What is autophagy and what can you do for your health (and for your figure)

To enhance health there is nothing better than to cleanse the body completely. For this we can help our body to do this cleaning favoring autophagy. Take note of what this ancestral method can do for your health and how to start it.

What is autophagy?

It literally means 'eat yourself', this name was given by Nobel laureate Christian de Duve, a Belgian scientist who put it on the table the lysosome as the main cellular organelle involved in autophagy.

As explained by dr. Isabel Belaustegui "Autophagy is a process of cell digestion that can be seen under a microscope. When we look through a simple optical microscope we can know that a cell is in autophagy because vesicles appear, bubbles in the cytoplasm of the cells, which correspond to those miniature washing machines responsible for the crushing of cellular waste. "

Surely you've heard of fasting, a widespread practice and that our ancestors had no choice but to go through it by not having an infrastructure like the modern one. You hunted and picked vegetables or you did not eat. This does not happen now, however, fasting is practiced which is the method that sets off autophagy and all its healthy benefits for the body.

Returning to the process itself, a membrane forms around the waste material to be digested, and the lysosome would bind to it by melting by its own membrane and pour its enzymes to do it. "In this way the components that degrade and are reduced to their elementary parts are broken. And these fragments are released into the cytoplasm of the cell, where they can be used in the recycling and synthesis of new cellular components (membranes, proteins, organelles …), "explains the expert.

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The process of autophagy would be inhibited when eating food, especially by taking carbohydrates and sugars that quickly raise the blood glucose level by increasing insulin production. On the contrary, autophagy would be activated when there is a lack of food, the organism would enter energy saving mode. When a voluntary fast is performed, autogamy is also started to renew and cleanse the organism.

What are the benefits of autophagy?

Autophagy is a way to cleanse the body that today is supercharged and exposed to many toxins. Fasting would facilitate this depurative process that would improve bodily functions as well as the condition of the skin and hair.

"When fasting, we can expel the toxins coming from outside (environmental chemicals, toxic food, household …) and toxins from inside the body, originated by the process of assimilation, as the urea of ​​the metabolism of proteins or free radicals of the metabolic processes of obtaining energy ", Belaustegui points out.

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During a voluntary fast, the body does not expend energy in digesting or assimilating nutrients, and this energy can be used to cleanse the body. The body will begin to use ketone bodies as a fuel, a source of energy that is obtained from fats and more efficient than glucose. In addition to cleaning the body you will burn fat so it is also a good method to lose those extra pounds while adding health to your body.

At the beginning of the process You can have symptoms such as weakness, sweating, weight loss, headaches … They are normal, you are eliminating toxins from your body. To help the body in the process keep it hydrated, water, infusions or vegetable broths will be a good revitalizing tonic.