Weight: Didn't weigh today
Exercise: No exercise
96 hrs into fast which will end at 120 hrs. I still feel great and energetic. Autophagy peaks out around 72 hours and begins to decline. Stem cell production peaks after 96 hrs.
Autophagy: The body’s way of cleaning out damaged cells, in order to regenerate newer, healthier cells.
“Auto” means self and “phagy” means eat. So the literal meaning of autophagy is “self-eating.”
It’s also referred to as “self-devouring.” While that may sound like something you never want to happen to your body, it’s actually beneficial to your overall health.
This is because autophagy is an evolutionary self-preservation mechanism through which the body can remove the dysfunctional cells and recycle parts of them toward cellular repair and cleaning, according to board-certified cardiologist, Dr. Luiza Petre.
Petre explains that the purpose of autophagy is to remove debris and self-regulate back to optimal smooth function.
“It is recycling and cleaning at the same time, just like hitting a reset button to your body. Plus, it promotes survival and adaptation as a response to various stressors and toxins accumulated in our cells,” she adds.
At the cellular level, Petre says the benefits of autophagy include:
- removing toxic proteins from the cells that are attributed to neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease
- recycling residual proteins
- providing energy and building blocks for cells that could still benefit from repair
- on a larger scale, it prompts regeneration and healthy cells
