Fasting has been shown in numerous studies to impart restorative and regenerative benefits, and periods of temporary starvation have a powerful impact on lifespan/life extension, with that said, fasting has its (obvious) limitations, the fasted state cannot be prolonged forever and as such its advantages, while abundant, are limited to how long one can survive and still remain vital without food.
“Cellular damage due to stress is an important factor in aging processes. It is, thus, amazing that starving, which is a stress factor per se, decelerates (the) aging processes and extends the lifespan of organisms.”
READ: Why Starving Cells Prolongs Life
However, a unique dietary approach that mimics fasting without undergoing periods of starvation permits us to thrive indefinitely on a nutritional protocol that eliminates hunger, fights aging and disease, and enables us to leverage the primal biochemistry that powered our rise as the planet’s dominant species — a vigorous metabolism that drove the most robust stage of human evolution, a period where we developed the physical endurance necessary to hunt over extremely long distances and the prodigious brain matter that made possible our communication/language, planning, and problem-solving abilities … skills that would allow us to master, and ultimately shape, our world.
A fasting mimicking diet (FMD), more commonly known as a very low carbohydrate, ketogenic diet (VLCKD), where fat is the key macronutrient (70-90%), protein is minimal (or moderate at most) and carbohydrates are all but eliminated, imparts the value of autophagy, where the damaged components of a cell are eliminated, as well as the reduction in size of overgrown organ systems and the generation of fresh stem cells (which can produce new immune-system cells).
“In mice, four days of a diet that mimics fasting (FMD), developed to minimize the burden of PF (prolonged fasting), decreased the size of multiple organs/systems; an effect followed upon re-feeding by an elevated number of progenitor and stem cells and regeneration. Bi-monthly FMD cycles started at middle age extended longevity, lowered visceral fat, reduced cancer incidence and skin lesions, rejuvenated the immune system, and retarded bone mineral density loss.”
However, even though the benefits are legion, converting your metabolism to leverage a fasting mimicking protocol, to run on ketones and not glucose, over the medium to long-term, is a difficult process that takes commitment, experimentation and time.
Moreover, short-circuiting (let alone eliminating) a hardcore addiction to refined carbohydrates and sugar is harder than kicking heroin for many people.
Yet, although the transition can be tough, the basics of nutritionally induced ketosis and eating in a ketogenic defined manner is refreshingly simple … high fat (as much as 90% of all caloric intake), very low carbohydrates (between 25 – 50 grams per day, I personally go lower than this by restricting carb intake to mostly vegetables) and moderate to low protein. And although you get to eat lots of fresh, nutritionally dense, whole foods like meat, eggs, healthy oils, butter, fibrous vegetables and nuts, the idea of giving up ice-cream, bread, pasta and beer for any length of time is a deal breaker for most.
Furthermore, the false but widespread/mainstream belief that fat is unhealthy causes many to avoid committing themselves to success for fear of eating contrary to the outdated recommendations of organisations such as the AHA (American Heart Association), a body funded completely by food manufacturers with a vested interest in keeping the high carbohydrate, low-fat myth alive.
For example, the AHA charges food manufacturers up to $7,500 for their “heart healthy” seal of approval, a vast money-maker for the association given that there are currently over 800 branded foods approved under the AHA’s “Heart Check” certification program which, laughably, includes everything from tacos, mashed potatoes, bread, sweet and glazed meats, highly processed cold cuts and sugary cereals among its list of “heart approved” foods.
Irrespective of this absurdity, the AHA continues to cling to old tropes on healthy nutritional choices, whether due to an insatiable drive for funding from “Big Food” or the lack of will to admit the misleading science that has driven food policy for 50 years (that they helped promulgate) is flat-out wrong, the organization is stuck in the past and unable to evolve into a modern-day thought leader at the forefront of unbiased nutritional science.
“… the American Heart Association (AHA), in its most recent dietary guidelines, held fast to the idea that we must all eat low-fat diets for optimal heart health. It’s a stance that—at the very best—is controversial, and at worst is dead wrong. As a practicing cardiologist for more than three decades, I agree with the latter—it’s dead wrong.” – Dr. Barbara H. Roberts
READ: The Heart Association’s Junk Science Diet
If centuries of research shows the deleterious effects (and overall decline in health) of populations wrought by refined carbohydrates, and, furthermore, how eliminating such sweeteners, their derivatives and cereal grains from our diets has reversed the effects of diseases as wide-ranging as Diabetes to Epilepsy, then how do such clearly detrimental dietary options, recommendations and approaches continue to make their way into mainstream, establishment driven policy and promotion?
Well, who’s driving the narrative?
“We believe that one reason for the AHA’s resistance to this evidence is its significant, longstanding reliance on funding from interested industries, such as the vegetable-oil manufacturer Procter & Gamble, original maker of Crisco Oil, which virtually launched the AHA as a nationwide powerhouse in 1948.[5]Just recently, Bayer, the owner of LibertyLink soybeans, pledged up to $500,000 to the AHA, no doubt encouraged by the group’s continued support of soybean oil, which is by far the dominant type of oil consumed in America today. It is striking that the authors of the three review papers supporting the AHA’s stance on vegetable oils all report receiving funding from one or more vegetable-oil companies.” – Nina Teicholz; Eric Thorn, MD
READ: Saturated Fats and CVD: AHA Convicts, We Say Acquit
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