August of Aurelius: Week 3, Day 6

If you’re still not convinced of fasting, here are 5 additional reasons why you need to try it.

#1: Increases Metabolic Rate

Fasting also increases your metabolism. Similar to the point above, your body goes into overdrive to search for food. 

Your body accelerates your metabolism to give you more energy to search for food. Because if you do go too long without food, you’d die. Don’t worry, this is a very long time. One man even fasted for a year .

This study showed that up to 4 days of fasting resulted in an increase in metabolism . Most people are afraid of their body shutting down during fasting, when in reality it does the opposite. 

By increasing your metabolic rate, fasting will burn even more fat. 

Really, you should be afraid of your body shutting down from lulling it to sleep from 6+ meals a day. 

#2: Fasting Increases Autophagy, the Natural Cellular Cleansing Process

Fasting activates autophagy, the natural cellular cleansing process. This is one of the biggest benefits of fasting. And many people hypothesize that it only begins once you fast beyond 16 hours.

What is autophagy and why is it important? Autophagy is a natural cellular recycling system that improves your health. 

Over time, your body accumulates damaged proteins and mitochondria (energy power houses). 

Many studies suggest that this is why we age. Over time, your bodies become cluttered with junk and start to break down. You lose the ability to generate new mitochondria and clear out old ones. And the old, damaged mitochondria don’t function properly and release free radicals. That creates a downward spiral where you get even more ill. 

When you’re young, autophagy occurs naturally. But over time, your body slowly downregulates this process . As a result, as you get older you’re both accumulating more damage from a lifetime of living and have a reduced ability to clear out the damage. 

If you want to live longer, this may be one of the most important things you can do for your health.

According to this study, autophagy plays a “key role in preventing diseases such as cancer, neurodegeneration, cardiomyopathy, diabetes, liver disease, autoimmune diseases and infections” .

 How do you activate autophagy?  

Autophagy is regulated by amino acids, nutrient intake and hormones such as glucagon and insulin. One of the key regulators of autophagy is a nutrient sensor called mTOR. 

mTOR is like a general contractor for your cells. When mTOR is activated, cells are in growth mode. When it is downregulated, your body is in a catabolic state — use existing resources for energy mode.  

When insulin and nutrient intake is high, mTOR is upregulated which shuts off autophagy. When mTOR is downregulated, it promotes autophagy. Insulin activates mTOR…so if you’re constantly eating, especially refined junk, you’re never activating autophagy.  

How do you downregulate mTOR? mTOR activation depends on the presence of nutrients. Think of autophagy as one of the last refuges for energy. Once your liver glycogen is depleted, your body scrapes together any energy it can find. One of the best sources is dysfunctional proteins that your body can turn into glucose.  

Depending on your current dietary status, liver glycogen takes anywhere from 16-20 hours to deplete. Exercising, however, can accelerate this process. 

When liver glycogen is depleted, old junky proteins are broken down to amino acids and either used to rebuild proteins or turned into glucose for energy. 

#3: Starves Bad Gut Bacteria

Intermittent fasting is one of the best ways to improve gut health. It both allows your gut to rest and also starves the bad bacteria. This study of mice fasting showed increased levels of “good gut bacteria” and decreased levels of the bad bacteria [*].

 If you have gut issues, try fasting.

#4: Fasting 16+ Hours Increases Growth Hormone and Lean Muscle Mass

Contrary to what most people believe, fasting will not make your muscles wither away. In fact, a big reason why our bodies go into ketosis is to spare muscle mass.

Many of our metabolic pathways are constructed to spare muscle mass at all costs. The misconception that fasting destroys muscle arises because when you fast for long enough, protein is broken down into glucose for energy. But it’s not muscle protein. As discussed above, the body prioritizes defective proteins, skin and your intestinal lining first.

This study pictured below confirms this. After alternate daily fasting, patients were able to lose significant fat mass with no change in lean mass.

To ensure muscle mass is spared, your body releases what are called counter regulatory hormones. One of which is growth hormone. During a fast, your growth hormone spikes to ensure you don’t lose muscle mass. 

Therefore, fasting is one of the best anabolic techniques.  

This is one of the reasons why exercise, the carnivore diet and fasting are the best ways to build muscle. You’re providing your body with all of the nutrients and protein your muscles need to grow and giving your body creatine plus growth hormone. It’s a cheat code for muscle gain. 

After you break the fast, your growth hormone is elevated and your body goes into overdrive building up your muscle proteins. Like with autophagy, this is a renewal process,  building you up stronger than before.

#5: Fasting Improves Your Discipline

Discipline and willpower are muscles that you need to train. It’s too bad, because almost everything in modern society trains you to lower your willpower. 

Everything is programming you to rush to the next dopamine hit. People want everything at the click of a button. 

Instant relationships. Instant food delivery. Instant dopamine hits via video games.

Nobody wants to work for anything anymore. 

They just want to sit on their asses, shovel food into their mouths and get social approval from their friends on Instagram. 

The problem is that anything great comes with suffering. But people are too addicted to comfort to ever sacrifice the present for future gain.  

In this regard, fasting gives your mind and your body a rest from the incessant bullshit. 

In a world where hyperpalatable foods are ubiquitous, fasting takes tremendous willpower. Everybody around you will be trying to pressure you into eating. But you know that the real gains come after discomfort. And you will fight it. Every time you fast, it will train your willpower so that when the going truly gets tough you’ll be prepared.