What Really Happens When We Fast?

In a previous blog, “Life in the ‘Fast’ Lane,” we explored the basic benefits of fasting, and the different ways we can go about this activity. Rather, this inactivity. In this, Part 2, we’ll get into more detail and some of the specifics of fasting: the incredible health benefits and why they occur. 

There are a lot of beneficial effects of fasting. Over eons, and for various reasons, humans have developed with the ability to adapt to starvation. However, our bodies have not yet adapted to the frequent eating we do now, every three to five hours. It’s often why we feel sluggish, our digestive systems are slightly “off,” and we find it difficult to maintain a healthy weight.

The Effects of Fasting

After 12 hours

There is a spike in growth hormone, which helps us with:

  • Anti-Aging

  • Fat Burning

  • Healing Joints

  • Protein Synthesis

After 18 hours

You develop “autophagy.” Autophagy is involved with:

  • Recycling old and damaged proteins and microbes, turning them into useful amino acids.

  • Decreased amyloid plaquing (clogging of the bloodstream) because advanced glycation end products (AGEs), harmful compounds that are formed when protein or fat combine with sugar in the bloodstream, are broken down and pass through the bloodstream more readily. This process is called glycation.

After 24 hours

You really start to deplete the glycogen reserve in your liver and, instead, run on ketones, which are both a superior fuel to glycogen and an appetite suppressant. Benefits of fasting after 24 hours:

  • Decreased hunger

  • Decreased cravings

  • Increased antioxidant reserve

  • Increased oxygen, decreased carbon dioxide

  • Better fuel efficiency

  • Less strain on the thyroid

  • Decreased inflammation (arthritis, bursitis, autoimmune conditions), esp. with addition of Vitamin D

  • Gut healing from stem cell production

  • Improved cardiovascular function

  • Improved cognitive function from increased BDNF production (brain repair)

After 48 hours: 

  • Stimulate production of undifferentiated stem cells

  • This means more healing, repair and anti-aging

  • Decreased risk of cancer

  • Shrinkage of certain tumors

  • Make more mitochondria

After 72 hours:

  • Do only periodically

  • Greater stimulation of stem cells

  • Increased immune function

  • Increased stress resistance

What Really Happens When We Fast?

How to get these incredible effects of fasting?

  • Do intermittent fasting on a regular basis

  • A good average pattern of intermittent fasting is doing 18 hours of fasting with a 6-hour eating window

  • Do periodic prolonged fasting to achieve additional fasting benefits

  • Take minerals, B-vitamins and salt during fasting (water along with those nutrients)

  • Exercise in the mornings, when your cortisol is higher

  • You may have increased LDL (bad cholesterol). However, genetic makeup, is the driving force behind cholesterol levels. The body creates cholesterol in amounts much larger than what you can eat, so fasting won't affect your blood cholesterol levels very much, and it will only be for relatively short periods of time.

That’s it! Pretty simple on the outside, but pretty chemically complex and beneficial on the inside. Check with your doctor first, then ease in and see how you feel.

Paul Gravette