I fasted for 4 days!!!

Ok looked up "autophagy" and I"m not a doctor to understand what the hell they are saying. LOL Tried several sites.

From Wikipedia:

[QUOTE]Autophagy (or autophagocytosis) is the[B] basic catabolic mechanism that involves cell degradation of unnecessary or dysfunctional cellular components [/B]through the lysosomal machinery[1] (from the Greek words, auto "self" and phagein "to eat"). The breakdown of cellular components can ensure cellular survival during starvation by maintaining cellular energy levels.[1] Autophagy, if regulated, ensures the synthesis, degradation and recycling of cellular components.[1] During this process, targeted cytoplasmic constituents are isolated from the rest of the cell within the autophagosomes, which are then fused with lysosomes and degraded or recycled.[2] There are three different forms of autophagy that are commonly described, which include macroautophagy, microautophagy and chaperon-mediated autophagy.[3] In the context of disease, autophagy has been seen as an adaptive response to survival, whereas in other cases it appears to promote cell death and morbidity.[2]

[/QUOTE]

Kind of like cleaning house.

Yal as simple as my brain works, I understand it like this: in the absence of food/nutrients, the body will go looking for things to munch on, like cysts, tumors, damaged cells, etc. It will do a little internal housekeeping.

I saw that there was a fasting challenge a while back. I think I would be more interested in a PSMF challenge type of deal. I think fasting longer than a day or two may start to cause problems, especially in terms of using lean tissue. So a Protein-Sparing Modified Fast might be an interesting experiment that at least I might try some day.

[QUOTE=SJW2;1009499]I think I would be more interested in a PSMF challenge type of deal. [/QUOTE]

Not sure if this is what you are looking for

[url=http://perfecthealthdiet.com/2012/03/food-for-a-fast/]Food for a Fast | Perfect Health Diet[/url]

Ok looked up "autophagy" and I"m not a doctor to understand what the hell they are saying. LOL Tried several sites.

[QUOTE=SJW2;1009499]I saw that there was a fasting challenge a while back. I think I would be more interested in a PSMF challenge type of deal. I think fasting longer than a day or two may start to cause problems, especially in terms of using lean tissue. So a Protein-Sparing Modified Fast might be an interesting experiment that at least I might try some day.[/QUOTE]
Once you get past the sugar burning phase of a fast (which many Primal eaters won't have anyway), fasting is inherently protein/muscle sparing.

The reason is because your body will dip into its energy abundant fat stores first. Your body KNOWS what it needs and it needs energy. And again, it KNOWS that your fat is a much more efficient source of energy than your muscles. Unless you are extremely lean, then you will not be likely to enter into muscle catabolism because your body will prefer to use your fat stores first. On the other hand, if you are extremely lean, then maybe you should not fast much longer than 24-hours. But even the best of us aren't likely to be at that point where they have to worry for at least a few days. And most of us, could still afford to go longer.

[QUOTE=Drumroll;1009535]Once you get past the sugar burning phase of a fast (which many Primal eaters won't have anyway), fasting is inherently protein/muscle sparing.

The reason is because your body will dip into its energy abundant fat stores first. Your body KNOWS what it needs and it needs energy. And again, it KNOWS that your fat is a much more efficient source of energy than your muscles. Unless you are extremely lean, then you will not be likely to enter into muscle catabolism because your body will prefer to use your fat stores first. On the other hand, if you are extremely lean, then maybe you should not fast much longer than 24-hours. But even the best of us aren't likely to be at that point where they have to worry for at least a few days. And most of us, could still afford to go longer.[/QUOTE]

Actually yeah, you are probably right. The key variable is becoming keto-adapted I suppose.

[QUOTE=Paleobird;1008492]By "housekeeping" she is referring to autophagy. Do a google on that. Fasting is not only about weight loss.[/QUOTE]


Here is a good read from [URL="http://jdmoyer.com/2012/02/01/death-will-eat-itself/"]J.D. Moyer[/URL], he explains it in an easy manner.

You might want to poke around at [URL="http://www.leangains.com/2010/04/leangains-guide.html"]Martin Berkhan's[/URL] site...he writes quite a bit on IF

[QUOTE=SJW2;1009499]I saw that there was a fasting challenge a while back. I think I would be more interested in a PSMF challenge type of deal. I think fasting longer than a day or two may start to cause problems, especially in terms of using lean tissue. So a Protein-Sparing Modified Fast might be an interesting experiment that at least I might try some day.[/QUOTE]

PSMF is great for quick fat loss, if needed. But it can't work for housekeeping because the idea is to use up a small bit of protein. I really mean small! For example, what you would lose on a 10 day fast if done only one a year or less would be negligible compared to what you'd gain from lifting most weeks of the year. We're talking probably only 1/2 lb loss on a 10 day fast. To drop several lbs of fat and improve health? It'd be worth it!