How Fasting Helps You Live A Longer, Healthier Life – Antiaging.

Aging is a disease (not literally) that you will inevitably get.

All of us are gradually aging – some age prematurely.

Many who come to this realization feel terrible and helpless.

They wish there was some magic pill that can put a halt to their aging or better yet reverse it.

People have different reasons as to why they hate and fear aging.

Most dread it because of the wrinkles or the dry and sagging skin that come with aging.

Others because of the memory loss/forgetfulness.

Some detest it because of the gray hair, stooped posture, impaired vision, and other non-desirable manifestations.

Despite extensive research, aging partly remains a mystery – and there is no cure for it.

The good news is, researchers, have a clue about how aging occurs.

This knowledge of how aging occurs has helped them point out fasting as one of the natural practices that could potentially slow and improve the signs of aging.

So before I go ahead and enlighten you on how fasting can slow aging, allow me to shed some light on how aging occurs.

Remember, as it is currently, aging is an inevitable process! Fasting and other anti-aging practices only make it graceful.

Here’s How Aging Occurs.

There are different theories as to why aging occurs but all of them agree on one basic concept – that aging is a result of oxidative stress plus wear and tear that damages our cells(tissues) over the years³.

These damaged and worn-out cells are responsible for the signs of aging.

Oxidative Stress.

Oxidative stress occurs when you have an elevated number of free radicals in your body.

Free radicals are atoms in the molecular level of your body that have lost an electron and are unstable⁴.

Since these free radicals are unstable, they are very reactive and can cause extensive damage to your DNA, cell membranes, proteins, and other basic but vital structures⁵.

As you can already tell, the damage to these structures can accelerate aging.

Free radicals are usually formed in the body when we take processed meats and foods with a high glycemic index.

They can also be derived from normal body processes or from exposure to pollutants like smoke.

The normal way the body protects itself from the harmful effects of free radicals is by stabilizing the free radicals using antioxidants.

Antioxidants.

Antioxidants are molecules that can donate electrons to free radicals to make them stable, thereby preventing damage to the DNA and the other structures in your body.

How Fasting Slows Down Aging.

Now you know that aging occurs as a result of damage to cellular components by free radicals.

You also know where our bodies derive free radicals from and that free radicals can be made harmless by antioxidants.

With basic logic, you should have figured that the best way to slow down aging is by:

1. Breaking down and recycling cells that are already damaged by free radicals.
2. Getting enough antioxidants.

What makes fasting a favorite for many is the fact that it can do both; it can eliminate damaged cells and at the same time it can help our bodies get antioxidants.

How fasting breaks down and eliminates old worn-out body cells.

Fasting breaks down old and damaged cells through a process known as Autophagy.

Autophagy is a natural cleansing process that occurs when your cells are stressed and deprived of nutrients⁶ – when you fast.

The word autophagy is derived from auto, meaning self, and phagy, which means eating – the body eating up it’s own old, damaged, and worn-out cells.

This process starts slowly when you are 24 hours into fasting and peaks at about 48 hours.

During Autophagy, your body breaks down and recycles old worn-out cells, this leaves you with new/young and efficient cells.

How fasting acts as an antioxidant.

Exogenous antioxidants can be found in fruits, nuts, grains, vegetables, some meats, poultry, and fish.

But when you are fasting, as this study demonstrated, your body increases the production of endogenous antioxidants.

These endogenous antioxidants can also stabilize the free radicals which in turn prevents damage to your DNA, proteins, and other vital structural components.

Free radicals cause more than just aging, they take part in the development of other diseases including atherosclerosis, cancer, inflammatory joint disease, asthma, diabetes, senile dementia, and degenerative eye disease⁷ – Fasting does not only help in aging gracefully, it makes you generally healthy.

What you should remember!

1. There’s no magic pill to reverse aging.
2. Aging probably occurs as a result of oxidative stress which causes wear, tear, and damage to your DNA and other cellular components.
3. To slow down aging you need to replace old cells damaged by free radicals with new and efficient cells, you also should stabilize free radicals using antioxidants.
4. To replace old damaged cells through autophagy, you need to fast for more than 24 hours – since it’s at the 24 hour mark that autophagy kicks in.
5. Fasting increases the production of endogenous antioxidants, these antioxidants tame free radicals which would other wise damage and wear out your body cells making you look old.

Fasting has numerous benefits, it goes beyond aging, if you have never considered it, you should.

Many of the health conditions we battle today are a result of our current eating patterns.

Occasional fasts can easily prevent them.