When Less is More

Many diet and exercise trends have origins in legitimate science, though the facts tend to get distorted by the time they achieve mainstream popularity. Benefits are exaggerated. Risks are downplayed. Science takes a back seat to marketing.

Throughout history, people have experienced periods when food was either scarce or completely lacking, so they were forced to fast. But through modern technology such as refrigiration, transportation and electric lighting, food availability has become prominent. This has shifted our eating patterns, people now eat on average throughout a 14 hour period everyday. Studies suggest that this constant food intake may lead to health problems. Researchers have started looking at whether fasting can have potential benefits for some people.

What is Fasting?

Fasting is a practice that involves a restriction of food or drink intake for any period. Fasting has been practiced for a variety of reasons that range from dieting to religious beliefs to medical testing.

Variations of fasting have been studied for their ability to improve physiological indicators related to health. Some of these factors include insulin sensitivity, blood pressure, atherogenic lipids, body fat and inflammation.

The compiled results show a variety of metabolic and physiological adaptations that occur from fasting. From a general perspective, this includes the changes in metabolic pathways to create energy for the body.

The Problem

It was easier to maintain a healthy weight around 70 years ago, as mentioned earlier, technological advancements were not as they are today. No computers, TV channels turned off before 11pm, people worked and played outside resulting in generally more active lives.

Currently people sit in front of their TVs all day, watching movies, playing games, you can work from home as well. That can mean eating and sitting all day and most of the night. Extra calories and less activity can mean a higher risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and other illnesses.

Fasting Regimens

Intermittent fasting

This involves the restriction of caloric intake during a set period continuously. Intermittent fasting works by prolonging the period when your body has burned through the calories consumed during your last meal and begins burning fat.

It’s important to check with your doctor before starting intermittent fasting. Once you get his or her go-ahead, the actual practice is simple.

Daily Approach

This restricts daily eating to one six- to eight-hour period each day. For instance, you may choose to try 16/8 fasting: eating for eight hours and fasting for 16.

This can involve fasting from the time you wake up to around 2 in the afternoon then having your last meal by 7 pm.

Studies have found however that although this is an easier method to stick to and be consistent with, it may not necessarily yield significant weight loss results. This has to be accompanied with reduced food portions in order to see the results.

The 5:2 Approach

This involves eating regularly five days a week. For the other two days, you limit yourself to one 500–600 calorie meal. An example would be if you chose to eat normally on every day of the week except Mondays and Thursdays, which would be your one-meal days.

Important:

Longer periods without food, such as 24-, 36-, 48- and 72-hour fasting periods, are not necessarily better for you, and may be dangerous. Going too long without eating might actually encourage your body to start storing more fat in response to starvation when you break your fast.

Studies have also shown that during longed periods, long exposure to glucocorticoids can lead to insulin resistance or muscle atrophy.

What to Eat when Fasting?

During the times when you’re not eating, water and zero-calorie beverages such as black coffee and tea are permitted.

During your eating periods, “eating normally” does not mean going crazy. Research shows that you’re not likely to lose weight or get healthier if you pack your feeding times with high-calorie junk food, super-sized fried items and treats. The goal in general is to develop a healthy relationship with your food, that also means eating healthier food no matter the reason for your fast.

Benefits of Fasting

Research has revealed some interesting benefits of fasting(source):

l Thinking and memory: by activating autophagy and reducing inflammation, this enhances synaptic plasticity essentially making neurons more resilient and efficient.

l Blood pressure and Blood sugar regulation: fasting lowers blood sugar and in turn lowers blood pressure improving heart health.

l Physical Performance: fasting leads to reduction of body fat and if done properly muscle mass can be maintained. This enables more freedom of movement and increased physical performance

l Reduced risk of Type 2 Diabetes and Obesity: obese adult humans lost weight through intermittent fasting and with type 2 diabetes studies have shown a lower fasting glucose in the blood and reduced insulin resistance when they practice fasting regimes.

What to Expect During Fasting

To people who are new to fasting or having not done it in a long time, they might find it a little difficult. The feeling of hunger strikes you, you start getting cranky , its all part of a new routine. Some other people also complain of having a sort of tension like headache possibly due to hypoglycemia, a lower blood sugar level, dehydration or even caffeine withdrawal.

This is all expected and normal, but if these feelings are too intense of course it is advised to seek medical help from a professional health practitioner.

What happens under the hood?

So what really happens to your body when you fast you wonder?

Fasting involves a radical change in cellular physiology and metabolism. Blood glucose normally provides the body with sufficient energy through glycolysis. During a fast, maintenance of blood glucose levels initially relies on glycogen stores in the liver and skeletal muscle. Glycogen is chains of polymerized glucose, monosaccharides, that are used for energy by the process of glycogenolysis. After fasting for around 24 hours, glycogen stores are depleted causing the body to utilize energy stores from adipose tissue(Fat cells) and protein stores. Tryglicerides found in adipose tissue are broken down to fatty acid and glycerol of which the liver breaks down to ketone bodies and glucose. This is a process known as ketogenesis, the ketone bodies travel through the body to the tissues requiring energy.

In addition, protein catabolism, through the process of gluconeogenesis, simultaneously takes place in times of fasting. Gluconeogenesis produces glucose from amino acids broken down from various tissues including muscle. After glycogen stores become depleted, the dependence of body tissues for glucose gradually declines as ketone bodies become more readily available to metabolize.(source)

Can fasting really prevent cancer?

Fasting triggers autophagy, the body's cellular cleanup process, to recycle damaged components for energy. Lack of incoming nutrients stresses cells, signaling them to break down internal parts for fuel. This is an energy conservation method and through this the body removes toxic proteins and damaged organelles, promoting regeneration and function. It is belived that through this the body can also help remove damaged cells before they become cancerous.

There needs to be more tests done on humans to confirm this. Fasting contributes to cancer prevention and treatment potentiation through a process called differential stress sensitization (DSS).

This is a biological concept, primarily in cancer research, where certain interventions, like fasting or fasting-mimicking diets, make cancer cells uniquely vulnerable to stressors like chemotherapy, while protecting normal cells, by drastically altering nutrient levels (glucose, IGF-1, amino acids) that cancer cells heavily rely on, thus starving them and weakening their ability to cope with treatments.

Due to oncogenic mutations, many cancer cells are unable to adapt properly to low-nutrient conditions. Instead of slowing down, they continue to attempt growth, which leads to metabolic imbalance, increased oxidative stress, and heightened vulnerability to further treatment. (source)

Conclusion

Fasting is a important and undoubtedly helpful health practice that leads to a potentially life changing benefits to your body. Of course it cannot be overstated that too much of something, anything, can be harmful for you, the dose is the poison. If practised in a healthy and controlled manner you can reap the benefits of fasting whether your reason be weight-loss or general health improvement.

Much more studying and research is being carried out to validate the importance of fasting but it is without a doubt beneficial. Fasting is a promising area of cancer research, but it is not currently recommended as a standard treatment or standalone therapy for cancer outside of a clinical trial setting.