Catabolism occurs when the body is breaking something down, whereas anabolism is building (think: anabolic steroids). In relation to fasting, perhaps you are referring to autophagy, where the body “eats” waste product or excess tissue (think: fatty tumours, excess skin, moles, etc.)
On a cellular level, autophagy is well-understood, but for humans, scientists can’t dissect live people (yet! LOL) to see autophagy in action; they extrapolate from rat studies. What fasted people have experienced and shared; however, is their own story of autophagy (cancer gone, excess skin gone, etc.). There is no *exact* time frame for autophagy to occur, but most in the field suggest that at least 24 hours of fasting must be completed in order for autophagy to happen; this conclusion is based on water-fasting studies, not on assiste-fasting where fasters use use cream in coffee, bone broth, apple cider vinegar, etc. Autophagy stops when calories are ingested, regardless of calorie source. When you think of catabolism during fasting, think of autophagy and fat, and improved sensitivity to insulin. Fasting has very, very little decreasing effect on lean muscle mass, since growth hormone release is increased during fasting. This is why you can complete a long water fast — or assisted fast with bone broth, ACV, green tea, etc.) — with little to no muscle mass lost. This has been shown in study after study and is affected by changes in hormones (insulin, growth hormone, and more) that occur during the fasted state. Many long-term fasters (7 days or more) report easy gains in muscle mass because they do weight training while fasting. All of this is dependent upon the individual, to a degree, and length of fasted state. If you are looking for more empirical evidence, written in an easy-to-grasp manner, I recommend the works of Dr. Jason Fung, Dr. Randi Fredricks, and Stephen Harrod Buhner. Good luck, you can do it!
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