Intermittent Fasting Boosts The Immune System

One of the most fascinating thing about the way little kids eat is that they eat when they're hungry and stop when they're full. Before they are fully functioning social creatures, kids are still guided by their instinctive bodily needs. Every parent I know will tell me how their child goes through phases of barely touching their food and then suddenly eating everything in sight. 

 Eating when your body doesn't really need or want food is a bad thing. When you are not hungry, your digestive system is giving you the red light on anything else passing your lips. It has enough to do. It might still be working on your previous meal, it might be working with your immune system to battle a cold or it might be in stressed out fight or flight mode. 

Your gut knows what you need! Now all we need to do is listen to it. Have you ever heard the saying that your gut is your second brain? I think this is right on. While our brains can tell us what we want, our gut is constantly trying to tell us what we need. 
Stomach not rumbling with hunger? Don't eat! There is no need to force it upon yourself. The 4 year old you certainly wouldn't.

Now when I talk about fasting, I'm talking about the kind that emulates the natural habits of kids- who are as in tuned with their natural needs more than adults. That means a fast lasting for hours or days, not weeks.

A new study from the June 5th edition of Cell Stem Cell found that intermittent fasting boosted the immune system by inducing "immune system regeneration, shifting stem cells from a dormant state to a state of self-renewal". See article HERE.

This could possibly explain why we lose our appetites when we're sick. Our bodies are trying to push us into a fast in order to revamp the disease fighting leukocytes that are suddenly needed in overdrive. 

The subjects in this study fasted for two to four days for periods of 6 months. 

Another study found that for chemo patients, 3 days was the magic number. In a small phase 1 trial, patients who fasted for 72 hours prior to receiving chemo had higher overall white cell counts after their first dose.  Read this fascinating article HERE.

The explanation for how fasting "weakens cancer" and effects the immune system, in a nutshell, is as such:

"During each cycle of fasting, this depletion of white blood cells induces changes that trigger stem cell-based regeneration of new immune system cells. In particular, prolonged fasting reduced the enzyme PKA, an effect previously discovered by the Longo team to extend longevity in simple organisms and which has been linked in other research to the regulation of stem cell self-renewal and pluripotency — that is, the potential for one cell to develop into many different cell types. Prolonged fasting also lowered levels of IGF-1, a growth-factor hormone that Longo and others have linked to aging, tumor progression and cancer risk."

 Amazing stuff! Kids get sick a lot and are constantly fighting off pathogens to which they have not yet developed antibodies. Perhaps this sheds some light on why their eating habits are so inconsistent?

The moral here is this: don't worry about your kid who doesn't want dinner for the fourth night in a row. His or her gut knows exactly what it's doing. In fact, take a tip from it. Stop listening to your brain, which is listening to that Arby's commercial, and have a heart to heart with your gut. Are you really hungry? Maybe you're just thirsty.  Try an intermittent fast to reset your gut brain

 

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There are many ways to fast. You can start with a full day, or knock two days out per week. If this seems impossible, try a 16-8 fast, where you don't eat for 16 hours of the day and eat as you desire for 8. Don't stuff yourself, just eat until you're full. If you know any really healthy seniors, I'd be willing to bet this is how they naturally eat. It's known as fasting to those of us who have to eat 6 meals a day PLUS dessert, but in reality it is a very common way of eating.

Before starting any kind of fasting plan, check with your doctor.

Below is an infographic from Dr. Mercola to give you an idea of how to properly do a 16-8 fast. If it's challenging at first, perhaps try fasting only one or two days a week. On days when I am not fasting, I still try to have an easy to digest breakfast like fruit or a smoothie.