I want to show you that there are completely different ways to approach this so that you kind of optimize and maximize what your body can do naturally, what it automatically is designed to do, which is heal itself. And this piece, autophagy is one way that you can truly turn over the cells and improve their dynamics with a few different strategies. So we’re going to dive into some maybe areas that I would say I don’t use all the time with all my patients, and it truly depends on the person. So we’ll talk about time restricted feeding. We will talk about intermittent fasting and just this connection with autophagy.

Autophagy: Cellular Self-Cleansing for Healthier Cells

(01:23):

But then I’m also going to highlight a whole lot of other ways to trigger autophagy and really get that cellular turnover improving detoxification as well as just, well, you will understand more as we dig into this, but I want you to know that first off, intermittent fasting, time-restricted eating are not for every person. And I use this sometimes, and I’ve talked about this frequently on different podcasts because it really does depend on the person. If I have someone that will have disordered eating patterns or red flags, I’m definitely not going to use intermittent fasting or time restricted eating. But if I have someone that is stable in their eating behaviors and we are stuck, to me this is a tool. It’s just another tool in the toolbox. And when you understand when to use it and how to use it, that can help you make good informed decisions on your health.

Time-restricted eating is not going to support you long-term

(02:42):

Because if you are, let’s say for an example, even just a binge eater, the more you restrict things, the more you will want to binge. So kind of counterintuitive and not beneficial in any way. Doing intermittent fasting or time-restricted eating is not going to support you long-term because again, this would be another diet. This would be another short play. I want you to do long plays. I want you to choose health in a way that serves you. We’re all different. We’re all have different genes. We all have different behaviors, different environments, different paths and experiences and all of those matter, they all get interwoven into our relationship with food. So just because it works well for someone else doesn’t mean it will work well for you or is even appropriate for you. So I hope that gives you kind of the foundation that this information is exactly what it is, it’s information, but you should use this information with a skilled healthcare professional that knows how to utilize these tools to help you determine first if you’re a good candidate.

Importance of Autophagy

(04:16):

So autophagy, really this has been kind of something more recent that has been more prominent and it is getting some research and some eyes on it saying that, hey, maybe this could be a piece that could help people’s health. And it’s a natural cellular recycling process, which is really key in detoxifying your body and maintaining your cell health. So it’s a process that we need and we want this to occur and there’s no one magic way to do this per se, that’s designed for every person. So I think it’s a combination of, and I also want to say this, it ties in because I come across this sometimes even with spiritual practices. I’ll have some individuals who will have times of fasting with their faith, their religion, their spirituality, they will utilize fasting. This is a very common practice and something that I’m not opposed to and believe that we have to have a faith in something.

Cellular Rejuvenation

(05:45):

And so we should all have a belief system that we lean on. And sometimes this is what in your spiritual practice, this is something that you feel driven to do or that it’s an important piece. Absolutely those are things that I think are important to listen to and to follow through on. If you feel prompted to do a fasting and you feel led to do a fasting, then I do think that is something that you should continue and follow through on. So again, it’s one of those things that working with a professional will really help. But then number one, and I like to tell my patients that they’re at the top of their health. They are the CEO of their health because they’re the only ones living in their body and all the ancillary staff below that they have hired, which is their primary care doctor, maybe a dietitian, maybe a trainer, maybe they have some other ologists like a neurologist, cardiologist, oncologist, hematologist, any of those ancillary staff are right below and we report to you and you kind of guide what’s working and what’s not working.

Detoxification process

(07:18):

And when you are approaching your health, you have to assemble a team that is for you and that can give you strategies to help you move through your health goals. So again, that spiritual practice should line up there. So you could put that as the ancillary staff as part of that team, and that could be your faith, and actually it should be, that should be part of it. We should all again, have some type of faith that we lean on so that we have good guidance and a belief system and a purpose. So intermittent fasting, time-restricted eating, these definitely are popular in mainstream, but these are also ways that it activates autophagy and can help in your cells turning over and just that whole detoxification process.

Detoxification

(08:25):

So autophagy acts as a natural self cleansing mechanism within your cells, and it comes from the Greek word auto, meaning self or phagy, which means eating. So autophagy means degrading and recycling the damaged or dysfunctional components inside the cell like proteins or misfolded proteins and stuff. Some of those things occur because of life could be stressful events, could be environmental things. It could be which I think of that as exogenous, or it could which is outside stressors, toxins, things that we’re exposed to, but then also endogenous things that our bodies maybe are just doing unknowingly. It’s the things that are shifting because of maybe a gene was flipped on and now you’re dealing with these new symptoms and problems that you weren’t. So what is the importance of autophagy in kind of just normal body processes and functions, Our cells constantly encounter stressors, toxins, and just kind of the wear and tear of daily life. And autophagy kind of emerges as this powerful natural mechanism that’s built into our body that supports cellular health and just kind of our overall wellbeing. And there are some really impressive advantages to autophagy. The first one is cellular rejuvenation or it’s really just turnover. You’re improving or healing that cell.

Cells contributing to the cellular detoxification

(10:36):

Autophagy allows the cells to discard the damage components and recycle them into new functional ones. So it’s your body’s way of saying, okay, this doesn’t have value and is not going to help me. Let’s turn this over and create one that can. And as a result, the cellular performance and your longevity improves. The second one is detoxification. So autophagy is known as really the ultimate cellular detoxifier and detoxification and autophagy are interrelated processes and it eliminates damaged components and toxic molecules from cells contributing to the cellular detoxification. And it’s through autophagy that cells can eliminate the harmful substances or toxins that are within it that could otherwise cause dysfunction or contribute to disease. So again, it’s something you want to occur. And the cool thing is there are many ways to trigger autophagy outside of intermittent fasting and time restricted eating, but once we get to those two, I will highlight a way of eating that can work because you’re still meeting all your nutritional needs and you’re not going to be restricting excessively, if that makes sense.

Disease Prevention

(12:17):

The third one is disease prevention. So autophagy kind of plays a role in preventing diseases from occurring. So it removes these malfunctioning components and reducing the stress on the cell. But then again, autophagy may reduce the risk of neurodegenerative disorders, heart disease, and even certain types of cancer. So because it’s capable of removing the bad and keeping that cell healthy. Number four is metabolic regulation. And I think that when it comes to your metabolic health and the number on the scale and just how a lot of people perceive health, I mean I think it comes down to we get confused. I think it’s easy for individuals to get confused of the priorities of what we should be achieving. I understand that weight loss is important and I’m all for optimizing your weight loss goals and getting to a weight that makes sense for your health.

Metabolic Regulation

(13:42):

And I think my approach lies in there’s so many tools to utilize that can get you to that goal that we don’t have to utilize just one strategy with fasting. You don’t have to utilize that as your only tool to kick up autophagy and to get that cell turnover and to get detoxification. You don’t have to do that. Again, this is a personal thing. You have to know who you are. And if you’re like, anytime I’ve tried to intermittent fast, I struggle because I’m just so hungry, all I think about is food. My brain is focused on food and that’s where I go. Again, your relationship with food may not be where it needs to be, and that’s not the best strategy, but I’m going to show you there are other ways to influence your metabolic regulation of autophagy without having to do a crazy fast or skipping days of eating or anything like that, which I would never honestly recommend.

Longevity

(15:08):

That would not be the type of time I would say I fall more in the time restricted eating category where it’s more about you’re just changing that eating window and that looks different for each person, but autophagy does play a role in your metabolic health. And recycling the cellular components contributes to energy, balance, glucose regulation, improving insulin sensitivity and reducing that risk of metabolic disorders. So it does play a role in how your metabolism is functioning so it can do having autophagy occur, it can help improve your metabolic health and improve your metabolism in a way that you can, your health can benefit and you can hit some of the goals that you are trying to attain. Number five is longevity. Researchers do believe that autophagy’s ability to repair and rejuvenate cells could be a key factor in extending one’s lifespan. They feel that autophagy may slow down aging by maintaining cellular health and preventing cellular damage.

Restore balance

(16:37):

So again, the more that you have these practices in place and you’re utilizing all resources that are available to you, that’s where you would find that autophagy would be so beneficial because we’re preventing the damage, we’re reversing the damage, we’re improving it. I mean, again, our bodies are designed to heal and our bodies are designed to kind of restore balance. So we just have to tap into that. And I do feel like when you reflect back how most of our ancestors ate was not having abundance of food all day long, all year round, we did have seasons of fasting because there was no food availability. So you have to think about our genetic makeup and then we go from scarcity to abundance that no longer is our day consumed with putting food on the table. But now we have an abundance of food that we literally just walk in almost on every corner to.

Immune System Support

(18:05):

You can get food at a gas station, at a fast food restaurant, you can go to the grocery store, you can make it at home. We have access to so much food that our body is not given any of these breaks. And the unfortunate thing is a lot of these foods are formulated, and I don’t even know if I would call some of them food because they really don’t have any whole food properties in them. They are ingredients that are made in labs, I guess you want to call it in manufacturing facilities that I don’t think we understand the full outcomes of putting these combinations together on what they do with our taste receptors, what they do to our metabolic health, what they do to our fat stores, our blood sugar, our insulin. There’s so much information that our cells are having to kind of get balanced out and figure out what is this trying to do?

Brain Health

(19:19):

What is this helping? What is this telling my body to do from the foods that we choose? So I want you to fully understand that your food is health and you can partner with your doctor by providing the best raw material to your body as often as possible. Again, I am a firm believer perfection does not exist, but the majority of the time you have to want to do this for yourself. So again, longevity, metabolic health, just disease prevention, all of these things our body is designed to do. Number six, your immune system support. So autophagy plays a vital role in the immune response. It helps remove those pathogens and toxins and things inside the cell, and then it helps allow your body to fight infections effectively. Number seven is your brain health. And this is interesting, some of the studies and stuff that you see on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, autophagy has significant implications for your brain, and they do feel that when you have more autophagy occurring diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, by clearing out those damaged proteins can really help support a healthier brain for you before you get to that.

Muscle Maintenance

(21:05):

So again, I’ve talked about this before, delaying that we know that with Alzheimer’s and dementia, the more things we can do early on to prevent it. Even if you’re genetically predisposed for this, say you have the genes, the APOE genes, and that you actually have the APOE4, and this is something that could be in your future. The best things you can do is just truly set your diet, set your lifestyle, set your stress, your sleep, prioritizing these things can really help give your body the tools it needs to regenerate and delay this process. Number eight is muscle maintenance. Autophagy actually ensures the proper function of your muscles by removing dysfunctional components and promoting muscle protein synthesis, which is essential for your muscle growth. So again, we’ve talked about the importance of your muscle, especially as we age, we really lose it and you get into your forties and fifties.

Adaptation to Stress

(22:20):

If you’re not doing something to use your muscles on a regular daily basis, then guess what muscle loss is in your future, especially when you get into sixties, into your sixties, that’s when that rate increases. You are going to see more muscle loss after age 60 if you don’t have the tools in place and you don’t have the behaviors in place. The next one is number nine, adaptation to stress. Autophagy helps your cells adapt to various forms of stress, and it can even be kind of like what I was talking about when our ancestors had food scarcity. When we are lacking certain nutrients and there’s a scarcity in those nutrients, then this increases the stress on those cells because they’re lacking the raw material that they need and they don’t, again, they don’t have the ability to get it any other way. When you aren’t providing it through your diet, your body is lacking in certain phytochemicals, antioxidants, polyphenols, that you cannot from a vitamin.

Tissue Regeneration

(23:46):

So I’m not just talking about the micro and macronutrients, so I’m not just talking about vitamins and minerals and then proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. I am talking about those phytonutrients, the antioxidants, the polyphenols, the flavonol, the flavonoids, all of those do things that you cannot get from a pill. So that is where you really have to lean into what you’re putting on your plate and how am I impacting my body’s ability to prevent the onset of things. Number 10 is tissue regeneration. And autophagy supports the growth and repair of tissues by recycling the cellular components. And this is particularly important for wound healing and tissue recovery. So say you’ve had a surgery even after bariatric surgery, or maybe you’ve had some other surgeries, maybe you’ve had to have your knees replaced or your hips replaced or your gallbladder taken out or your appendix or whatever, any of those surgeries you need that you need tissue regeneration, and that is where autophagy kind of comes in.

How to stimulate Autophagy?

(25:01):

So I do want to preface, especially when it comes to surgical interventions, fasting is not the best strategy and in reality they find that fueling the body quickly after a surgery with food, whole real food or if they cannot eat by mouth, then we do some type of tube feeding or parental nutrition where it’s going through your veins, that type of thing quickly as opposed to delaying it, they find the recovery is better providing the raw material your body is getting what it needs. So again, I hope you are hearing what I’m saying and not kind of guessing or trying to read between the lines. Time restricted eating. Intermittent fasting is not the solution for every person, and there are times when there are great strategies and there are times when they are the worst strategies. So I think we just have to look at this together as a team and make the informed decisions.

Strategies to Stimulate Cellular Cleansing

(26:15):

So let’s talk about stimulating autophagy. So this is where we’re going to kind of get into the nitty gritty of triggering this to occur. And fasting is kind of a key player in activating autophagy, not the only one, but it is one. And fasting or nutrient depletion, calorie restriction, those type of things. Typically after 16 hours of fasting increases your glucagon levels. And during this period, the cells utilize everything they can to nourish their inner contents. So each cell kind of is responsible for turning itself over. Glucagon is the opposite hormone to insulin, which means that when insulin is high, glucagon is low, and when insulin is low, glucagon is high. So when insulin is triggered, this is triggered because of glucose in the blood. So if you consume your food at a meal, your glucose is always going to rise. Then insulin is secreted because insulin is kind of that lock to the cell, it unlocks the cell to get sugar into the cell so that your body has fuel, right?

Glucagon drops without food or fasting

(27:44):

So we want energy, we want fuel. We want to be able to function and do the fun things we want to do and get the life that we’re desiring, right? So you need the glucose or the sugar in the blood to not stay in the blood. You want it to go into your muscles and your liver and fueling those so that you can have the energy so that you feel good. When we eat insulin rises, glucagon drops without food or fasting. Insulin levels drop and glucagon levels rise. And then as these glucagon levels rise, autophagy is stimulated and as a result, your cells are kind of cleaned out and turned over and the body destroys old and substandard cellular equipment. And all of this kind of junk may contribute to the aging process, not to mention disease and other chronic problems that people are dealing with.

Intermittent Fasting (IF)

(28:53):

In one study, glucagon was found to stimulate liver autophagy. Researchers found that glucagon activates the AMP activated protein kinase or AMPK. The AMPK is a cellular sensor of energy levels, and when it’s activated, it triggers many cellular processes including autophagy. The study also found that glucagon impacts autophagy based on amino acid levels. When amino acids are abundant, glucagon does not trigger autophagy, but when amino acids are scarce, glucagon can activate autophagy, and this might be due to the amino acids blocking that AMPK activation. Okay, so strategies to stimulate cell turnover, number one. One is intermittent fasting. So intermittent fasting is really, it’s just you have an eating window and usually the most popular is kind of that 16-8. You have an 8 hour eating window and a 16 hour of fasting, and that is probably the most popular they do. I would say this was interesting and in the findings that what hour does autophagy occur? And there’s a lot of mixed information on this because I can’t say that I found the best studies showing the exact timing that works for autophagy. I read some as short as 12, I read them as high as 36 hours.

Adequate carbohydrates and fats and fiber

(30:52):

But again, I think for me, intermittent fasting is one of those things that it’s not a daily thing for the rest of your life. It’s something that you can kind of go in and out of and only use a few times, maybe a week. Again, spiritual practices, this sometimes can be different, and each type of practice, the timing might be different and how that would look. So supporting you during this time is important. So this is where you have to get really intentional about what you’re putting in your body.  You’re providing adequate protein and adequate carbohydrates and fats and fiber. You’re still kind of help with that. So I will say when it comes to intermittent fasting, I bucket the pouch reset into this. To me, this definitely screams pouch reset and it also kind of screams bariatric surgery. It kind of screams GLP-1 medications.

GLP-1 medications and appetite suppressants

(32:15):

This whole piece is part of all of these to me, they are no different. They line, they stand on the same line as bariatric surgery, as GLP-1 medications and appetite suppressants. Again, we’re trying to control that eating window, and this is no different. Intermittent fasting is no difference. So the problem lies in say you do have binge eating or say you have some of those genes that are considered or what we call the hungry genes, or you don’t really make dopamine well, so your reward genes are needing to be stimulated multiple times, and then maybe you also have some of those genes that are impacted into cravings. So it’s really controlling those urges and needs or maybe even blood sugar dysregulation. You have some genetic SNPs that are making it difficult to maintain a normal blood sugar and insulin level. So again, intermittent fasting.

The 16-8 method

(33:28):

Here’s what it is, the 16-8 method where you have 16 hours of fasting, 8 hours of eating, these are restricting the calorie intake and not allowing you to basically one, no nighttime eating, no snacking. I would say, I guess in that eight hour eating window, I have read some studies where it didn’t matter. They just ate as often as they wanted during that eight hour window as long as they fasted in that 16 hours. Again, another one, another pattern that is used is the 5-2 method, or you eat normally for five days and then you restrict your calorie intake on two non-consecutive days. So again, how restrictive, and I think that’s different for each person if it’s a full 24 hour fast. There are some very interesting studies on fasting and the power of how it rejuvenates cells and just different disease states that I can say that if I had these, I would consider this.

10 ways of the benefits of autophagy

(34:51):

I would consider this as a strategy because again, I think it’s individual. Whatever you’re dealing with, this might get you through this and get your body working for itself and turning those cells over so that you can have health not disease. Research suggests that fasting stimulates autophagy as the body adapts to periods of food scarcity. There is a Dr. Yoshi noori. Ozumos contributions to this field earned him Nobel Prize for medicine and physiology. In 2016, his research laid the foundation for understanding how fasting initiates autophagy, fostering cellular rejuvenation and improved health. So again, kind of a big deal that we can see that this piece can do for us. Another study found fasting can be a safe and effective way to stimulate autophagy. The study also found that fasting for 12 to 24 hours can increase autophagy by up to 30%. So we went through those 10 ways of the benefits of autophagy and intermittent fasting is one 16-8, 5-2.

Time-Restricted Eating (TRE)

(36:14):

Those are the most popular that they find that the autophagy is benefited. So again, I would say I feel like there’s conflicting data because I’ve seen some as far as 36 hours. To me that’s way too long to go without any type of nutrients. And actually they have shown in studies that by the time you get to 72 hours is when muscle loss will be occurring. Your body will be utilizing your muscles for fuel if you go to a 72 hours. Number two is time restricted eating or TRE. And time restricted eating is characterized by consuming meals with a specific time window, such as 12 hours is another avenue to stimulate autophagy. How I look at time restricted eating is really just you’re looking at how your body flows with the natural circadian rhythm of the earth and sunset, sunrise. And this approach capitalizes on the body’s natural circadian rhythm.

Caloric Restriction

(37:32):

And in response to limiting the nutrient availability outside this designated eating window, cells become more dependent on the stored energy triggering autophagy. Research has provided evidence that time-restricted eating elevates autophagy and showcasing its potential to enhance your cellular health. Number three is calorie restriction. So to me, this is additional way that I see bariatric surgery. GLP -1, I guess you could say pouch reset falls in this as well, but to me, pouch reset is just not a real thing. This is not, I don’t recommend doing pouch resets, but when you’re looking at their plan, it falls into this. It falls into this whole fasting calorie restriction window. They just do it poorly because they’re really not providing the right tools for your body to be functioning optimally. So how do you stimulate autophagy, intermittent fasting, time restricted eating, and then something I didn’t say about time restricted eating.

Find your metabolic rate

(39:01):

To me, if you’re doing a time restricted eating, this is where you are less about the restriction. You’re more about hitting all your protein goals and your fiber goals. You’re super intentional about those, but then you have a good window of time where you’re not eating at all. So it’s not so much about the fast, like where you would not feel satisfied and satiated with that eating window. You would because you’re going to still, I would still encourage if I did a time restricted eating with someone, I would encourage full macros met during that eating window because it’s what is occurring during that fasting state that can still allow you to feel satisfied but yet tap into autophagy. Same thing with calorie restriction. They’ve done studies where they’ve compared like intermittent fasting and calorie restriction and they don’t see much differences. So again, cutting back, find your metabolic rate, go get a BIA or a dexa, get those done, find your metabolic rate, work with a practitioner on optimizing the right amount of calories that your body needs.

Success with weight loss

(40:32):

And I will promise you it is not 900 calories and it’s not 1200 calories after a bariatric diet. I can promise you that you need to be consuming more of these more calories than either one of those after bariatric surgery to optimize your metabolic health as opposed to your overall success with weight loss. Undereating is another way that people really compromise their metabolic health. So you slow down your metabolism when you undereat. So being so restrictive is not helpful to your metabolic health. Yes, calorie restriction is helpful to autophagy and can help with your metabolic health, but excessive restriction is not. Does that make sense? So again, it’s not about eating food and eating so little calories that you barely hit five or 600 calories, which in all honesty is what a lot of bariatric patients are at in that first month post-surgery, and that’s where we are really impacting your metabolism and your metabolic health if you don’t get that calorie intake up.

Low Carbohydrate or Ketogenic Diet

(42:00):

Then number four is low carbohydrates. I should really say very low carbohydrate diets or ketogenic diets. When you are more in the 20, you’re less than 50 grams of carbs, but closer to 20, those have been shown to trigger autophagy and it really kind of impacts your availability of glucose because you are eating so low carbohydrate.

Exercise

Exercise is number five. So here’s where I’m showing you if you want to trigger autophagy. Exercise is one of them. Physical activity, particularly endurance exercises like jogging or cycling can trigger autophagy. The mild stress exercise induced in the cells cause them to activate survival mechanisms like autophagy.

Cold Exposure

Number six, cold exposure and the cold temperature cold plunges. All of those are known as cold thermogenesis and have been shown to activate autophagy. And during cold exposures, stress hormones are released, which can trigger autophagy to protect the body. This is where you have to be careful.

Herbal Teas and Supplements

(43:17):

Cold exposure is not for every person because it can trigger those stress hormones. And if your stress hormones are already high, a k a and menopause and perimenopause, your cortisol is naturally higher because our estrogens are lower and progesterones are lower, that may be contraindicated and not as beneficial to some females. Number seven, some herbal teas and supplements, certain compounds found in herbal teas like green teas and some of these in supplement form such as resveratrol have been suggested to enhance autophagy. But further research is definitely needed. So I don’t think this is necessarily, you can’t just sip on green tea. I mean, I sip on green tea every day and I can tell you I’m not triggering autophagy. So again, I think it’s a package deal, not that you can’t add these to your other strategies to help optimize. I think that makes sense.

Quality Sleep

(44:23):

But to just sip it on green tea, I don’t think that’s going to be the solution. Number eight, quality sleep. So we talk about this a lot. Sleep really contributes to your overall health, but it also influences autophagy and prioritizing quality sleep ensures that your body can inf effectively engage and cellular cleanup. So important piece that gets so little attention.

Hydration

Number nine, hydration. Hydration supports cellular processes and this includes autophagy. So you can’t be dehydrated all the time because you don’t drink anything but caffeinated beverages or non-water, like everything you drink really, there’s no plain water. Your body needs water and it can help kind of maintain that internal environment that’s necessary for cellular optimization. So again, something as simple as just staying hydrated. Making sure you’re getting some of those electrolytes in some of your fluids each day is helpful. Number 10 is stress management.

Stress Management

(45:44):

So chronic stress can really hinder autophagy and stress reduction techniques like meditation. Deep breathing and mindfulness can indirectly boost autophagy. And these practices really do promote cellular growth, cleanup functioning, longevity, overall wellness. All of those things are enhanced when stress is kept in its place. That does not mean you are not going to have stress, you are always going to be presented with stress. But we have a choice on how we handle stress. So that’s where these strategies can applying a combination or really focusing on these foundational areas. With sleep and stress and making good food choices. But not just eating all day long where you don’t have any real window. You’re eating every couple of hours. Where maybe it would be better if you went a full four hours or maybe at one meal at least hit five hours. And you’re really giving your body that time to do some work.

12 hours, that’s the step one

(47:05):

And then maybe after your evening meal you just don’t eat any snacks and that’s considered fasting. If you make it 12 hours, that’s the step one. And fasting is 12 hours and there are health benefits, the first one being known as blood sugar regulation. That’s going to influence that blood sugar and insulin at just 12 hours. So to me that makes sense for anyone. Just don’t snack after your evening meal and make sure it’s 12 hours for your next meal. And that’s step one of fasting that can really help trigger that autophagy to be potentially triggered at that time. Again, I feel like the evidence is not clear on a hundred percent for humans on. When autophagy is really trigger when it comes to fasting. We know that exercise and good sleep and stress management can all be great ways to support autophagy. But the timing of the food is, I think, less clear.

Fasting and autophagy works synergistically

(48:16):

So let’s wrap this up. So autophagy really is just a natural cellular response and our body’s way to support healthy detoxification and. Cell turnover and just kind of our body being as healthy as possible. It is design to heal and it is design to optimize all these areas. If we support supported time-restricted eating and intermittent fasting are tools. That can kind of unlock that autophagy in its cellular turnover and detoxification and all of that. And based on strong scientific evidence, these strategies do promote cellular health, longevity, and disease prevention. So fasting and autophagy works synergistically to transform individuals towards more optimal health and wellbeing. And it is really your body’s innate detoxification mechanism as a powerful asset. So if you feel that maybe, hey, I maybe don’t trigger much autophagy and. Maybe I don’t feel so great because my cells aren’t so healthy. And maybe you can enlist some of these strategies.

Disordered eating patterns

(49:43):

One, if you have disordered eating patterns, I would not recommend intermittent fasting or time restricted eating. Binge eating or just restriction eating would not be a good option for you. Because it’s just going to trigger more disordered eating or an actual eating disorder. So keep that in mind. So it’s not health at all costs that you destroy your relationship with food and you get off track. You really need to work with a skilled practitioner that can really help guide you. In making the right choices when it comes to triggering autophagy and really optimizing its use. So I hope this has helped, and I know this topic is, I would say controversial because it really. They’re really are some great benefits to having autophagy occur. But to me it’s complex because a lot of bariatric patients have a poor relationship with food. They have not done the work to heal that and to learn how to fuel their body and. Use food for what it’s need as oppose to using food to cope with life’s events.

Conclusion

(51:17):

So if you feel like this is you or you’re not sure, reach out. I’d love to chat and help you make informed decisions and. Really support you on this journey so that you lay a good foundation with your eating. Lay a good foundation with these foundational habits, good sleep, good stress management. And of course good movement and just really helping you optimize these foundations. So that you truly get the life that you’re desiring and. Why you probably had bariatric surgery so that you can attain these goals. If you feel like, hey, I need more support, reach out, I’d love to help you. So you guys have a great day. We’ll see you next time. Bye-bye.

Listen, Learn, Enjoy…

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