Autophagy - How your body detoxifies and repairs itself

While there are many different ways to remove toxins from the body, from cleansing diets to drugs and the sauna, a biological process known as autophagy plays a key role.
The term autophagy literally means "self-eating" and refers to the process by which the body cleans itself of various contaminants such as toxins and digests dead or damaged parts of its cells.
As the Greatist explains it easily:
“Cells create membranes that trap dead, diseased, or worn out parts of cells; digest them, and then use the resulting energy to create new, healthy cell elements. "
Dr. Colin Champ, an irradiation oncologist and assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center explains it like this:
“Think of autophagy as an innate recycling program in our bodies. Autophagy makes us, in a way, efficient machines, getting rid of defective parts to stop cancer growth and prevent metabolic dysfunction such as obesity and diabetes. "
By activating the autophagy process in the body, it is possible to alleviate inflammation, slow down the aging process and optimize the biological functions of the body.

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Activating autophagy through exercise

Like other benefits of exercise, autophagy also occurs in response to stress. Indeed, exercise is one way to activate the autophagy process. As you probably know, exercise causes slight damage to muscles and tissues which the body then repairs, making it stronger.
Vigorous physical activity also helps flush toxins out of the body by sweating, and is helpful with almost any detox program. Many people even consider it as the basis of an effective detox program.
Dr. George Yu, who is involved in clinical trials to detoxify people after the Gulf War, recommends a combination of exercise, sauna, and niacin supplementation to eliminate toxins through the skin as quickly as possible.
Exercise is an important part of a program that also causes vasodilation and improves blood supply to tissues.

How much should you exercise to induce autophagy?

The amount of exercise necessary to induce autophagy in humans is still unknown, but vigorous exercise is thought to be more effective than mild exercise, which is logical in principle.
Subsequent studies have shown that the range of exercise where exercise is most beneficial for longevity is 150 to 450 minutes of moderate exercise per week, reducing the risk of premature death by 31% and 39%, respectively.
By devoting at least 30% of your training to high-intensity exercise, you also find that we can extend your life by about 13% compared to regular exercise at a steady, moderate pace.
By following these general guidelines, autophagy is probably also effective.

How To Stop Autophagy Quickly

One of the fastest ways to stop autophagy is to eat a lot of protein. This stimulates IGF-1 and mTOR which are potent inhibitors of autophagy.
Therefore, it is best to limit the amount of protein to about 40 to 70 grams a day, depending on your body weight. A specific formula is one gram of protein for every kilogram of lean body mass, or half a gram of protein for every pound of lean body mass.
Large amounts of protein can be found in meat, fish, eggs, dairy products, legumes, nuts and seeds. Some vegetables also contain significant amounts of protein - broccoli, for example. Forty grams of protein is not a large portion - it's the equivalent of one chicken breast weighing about 170 g.
To determine if you are consuming an excessive amount of protein, simply calculate your body's protein needs based on your weight and write down everything you eat for a few days. Then calculate the amount of protein consumed during the day from all meals consumed.
If you are currently consuming significantly more protein than recommended, try to limit your protein intake. The table below shows the protein content of various foods.

Importance of mitochondrial biogenesis

Healthy mitochondria are the foundation of health and disease prevention. Damage to the mitochondria can cause genetic mutations that can contribute to cancer. So, keeping your mitochondria healthy is a key part of preventing cancer. Autophagy is the process by which damaged mitochondria are removed, while biogenesis is the process by which healthy mitochondria are replicated.
Interestingly, physical activity plays a double role here, as it not only stimulates autophagy, but is also one of the strongest stimulants of mitochondrial biogenesis. It does this by boosting a signal in the body called AMPK, which in turn activates PGC-1 alpha.
When mitochondria - organelles present in nearly every ATP-producing cell - are stimulated to work harder, they begin to produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) that act as signaling molecules. And one of the functions they signal is to increase the production of mitochondria.
In fact, the key to disease prevention - and virtually eliminating the risk of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, many other diseases - and to slowing the aging process is to optimize mitochondrial function and increase mitochondrial numbers. Exercise provides both of these benefits.

To activate autophagy, change your diet to a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet

Nutritional ketogenesis is a third strategy that can help stimulate autophagy. To achieve this, you need to reduce the amount of carbohydrate in your diet and increase the amount of healthy fats and limit the amount of protein. According to Dr. Champ:
“Ketogenesis is, in a way, an autophagy trick. It provides the body with the same metabolic changes and benefits as fasting, but can be achieved without actually fasting ... 60 to 70% of your calories should come from healthy fats ... Protein makes up 20 to 30% of calories, and carbohydrates should be kept on less than 50 grams a day ... Similar benefits were noted in people on a diet where carbohydrates did not exceed 30% of calories consumed. "
Unfortunately, most people consume harmful fats, such as processed vegetable oils, which inevitably cause deterioration in health. Not only are they highly processed, they also contain an excessive amount of omega-6, and the excess of these fatty acids penetrates the inner mitochondrial membrane and makes the mitochondria very susceptible to oxidative damage and prematurely die.
Ideally, your omega-6 fat intake should be between 4 and 5% of your total daily calories. Replace omega-6 fats with healthier fats - such as natural, unprocessed fat found in real foods such as seeds, nuts, real butter, olives, avocados, or coconut oil.
It is also important to know which carbohydrates are meant by a "low carbohydrate" diet, as vegetables are also "carbohydrates". However, fiber-containing carbohydrates (i.e. vegetables) do not push the metabolism in the wrong direction - which causes empty carbohydrates (such as sugar and anything that turns into sugar: sweetened beverages, processed cereals, pasta, breads, cookies, etc.).
Equally important, fiber is not broken down like sugar, but travels down the digestive system, is consumed by bacteria in the gut, and converted into short-chain fats that improve health.
If we analyze the data on the processed food packaging, we see the total carbohydrate there, which is not the information we want to get. To calculate the amount of unsafe carbohydrates without fiber, subtract the amount of fiber from the total carbohydrate in the product. Remember that we need carbohydrates, but most of them should come from vegetables that contain high amounts of fiber.