Tag Archive for: fasting

Fasting: A Metabolic Do-Over

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The changes that occur during fasting are remarkable. Blood sugar is maintained within normal ranges. Protein and other breakdown products can be used to make glucose. And there’s one more significant finding: levels of purines and pyrimidines increased during the fast. These are some of the substrates for making proteins and nucleic acids used for making DNA.

What does that mean? Fasting isn’t just a one-way event where things are only broken down; some are being rebuilt. Prior research on cancer patients have shown that a 48–96 hour fast helps use up immune system remnants and rebuilds the immune system. In those cases, they were reduced to 500–800 calories under hospital conditions. The fast helped them do better during chemotherapy.

Before we get carried away, a couple of things. The study I reviewed had only four subjects, they were normal weight, and they were all 29–30 years old. We don’t know how this type of fast would impact an overweight 55-year-old with type 2 diabetes. There may be differences in which metabolites result, and the rebuilding process may be different. Still, it’s encouraging.

I felt fine throughout my fast, but I had a head start, albeit a forced one. I can’t say that I notice any major differences except for the eight-pound difference in the scale. But how can you say that you feel your immune system is stronger or that your DNA is being replicated with fewer errors? You can’t.

This was not the type of fasting that manipulates the schedule so people can eat within a four-hour window and “fast” the rest of the day. I know people feel better and may lose weight, but there’s no evidence of any metabolic changes as significant as these. What is being attempted is to fit the fast into our lifestyle instead of letting it go organically for a day or two, and the benefits are important even if they’re not as dramatic as those in the study. Another name for this type of fast: a cleanse. What I think it proves is that you don’t need anything other than the will to do it for you to see some benefits. You don’t even have to abstain from food. You just have to do it.

If you want some guidance on doing a fast/cleanse, get out your copy of Real-Life Detox and get going. If you don’t have one, get your copy today. It’s time for a metabolic do-over! What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Reference: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-36674-9

Gluconeogenesis: Making Sugar

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On Tuesday, I said that blood sugars remained stable in all subjects throughout the study. How can that be when they would most likely use all their stored sugar in 24 hours or so? Their bodies made glucose out of protein and scraps from the breakdown of other substances.

Many hormones and connective tissue are made out of protein and are typically repaired after damage. The liver can use some amino acids from the damaged proteins to make metabolites that can enter the citric-acid cycle. When those remnants become scarce, the Number One source is muscle. Skeletal muscle is our protein storage facility, and while it isn’t preferred to use protein in this way, the body is protective of your blood sugar level and will protect it no matter what; it will make sugar for energy using whatever is available.

Use of fat as a fuel also increases, primarily in the mitochondria. While it’s complicated biochemistry, mitochondria are then stimulated to become more active and produce more free radicals. The good news is that researchers also observed an increase in antioxidant activity. Glutathione levels remained constant but an analog of glutathione called ophthalmic acid increased, keeping the rise in free radicals in check.

There was one more significant set of metabolites that were released. I’ll cover that on Saturday. What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Reference: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-36674-9

A Case for Fasting

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During the food poisoning episode last week, I didn’t eat for 30 hours. Of course, I had slept most of that time and eating was the last thing I wanted to do. Even though I could have started eating again, I decided to continue the fast to at least 60 hours. I continued to drink fluids—I’m not going to live without coffee—but no food or drinks with calories.

Why do this? I had just scanned a research paper written by a Japanese research group who had four volunteers fast for that long. They observed interesting changes in metabolism by measuring by-products of metabolism in blood. They took blood samples before the study and then at 10 hours, 34 hours, and 58 hours. In prior research, they had discovered 14 changes in metabolites, but this time there were 30 more changes that occurred during the 58-hour fast.

It’s difficult to establish a time-course of events as they didn’t collect blood every two or four hours, but we can compare baseline numbers with the results of the other times blood was collected and analyzed. Initially the body relies on stored sugar in the form of glycogen, but eventually sugar gets used up and the body has to rely on fat stores. Here’s observation Number One: blood sugar was consistently maintained varying only 10 mg/dl over the observed times. Surprised? I’ll tell you why that happened on Thursday.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Top Nutrition Trends for 2019

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After the fitness trends I wrote about Tuesday, I thought I would see if there were any other surveys by nutritionists or dieticians on nutrition or diet trends. Turns out that The Pollack Communications in conjunction with Today’s Dietician just did their 7th Annual What’s Trending in Nutrition survey of registered dieticians. Not surprising to me is that the ketogenic diet ranked number one with intermittent fasting close behind. I get questions about those all the time.

We are alive today because our ancestors survived. While that seems obvious, it also means something else. Before we developed the ability to grow crops and animals, we relied on hunting and gathering. It also means our ancestors had to survive periods of famine when crops were poor and animals were scare. That type of survival resulted in genes that were efficient in storing fat. Today there’s no real famine in modern countries. In fact, quite the opposite; food is abundant. It’s not surprising people are growing—we’re the heaviest we’ve ever been.

Many blame processed foods or refined carbohydrates or artificial sweeteners or food additives or something else for the obesity epidemic. It’s not that complicated: we simply eat too much. Sure, quality counts, but eating 4,000 calories a day will still have the health effects of eating 4,000 calories a day.

Fasting has a role to play in helping us have the energy we need to perform our best exactly when we need it. So does the ketogenic diet. Both will be topics in the 9th Annual Super Bowl Webinar this Sunday at noon. Find out how to use both to your advantage by signing up today. Members and Insiders: log in to drchet.com before registering to make sure you get your discount.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Reference: Pollock Communications; Today’s Dietitian.

Rule 1: Eat Less

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The holiday season is full of tradition, and I hope you celebrated according to your beliefs and spent the time with family and friends. But as the end of the year approaches, it’s time to get ready for 2017. This week, I’m breaking with tradition and doing a message a day to help you get ready. In addition, I’m doing a Detox Weekend via Facebook January 6–8.

One of the things that we should all do is eat less. I’m not talking about losing weight. That’s important if you need to, but I mean . . .

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The Detox Myth: Half Wrong

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When health experts criticize cleansing and detox programs, they attack the many questionable programs that are touted on the Internet. From colonics to foot pads, their criticism is correct. But they also get it half wrong.

Cleansing is another word for fasting, and there’s plenty of research to support a fast of two to four days to improve the immune system. But fasting doesn’t mean you get no calories; by definition, fasting is taking in fewer calories than your body needs. To make fasting more efficient, restricting calories to 800 or fewer seems to accomplish that task in . . .

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Gourmet Detox Weekend: Creating Healthier Habits

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A long-time reader shared an interesting email response regarding the message on Fast Day. When he read that I was only doing liquids as part of the Gourmet Detox Weekend, he said that he has done one fast day with just liquids as well. When he does, he feels great and actually has more energy at the end of the day. He’s adapted it to fit his work schedule, but it’s a habit he’s had for over 20 years—20 years!

That’s . . .

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Fast Day

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Tomorrow is the beginning of the Gourmet Detox weekend that I mentioned last week. Personally, I’m going to begin with a one-day fast. Why? Here is an excerpt from Real-Life Detox:

It’s a bit like rebooting your system. When your computer starts acting weird or the apps aren’t working right on your phone, you know it’s time to reboot—turn it off and then turn it back on. Usually your phone or computer work normally after a . . .

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