Healthy Weight

Yes, I Promote Cannibalism

Believe it or not, I promote cannibalism.

In fact, I engage in cannibalism 2-3 times a week.

Of course, when I say cannibalism I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking about real cannibalism wherein people eat other people.

That’s not the kind of cannibalism I’m referring to.

I actually promote a different kind of cannibalism, called self-cannibalism.

And the reason I think everyone should get in on the action is because self-cannibalism can actually help extend your life, as well as help give your body a great deal of support as it fights off deadly bacteria, viruses, and gets rid of nasty toxins that may build up inside of it.

Why Everyone Should Think About Participating In Self Cannibalism

Alright, let me take a second and pull my tongue out of my cheek.

When I say self-cannibalism I’m referring to a cellular process called autophagy (ot-off-uh-gee).

Autophagy is when your body eats its own cells.

Now you may wonder if that’s actually a good thing, and it actually is. When your body engages in autophagy your cells manufacture membranes that prowl your body looking for dead, diseased, or worn-out cells.

Once they find these cells they take them apart and then use whatever part of the cell is still in good shape to repair themselves or as a basis for more energy.

Autophagy is essentially a natural, healing process where old parts of your body are recycled into something useable and beneficial for the body.

As Dr. Colin Champ, M.D., a board-certified radiation oncologist, assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and author of Misguided Medicine says “Think of it as our body’s innate recycling program…”

In essence it helps our bodies get rid of cells that could cause physical damage later in life.

3 Good Reasons You Should Get Your Body to Self-Cannibalize

Now that you understand what autophagy is, it’s time to understand how it might boost your health.

When your body reassembles these old cells several things happen.

1 – It May Prevent Cells From Mutating: Many times cells that eventually mutate and cause damage to your body do so because they’re damaged and begin to multiply without regulation.

These mutations can cause serious damage to your body as one out of control going on the fritz can begin to multiply and wreak havoc on the body.

Autophagy gives your body a headstart in the deconstruction process and can stop these cells from mutating out of control.

2 – It Helps To Slow the Aging Process: If you want to live a little longer and enjoy the quality of your life as you grow older, then anything you can do to slow the aging process helps.

Autophagy is one of the best ways to naturally slow the aging process. And that’s because old cells are vanquished and new cells are repaired, keeping them youthful, resilient and alive for longer.

As reported by Fight Aging:

“The researchers demonstrated that restoring youthful levels of autophagy in old satellite cell populations can restore them from senescence [death] and return their regenerative capabilities

… The paper … is one of the more compelling of recent arguments for putting more effort into treatments based on artificially increased levels of autophagy …

[M]any of the methods known to modestly slow aging in laboratory species are associated with increased levels of autophagy. It is a vital component in hormesis, wherein causing a little damage leads to a lasting increase in autophagy and a net gain. Stem cells spend much of their time in a state of quiescence, only springing into action when called upon.

This helps to preserve them for the long term. In older tissues with greater levels of molecular damage, ever more stem cells slip from quiescence into an irreversible senescent state. These senescent cells are no longer capable of generating new cells, and start to secrete all sorts of harmful signal molecules.”

3 – It May Help Improve Your Body’s Inflammatory Response: Inflammation gets a bad rap nowadays. In some ways that’s good and other ways that’s not so good.

What most people don’t realize is inflammation is your body’s natural way of dealing with injury. Things like localized swelling around a sprained ankle, bruising, and even soreness from exercise are all part of the inflammatory response.

Inflammation only becomes a problem when the body never has a chance to lower the inflammatory response.

When that happens a host of problems may arise. These include leaky gut, poor circulation, inhibited brain performance (no husbands, you can’t blame inflammation for your selective hearing) and more.

Research indicates autophagy might help modulate your body’s inflammatory response in a positive way.

Not only that, but by inducing autophagy you might also reduce how long your body remains inflamed.

Both have observed benefits and correlate strongly with better health.

Best Of All? Self-Cannibalism Is Very Easy To Induce

Fortunately for anyone wishing to induce autophagy it’s extremely easy.

There are 3 main methods for getting autophagy going.

  1. Exercise: Multiple animal studies show that vigorous exercise helps to induce autophagy. As your body breaks down tissue in exercise the rest of your body’s cells respond in kind and use the broken down cells in autophagic response.It’s unknown what kind of exercise works best, but suffice to say if the exercise you engage in makes you breath hard and makes your muscles sore the next day it’s likely the right kind.
  2. Intermittent Fasting: Intermittent fasting is all the rage in health-conscious circles and for good reason. Besides helping you lose weight and increase energy, it’s known to induce autophagy.Dr. Mercola writes:  “Fasting is another biological stressor that produces many beneficial results, including autophagy.In fact, some of the benefits associated with fasting — such as a reduced risk of diabetes and heart disease — can at least in part be attributed to this process [autophagy].

    While there are many different kinds of intermittent fasting schedules, if you’re insulin resistant, my personal recommendation is to fast every day by scheduling all of your eating within a window of approximately 8 hours or less. For example, you could restrict your eating to the hours of 11am and 7pm. This equates to 16 hours of daily fasting.

  3. Ketosis: Ketosis is the process by which your body switches from burning carbohydrates for energy to burning fat for energy.When you fast your body generally enters ketosis, but eating carbohydrates can put you back into a glycogen (blood sugar) burning state, so fasting does not necessarily always equal ketosis.According to Dr. Champ who I reference above, anytime you enter and stay in ketosis it’s like a cheat code for inducing autophagy.

    He says:

    “Ketogenesis is like an autophagy hack. You get a lot of the same metabolic changes and benefits of fasting without actually fasting … Between 60 and 70 percent of one’s overall calories should come from [healthy] fat … Protein makes up 20 to 30 percent of calories, while carbs are kept below 50 grams per day …  Similar benefits have been noted in people following a diet in which carbs didn’t exceed 30 percent of their overall calories.”

    If you’re interested in ketosis and the benefits associated with it please, watch for future emails where I talk about the ketox method.

    Taught here at the office the ketox method, teaches you all about how to eat a ketogenic diet (as well as giving you tips and tricks to stick with it for the long term) and detoxification protocols that help make ketogenic diets all that much more healthy.

Plus We’re Still Discovering More about Autophagy Benefits

The science on autophagy and all its benefits is still coming in.

What we know so far is it’s an essential component of cellular repair.

Now, as the research widens, we’ll begin to see just how well it can improve your life.

I’d recommend reading Dr. Mercola’s new book “Fat For Fuel”  if you want to learn more about how autophagy can improve your life.

Talk soon,

Dr. Wiggy
www.HealthAsItOughtToBe.com