The light of the world will illuminate within you when you fast and purify yourself. ~Mahatma Gandhi

Let’s just get straight to it. We all want to look 25 and fit forever. So how do we do that? Is there in fact a way to slow down the process of aging and maintaining a healthy body in our 60s? In this article I will give you the tips and tricks of newfound research that is indeed showing us that it’s possible to maintain a healthy body and mind  throughout your life. 

First things first, what is intermittent fasting? 

Intermittent fasting is a cycle of periods in which you do not allow anything into your body with any caloric significance. This means saying goodbye to sugar or milk in your tea,  goodbye to your bone-dry, non-fat, 2 pumps of vanilla latte, and hello to americanos, tea with no additives, and zero calorie beverages. 

Now I know you’re wondering why on earth would anybody go through long periods of time without consuming any food. 

“Breakfast is the most important meal of the day,” 

“You should eat every two hours,”

“If you don’t eat your body will go into starvation mode and store fat,” 

and so on and so forth. However, research has found that to be untrue. Letting your body enter what we call a ‘starvation mode’ is actually extremely beneficial for your body. Think about your body internally, you have trillions of cells inside of you. Are they always perfect? What about when you get stressed out? Stress alters your cells, causing toxins, and infections. Furthermore let’s not even mention the environmental stress that causes daily wear. 

So… what’s so great about fasting?

When your body is in a state of ‘starvation’ it begins the process of autophagy, which is basically a cellular renewal process. You can also think of it as a regeneration which means that your body is in a ‘self-eating’ state. When it is in that state it begins to clear out all of the junk inside of you and it then creates new cells. The best way to put it is that autophagy is your body’s most natural way of healing itself internally. And one of the health benefits to autophagy, is anti-aging. 

Okay… so how do I stimulate autophagy and stay youthful and fit forever?

Restricting calories will stimulate autophagy. Exercise stimulates autophagy. Going about your life and maintaining a healthy balance of food, fasting, and exercising is in fact the holy grail of staying youthful and fit. Physically and mentally. Intermittent fasting improves cognitive ability, it increases energy levels and balances your hormones by decreasing your insulin sensitivity, and increasing your growth hormone which in turn your body needs to burn fat and repair muscles. 

Lastly, how long should I fast for?

There’s no clear cut out answer for this. Most research says that autophagy kicks in somewhere between 16-18 hours of being fasted. It may be difficult for some people to jump into a fast. You may feel extremely weak, you may feel slow and sluggish. However, as your body adapts you begin to experience the great benefits of fasting. A recommendation would be to start slow, finish eating dinner around 7 PM the night before and push your first meal of the day to 11 or 12 the following day. Keep yourself busy, stay hydrated. Drink your coffee. The time will go by faster than you realize.