Mitochondria Makeover
Mitochondria Under Attack
I recently had my carpets replaced, and it reminded me of the significant impact toxins have on our health. In the days following the installation of the new carpets, I experienced a range of symptoms including headaches, low energy, sinus congestion, sore throat, and facial flushing.
These were strikingly similar to the symptoms I faced years ago in anatomy class during naturopathic school. Despite my passion for learning and teaching anatomy, two years of exposure to formaldehyde in the lab overwhelmed my body's natural detoxification systems.
VOCs (volatile organic compounds) like formaldehyde are known to irritate the eyes, nose, throat, and lungs, and long-term exposure has even been linked to cancer. My recent reaction to new carpets highlighted how diet, lifestyle, and environment constantly influence our cells, especially the mitochondria.
Often referred to as "cellular powerplants," mitochondria are the components of your cells responsible for converting nutrients into usable energy. This energy powers essential functions in your heart, lungs, muscles, and brain, and is present in nearly every cell in the body.
Unsurprisingly, when mitochondrial function is low, it can significantly impact energy levels immediately and over time accelerate signs of aging, and even contribute to neurological conditions such as Alzheimer's disease
Ever wished you had your children's energy levels?
Children have highly efficient mitochondria, more mitochondria per cell, and the ability to grow and repair mitochondria quickly, which gives them boundless energy. But as we get older, the efficiency and number of mitochondria naturally decline.
Certain lifestyle behaviours also significantly slow down mitochondrial function. The process of making energy in mitochondria naturally produces reactive oxygen species (ROS). And even higher production of ROS, due to factors like glucose issues and toxic exposure, can damage mitochondrial DNA and tissue.
Inadequate intake of essential nutrients like vitamins and minerals further slows down energy production too. To make matters worse, a sedentary lifestyle and glucose/insulin issues hinder the growth of new, super-efficient mitochondria.
Over time, as mitochondria are damaged and the growth of new mitochondria slows, energy production becomes chronically low, making us feel older, sluggish, and tired.
As adults, can you replace old, damaged mitochondria with young, super-efficient ones?
Can you increase physical & mental energy, enhance recovery & slow down symptoms of aging?
Yes!
First, cells need to detect a need for more energy. Just as a city needs to identify the need for more electricity before building additional power plants, cells must recognize an increased energy demand. This “signal” activates specific genes to break down old mitochondria and produce new ones, a natural cellular "housekeeping" process called autophagy (or mitophagy when referring specifically to mitochondria). With adequate proteins and enzymes, autophagy ultimately boosts the cell’s ability to generate energy.
In other words, with the right signals, you can renew your cells so they function like younger ones!
This means you’ll feel more energetic, experience better exercise performance and recovery, enjoy improved skin quality, and benefit from enhanced tissue repair.
So, how do you “signal” your cells to activate autophagy and function like younger cells?
One of the most powerful triggers for boosting mitochondria function is fasting.
Fasting has been practiced for thousands of years for religious, ethical & health reasons & has been observed across species from humans & animals to cellular organisms.
Studies show that fasting signals to the cell that there’s an increased demand for energy. This triggers changes in several metabolic pathways and promotes cellular “cleanup”, lower inflammation, lower oxidative stress, lower cell proliferation (lower cancer risk) and increases mitochondrial function. These processes then lead to lower insulin, leptin, body fat, blood pressure and increased longevity!
Fasting For Cellular Renewal
Autophagy is one of the most exciting benefits of fasting. But autophagy ramps up the longer you spend in ketosis. Therefore longer, multi-day fasts (including Fasting Mimicking Diet) provides the most autophagy benefits.
Improvements in energy levels is possible with most fasting strategies, but if you're aiming to boost autophagy and mitophagy to renew your cells, 3-7 day fasts are the most effective. For autophagy activation, cells need a signal that more energy is needed, which high insulin levels and other "feeding" signals suppress. To lower these signals and activate autophagy, a longer period of reduced protein and carbohydrate intake is necessary. This is why extended fasts are particularly beneficial. But prolonged fasting comes with more risk and can be difficult to complete. Fasting for multiple days can seem daunting. How can you do this comfortably and safely, amidst family, work, and social obligations? How can you get the metabolic and cellular autophagy benefits while nourishing the body and maintaining lean body mass?
Enter the Fasting Mimicking Diet (FMD)
In addition to the metabolic benefits of intermittent fasting, FMD allows you to also reap the autophagy and mitophagy of a multi-day fast - while still eating every day! FMD recipes are designed with targeted macro and micronutrients that allows the body to enter a fasting state while getting the nutrients it needs to maintain muscle health and energy levels. It's also only a 5-day commitment, so it doesn't require significant dietary changes for the rest of the month.
The 5-Day Prolon FMD kit picture here is a research-backed FMD kit containing all the food you need for 5 days to complete an FMD cycle. It’s a super convenient (and tasty) way to get the autophagy/mitophagy benefits without all the planning of FMD recipes.
In addition, after the 5 days, especially after the 2nd or 3rd cycle, many people find they have more energy and fewer cravings, making it easier to stick to their dietary goals beyond the fast.
Easier to do & strongly activates autophagy?! We like this.
No matter what type of fasting you're doing, it's important to be prepared and informed on safe and effective ways to approach it.
If you've been curious about fasting and/or FMD, now is the perfect time to learn more!
To learn more join us in our private group
We use cookies to improve your experience and to help us understand how you use our site. Please refer to our cookie notice and privacy policy for more information regarding cookies and other third-party tracking that may be enabled.
© 2021 Health Powered Life
