Consider board-certified dermatologist Keira Barr, M.D., another expert on board: "Fasting not only reboots the gut microbiome, which helps [support a balanced inflammatory response] and improve skin health, but it also stimulates autophagy, our cells' self-cleansing process that breaks down and recycles damaged ...
Besides contributing to a slimmer body and a stronger immune system, intermittent fasting can also help your skin through detoxification.
When you fast, it improves the health of the gut so that the systemic inflammation of the skin reduces. The lowered inflammatory state in the gut makes the skin look younger, healthier, and clearer. In addition, fasting increases the body's metabolic activity, which also leads to a healthy body and skin.
Intermittent fasting is one of the easiest ways of building muscle, decreasing body fat and increasing your energy. And by triggering the cellular cleansing process of autophagy, intermittent fasting also improves your life span – and makes your skin look smoother and younger.
Intermittent Fasting Increases Collagen Production
Human growth hormone helps to build up and even repair collagen. Fasting is one of the most effective ways to raise growth hormone. It can increase it by up to 2000% in men and 1300% in women.
Fasting sets off a process in the body known as cell autophagy. During cell autophagy, your body eliminates old and dysfunctional cells, replacing them with newer, better-functioning ones. Efficient cell autophagy enables your body to maintain homeostasis and keep its many processes working together at optimal levels.
More specifically, fasting can help reduce wrinkles, one of the most dreaded side-effects of aging. This is because fasting activates DNA-repair genes in the body that help reduce inflammation in the body. Fasting also leads to the production of somatropin, which helps minimize wrinkles and fine lines.
Fortunately, autophagy has a direct effect on skin aging, and inducing the process can help tighten your skin and reduce the amount of loose skin on your body. It supports the processes that keep your skin more elastic and able to tighten up faster.
Intermittent fasting gets rid of facial fat and increases insulin sensitivity. Intermittent fasting helps shed unwanted pounds all over the body, including smaller cheeks and neck. Facial fat may be the first indicator that a person is developing insulin resistance or is pre-diabetic and at risk for diabetes.
Once in a while, your skin too needs a break from the routine to replenish its natural texture. Skin fasting makes this possible. Skin fasting implies the concept of detoxifying your skin to let it function more effectively and enhance its natural radiance.
The theory behind skin fasting Your skin produces an oily substance called sebum that helps prevent moisture loss. The idea behind “fasting” is to let the skin “breathe.” It's thought that cutting out products will let the skin neutralize and sebum naturally moisturize.
Fasting helps your stomach with enough time to digest your food and replenish good gut bacteria, which also helps your body to absorb all the vitamins and minerals present in your food for healthy skin. So for glowing, toned and clear skin, eat well, sleep well and exercise.
Autophagy plays an essential role in maintaining multiple skin conditions, such as uniform skin color and skin barrier function, by controlling the integrity of melanosome degradation and epidermal differentiation.
To enter the autophagy phase, your body requires low liver glycogen, which typically only happens after a 14-16 hour fast.
A key sign of autophagy is reduced appetite. It's likely due to changed levels of hormones like glucagon and insulin. Specifically, levels of glucagon tend to increase during autophagy. Glucagon helps manage your blood sugar levels and has been shown to suppress appetite ( 6 , 10 , 11 ).
“Think of autophagy as a Roomba inside your cells, cleaning and clearing damaged parts,” says Whittel. “When autophagy functions optimally, it works to clear away the cellular junk that can lead to fat and wrinkles.”
How long do you have to fast for autophagy to occur? Studies involving animals suggest that autophagy may begin between 24 to 48 hours of fasting.
Autophagy can help remove cellular waste and keep genes stable within a cell. It may also help get rid of aging cells and decrease inflammation in the body.
Autophagy speeds the process of cell renewal and increases the rate collagen is produced.
A new scientific study has backed up some health claims about eating less. The clinical trial reveals that cutting back on food for just 5 days a month could help prevent or treat age-related illnesses like diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Fasting didn't appear to delay the onset of age-related symptoms in the research, which means the fasting mice simply lived longer with these conditions. But other studies have found that fasting may enhance your body's defenses against oxidative stress and promote the removal of damaged molecules.
Typically, to see any cellular benefits, one must fast for a minimum of 24 - 48 hours. During a fasting period, a person should not consume any calories but may continuously drink water, caffeine-free coffee, or tea to remain hydrated.
Growing evidence has demonstrated that in mammals, autophagy is responsible for the repair of damaged tissues and the replacement of impaired organs or body parts after injury. For example, in muscle regeneration, autophagy may regulate proteostasis and survival mechanisms in regenerating fiber.
Intermittent fasting changes the gut bacteria activity of mice and increases their ability to recover from nerve damage. The new research is published in Nature and was conducted by Imperial College London researchers.
Animal studies suggest that fasting protects brain cells by providing ketones for fuel instead of glucose. Ketones appear to help the brain produce brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a compound that promotes the growth of new brain cells and new connections between them.