We all have seen how big trees turn from green in the autumn to yellow and red in the autumn. This is due to protein degradation, explains Dr. Yoshnory Ohsumi, Noble prize winner for his work on lysosomes and autophagy. Interestingly, the protein is not lost, but rather it goes into the trunk in the form of amino acids to be recycled. Autophagy is a science word for cellular recycling, and if intermittent fasting (IF) was not valuable for you as a way to lose weight, control your sugar and insulin levels, increase your cognitive abilities and endurance and strength, then Autophagy alone should be a paramount reason to start an IF program for life. When I say “for life” I mean for the rest of your life and for a better quality of life.

Autophagy is essential for life. It takes only 3 months for the entire protein content of our bodies to be recycled. Here is a lecture by Dr. Ohsumi entitled “what is Autophagy: a dynamic cellular recycling system” for more details on the science. There are many benefits to autophagy, among them: reduced inflammation, stronger immune system, anti-aging and longevity effects, anticancer effects, elimination of pathogens, recycling of old and weak cells, and healing of disease and sickness. Inability to produce autophagy in rats results in obesity, reduced activity, higher levels of cholesterol and impaired brain function. One important effect is the recycling of misfolded proteins that are very toxic and may accumulate as “Amyloid”, found in the brain in patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Amyloid also accumulates in other parts of the body in other diseases. The most potent trigger of autophagy is… You guessed it, Fasting! Arguably, the most important benefit of fasting is not weight loss, but Autophagy.

There are several videos on YouTube about autophagy, so I encourage you to go there and enter the word “autophagy” together with “intermittent fasting” and learn more about them. It may make a huge difference in your life. For now, I am posting 2 short videos with basic information about these two terms:

Here is an additional video that makes it easy to understand the benefits of autophagy by Dr. Boz:

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