On this post I will talk about how I activated autophagy to boost my internal healing.
As a woman I vary my lifestyle depending on where I am at in my cykel. In the follicle phase I am stronger and more resilient to stress. This is the perfect period to implement fasting. This cycle I decided to attempt to activate autophagy for roughly two and a half days to boost my internal healing. And I want to show you how I did it and how I knew that autophagy actually occurred.

What is Autophagy?

Autophagy is a natural process that occurs as your body clears out and replaces damaged cell parts with new ones. It has been linked to a long list of potential health benefits. For example, some research suggests that it could limit the development of conditions like cancer, type 2 diabetes, and Alzheimer’s disease.

How can you activate autophagy?

• Autophagy is a process that the body activates when mTOR is not present. This nutrient sensor is active when we are eating, especially protein. The best way to activate this mechanism is in other words to fast.

• Another way to activate autophagy is to keep protein low, preferably under 20g per day and opt for healthy fats and minimize carbs. A high fat diet with 80 – 90% of your calories coming from fats will produce ketones as you strongly reduce carbs. This is because that the body will switch fuel and start using fat instead of sugar. The energy from fat is called ketones. Maybe you have heard of the keto diet? That is what this stems from, that you eat in a way that will start to produce ketones.

• Finally exercise, especially high intensity interval training (HIIT), also has the ability to activate autophagy.

So what did I do?     

Well I stacked two of these different ways of activating autophagy on top of each other: fasting and a high fat diet.

Day one

Fasting window

Day one I did a 17-hour fast, broke my fast with ghee and coconut oil in hot tea.

Biomarkers

Morning blood sugar: 4,6

Blood sugar before breaking my fast: 4,2

The fact that my sugar is lower after 17 hours is a sign that I am depleting myself of glucose in muscles and the liver.

Eating window

About an hour later I had my first proper meal of the day. After this meal I had another two meals within a five-hour long window. Also I included a walk-jog during this time frame – no high intensity but I got some movement and some daylight.

Meal one

Organic bacon, avocado, olives, straw berries, brazil-nuts, steamed broccoli, and brussels sprouts and finished it all with some dark chocolate with high cacao content.

Meal two

Fat yoghurt, raspberries, a little manuka honey (dietary fructose does not increase insulin), little oats, flax seeds and cacao sprinkled on top and finished it all with some dark chocolate with high cacao content.

Meal three

Finished my eating window with a home made shake made of unsweetened almond milk, coconut cream and raw cacao.

Total macros of my eating

Fats: 81%

Protein: 8%

Carbs: 11%

Day two

Fasting window

I did a 17-hour fast, broke my fast with ghee and coconut oil in hot tea.

Biomarkers

Morning blood sugar: 4,7

Blood sugar before breaking my fast: 3,4

Blood ketones: 0,6

GKI index: 5,7

The fact that my sugar is lower after 17 hours and that I also see blood ketones in my blood stream is a clear sign that autophagy is active. My muscles and liver have been depleted of glucose and my liver is switching fuel source from sugar to fats. My GKI index sits on 5.7 which is a moderate level of ketosis. To read more about the GKI index please go hit.. To read about the benefits of measuring health markers you can go hit..

Eating window

Before I started my eating window I went for another walk-jog for about an hour, once again no high intensity but I felt surprisingly strong. After this I had my first proper meal of the day and within three hours, I had my second and last meal of the day.

Meal one

Egg yolks, avocado, olives, brazil-nuts, broccoli and brussels sprouts with coconut oil, nori-snacks and finished it all with some dark chocolate with high cacao content.

Meal two

Homemade burger patties, cucumber, onions and finished it all with some dark chocolate with high cacao content.

Total macros of my eating

Fats: 80%

Protein: 15%

Carbs: 5%.

Day two and a half

Fasting window

I stretched my fasting this day and did a 20-hour fast and broke it with some bone-broth.

Biomarkers

Morning blood sugar: 3,7

Blood sugar before breaking my fast: 3,1

Blood ketones: 1,8

GKI index: 1,7

I continue to keep low blood sugar and insulin levels activating autophagy. After 20 hours I measured a high blood ketone reading of 1.8 and an awesome GKI index of 1.7! To come this deep into a fat burning state after only 2.5 days is something I am very proud of!

It proves a few things to me:

• I have improved my metabolic flexibility
• My liver is working as it should, it is not impaired with toxic waste or anything else that can inhibit its function such as a fatty liver for example.
• It shows that my stress levels are not too high. High cortisol levels will increase your blood sugar (and with that also insulin) and this has negative effects on fat burning.

To read more about the GKI index please go hit.. To read about the benefits of measuring health markers you can go hit..