How to use fasting to help rid your body of toxins
Here’s how to ‘declutter’ your body on a cellular level through fasting.
from time to time, we all need to do a spring clean at home: weed out the clutter piling up in our wardrobes, finally take the recycling to the depot and replace that cabinet door that’s been hanging off its hinges since 2008. Well, your body does the same thing: it cleans out the dead cells, keeps the level of sick and old ones low and makes space for the creation of new, healthy cells. This process is called autophagy, and once you understand exactly how it works, a whole new world of health will open up to you – one in which you can lower the risk of diseases such as cancer and Parkinson’s. Nutritional scientist and founder of the Lifescience Clinic, Dr Charlotte Prout-Jones, told us more.
WHAT IS AUTOPHAGY?
The word was originally coined in 1963 by Belgian biochemist Christian de Duve, but it’s only recently that we’ve really come to understand the full scope of the process, thanks to the work of Japanese biologist Yoshinori Ohsumi, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2016 for his research and discoveries on its mechanisms. Even so, there are some things we still don’t understand about it.
The word ‘autophagy’ comes from the Greek word ‘auto’, which means ‘self’, and ‘phagy’, meaning ‘to eat’. So… ‘eat oneself’. Now, stay with us: we’re not advocating cannibalism – it’s more on a cellular level. ‘Autophagy is yet another process that takes place in this extremely intelligent body of ours,’ says Dr Prout-Jones. ‘It assists with healing, detoxification and rejuvenation by removing (or gobbling up, as I like to say) sick and old cells.’ It’s like the body’s own KonMari method – but instead of getting rid of the things that don’t spark joy any longer, it burns the sick and old cells, which are then broken down into proteins and absorbed by the body, giving you more space to create healthy new cells.
WHY IS AUTOPHAGY IMPORTANT?
You’re going through autophagy right now. ‘It’s constantly happening all over your body, but it works better in some bodies than others,’ says Dr ProutJones. Like most of your body’s inner workings, autophagy is influenced by your diet, lifestyle, toxic build-up and weight.
Problems start to arise when processes like autophagy slow down: dead cells build up, we become more toxic and our organs and tissues become clogged up. Which, as you can probably guess, is a bad thing. ‘Autophagy is essential to keep the body healthy,’ says Dr ProutJones. ‘An accumulation of too many dead cells will leave insufficient room for growth and the formation of healthy cells.’ Too many dead cells can also lead to illnesses. Studies have shown that autophagy could help fight infectious diseases, and that it bolsters the immune system. A shortage of new cells has even been associated with mental illnesses such as depression and schizophrenia.
What most scientists are interested in is how the process affects cancer, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Because when autophagy isn’t taking place
Dead cells build up, we become more toxic and our organs and tissues become clogged up. Which, as you can probably guess, is a bad thing.
frequently enough, your body starts collecting old protein, specifically the type linked to these diseases. The theory is that by increasing autophagy, your body could clear the protein from your brain and prevent illness.
It’s important to note that these studies are still in their infancy and that, especially in cancer patients, the opposite could also be true. Autophagy could go either way: it could be a tumour suppressor – or promote the growth of tumours.
FASTING AND AUTOPHAGY
The pharmaceutical industry is working on a drug that will stimulate autophagy, and some swear that certain supplements help the process along. But to date the only proven way to increase autophagy is by fasting.
‘Fasting initiates a massive elimination process of the builtup toxic debris; this allows autophagy to happen faster and much more efficiently,’ says Dr Prout-Jones. She says the longer you fast, the more healing and ‘house cleaning’ can take place in the body. ‘Strictly speaking, deep healing starts to take place only from day three of water fasting (when you consume nothing but water), which is when the digestive system has shut down and no energy is directed at the huge process of digestion and metabolism.’ This means that all energy is now channelled into healing and cleaning out.
‘Under the right conditions, longer monitored fasts will see diseased areas of organs, inflammation and even polyps “eaten” away, as well as stubborn fat, since that’s where toxins are often stored,’ says Dr ProutJones. Healing takes place only with the arrival of healthy cells, which bring oxygen and nutrients essential for health. ‘Hence that radiant and rejuvenated look we see in people after a longer monitored fast.’
Dr Prout-Jones also recommends a longer period of fasting, such as a 12-day water fast, rather than intermittent fasting (IF) as it allows the body to complete the autophagy process – the stop-start of IF doesn’t get the job done quite as well. ‘Some accumulations and growths can take a few days to break up, so by extending the fast, your body continues to heal, and this can’t really happen with IF.’
If you choose the IF route, it’s worth knowing that your liver glycogen needs to be low to kickstart the autophagy process, and this can happen only after 14 to 16 hours of fasting (but it’s more likely to happen after 24 hours). Dr Prout-Jones recommends doing this just once a week.
Although people do see results with IF, far too many make the wrong food choices when they break their fast. ‘That way, you undo a lot of good that has been achieved and can actually cause new problems by immediately loading up on toxic foods again, creating the same problems.’
As we get older, the process of autophagy slows down, so it’s important to fast regularly to speed it up, Dr Prout-Jones explains.
However, she cautions that longer fasts shouldn’t be done more than twice a year, and should always be monitored by a professional.