Boost autophagy and enjoy the benefits of quick weight loss, brighter skin and boundless energy!
Here at Nutrilife we have always approached health and weight loss from a scientific perspective and the process of autophagy has always played a big part in how we advise our clients’ on lifestyle choices, diet and even what time they should eat.
The science part
In order to help our bodies work at an optimum level, we first need to understand them but we don’t need to spend years and years in a laboratory because Nobel Prize Winner Yoshinori Ohsumi has done this for us and his findings have been completely mind blowing.
After looking at our cells and cells within cells, Yoshinori was able to explore the way our bodies naturally recycle cells, clearing out the bad stuff and keeping us healthy from within. Our cells are naturally good at keeping a clean house. Any bad or damaged molecules are thrown out because if they’re not, they become toxic, the cells will eventually die and we will get ill.
The way the cells get rid of the bad or worn out molecules, is to ‘eat them’ and then recycle them into something else. Something good, that our bodies actually need. This is the process of Autophagy and in fact the word ‘Autophagy’ is Greek for ‘Self Eating’. Cells are ‘degraded’ and ‘recycled’.
Cells ‘degrading’ isn’t a bad thing though. It’s important and is happening all around us.
The way that trees are luscious and green in the summer and then yellow and orange in the autumn is the exact same process. The tree’s cells are degrading as chlorophyll dies as it is fasted of sunlight during the winter and can no longer make glucose. The leaves are naturally switched to burning stored energy reserves, much the same way that we burn our fat cells when glycogen is depleted.
Yoshinori found this process of autophagy can be given a beneficial boost. He found that actively starving a cell makes that cell adapt quickly and switches up the cleansing and rebuilding process.
So by fasting our cells of food for certain periods, we are optimising the cleansing process, keeping us in optimum health for longer.
Autophagy enables us to lose weight, stay looking younger, prevents disease and boosts our bodies natural ability to function.
So what can you do to boost autophagy and enjoy the benefits of quick weight loss, brighter skin and more energy?
1] Introduce Intermittent Fasting
Autophagy is a response to stress. Which means that if we want to boost the process of autophagy and clean out our systems, we need to cause a little stress. We do this simply by fasting, and by that I mean, eating all your meals in an 8 hour window and outside of this window, just drinking water.
I always get my clients to eat their last meal at 7pm and then tell them not to eat again until 11am the next day when they can enjoy a big brunch.
This will deplete your liver glycogen storage to kick start mild ketosis, which switches your body to a fat-burning mode and boosts weight loss.
It is widely known that the occasional fast can have remarkable effects on our health, with many studies showing that it can lower the risk of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
So why not try it!
In my 9 day ‘FEAST & FAST’ Autophagy plan, I get my clients to fast for 16 hours, 3 times a week during the program, to promote quick weight loss, brighter skin and boundless energy.
2] Add high intensity exercise to your weekly workouts
Remember I told you that autophagy is a response to stress?
Well a 30 minute HIT session produces just enough stress to promote autophagy while at the same time building up your muscle.
It has been shown that the process of autophagy, where the body is eating it’s own cells and recycling the energy to make new ones (all in a good way!), is given a boost after 30 minutes of high intensity exercise.
I always advise my clients to do four, 30 minute sessions of exercise each week, including 2 sessions of high intensity training and 2 sessions of weight bearing resistance training because this promotes autophagy just perfectly, giving remarkable results.
3] Eat more fat!
Eating more fat with every meal will bring your diet in line with the Keto plan which is great for promoting autophagy. In fact, Fat must be the main macro on your plate. I advise eating a lot more fat, in the form of avocados, fatty fish, butter, coconut oil and nuts.
Consuming more fats with every meal will prevent insulin response, which leads to fat storage and weight gain. It’s controlling your blood sugar levels that’s really going to kick start your weight loss.
So let’s say goodbye to sugar and hello to good healthy fat!
4] Increase protein
During my 9 day FEAST & FAST Autophagy plan, I advise my clients to up their protein levels on those days when they are not fasting.
Since our bodies don’t naturally produce all the amino acids we need to make protein, eating adequate amounts of protein is essential to preserve our muscle mass when fasting. It helps after exercise on non-fasting days to support muscle adaptation to exercise, as increasing muscle mass boosts our metabolism for FAST weight loss.
So, my simple advice is to add more protein to your diet on those days when you’re not skipping breakfast (intermittent fasting). This will result in keeping up the momentum of weight loss.
How will I feel if I follow an Autophagy activating plan?
Not only will you achieve effortless weight loss, but you’ll feel amazing too!
Autophagy activates hormone signalling pathways to stop you feeling hungry all the time and helps you clear your brain fog and make you feel super focussed too. You’ll have an amazing amount of energy in the day and sleep like a baby at night.
Not only will your face show visible signs of glowing health, you’ll have less wrinkles and generally feel younger again. Autophagy will literally slow down your ageing process. More importantly, it will reduce inflammation in the body to prevent disease.