KetoFasting: The Dark Side of Fasting & Ketosis (+How To Use Cyclic Ketosis To Fix The Issues)

From Dr. Joseph Mercola, my friend, multiple-time podcast guest, a guy who thinks way outside-the-box and seems to always be discovering some new cutting-edge way to enhance human health and longevity, and one of the world's foremost authorities on alternative health has just written a guide to using the principles of ketogenic eating, meal planning, and timing to treat disease, promote weight loss, and optimize health.

The new book is called "KetoFast: Rejuvenate Your Health with a Step-by-Step Guide to Timing Your Ketogenic Meals". In the book, he explores the profound health benefits that result when ketogenic living and well-planned fasting are combined. Topics include:

-How our food is making us sick and what we can do about it...

-The physiology and mechanisms of fasting, including stem cell activation...

-How the cyclical ketogenic diet--with fasting included--differs from the conventional keto diet...

-How fasting works and how safe it is for you...

-How regular one-day fasts support fat burning and detoxification while minimizing hunger and side effects...

-How to monitor your progress with lab tests...

-And much more...

During our discussion, you'll discover: -The fascinating history of fasting among different religions and cultures...8:25

• Dr. Mercola's book was originally written to learn to optimize multiple day water fasting
• Most religions integrate fasting into their practice (speaks to its efficacy throughout history)
• It's one of the best ways to express care for your spirit, especially when combined with meditation, gratitude, solitude, etc.
• Therapeutic fasting:
  • Calorie restriction to activate metabolic processes to catalyze the healing process
  • Fasting didn't become popular in the U.S. until the 1800's with the natural hygiene movement
  • Became more popular when Herbert Shelton popularized it in 1911
• TrueNorth Health Center

-Autophagy, and why Dr. Mercola thinks of a fast as a "free stem cell transplant"...16:45

• Different varieties of fasting:
  • Intermittent (the foundation)
    • Dr. Satchin Panda found that 90% of people don't do this (listen to my podcast with Dr. Panda)
  • You need more than intermittent to get the max effect of autophagy
  • Fasting mimicking diet, water diet
  • Hybrid of the two, minimize the harmful effects
• Autophagy:
  • 3 types
    • Micro
    • Macro
    • Chaperone mediated
  • You activate autophagy with the keto fast
  • Dr. Mercola does not recommend a long-term water fast
  • Free stem cell transplant is what happens during the regeneration phase, after the autophagy phase
  • The magic happens during the refeed and strength rebuilding; similar to a growth hormone injection
  • Do a 42 hour fast, in which you eat 300-500 calories 2x per week

-How fasting affects intestinal stem cell function...24:20

• Extended fasting helps reduce gut permeability by stimulating brain/gut pathways
• Consider fasting before other treatments or supplements for repairing the gut
  • Certain supplements will inhibit autophagy: colostrum, B12
• AMP-k and mTOR
  • It's your friend; The higher the better
  • A nutrient sensor
  • Puts your body in "repair mode"
  • See Saw: AMP-k up, mTOR down, vice versa

-What nutrients you need to optimize autophagy...34:08

• Berberine
• ECGC from green tea and European wild apples
• Pomegranate peel powder
• Urolithin A
• Pomegranate Pulled Apart podcast from ATP Science
• Dr. Mercola’s “autophagy tea” before my nightly fast to also limit mTor activation and increase autophagy:
  • 1 tsp Pau d’ Arco powdered tea
  • ½ tsp hydroxycitrate and garcinia (HCA/Garcinia powder)
  • ½ tsp quercetin powder
  • ½ tsp glycine powder
  • ½ teaspoon chamomile powder
  • Lakanto monkfruit sweetener to taste
• You don't want to take exogenous ketones when you want to activate autophagy while fasting

-How ketones protect the brain excess hydrogen peroxide...46:00

• Fats and carbs are fuel sources; broken down by enzymes
• Oxygen receives electrons from the food you're digesting in the form of hydrogen (which is converted to water)
• Most people are metabolically inflexible; can't burn much fat for fuel
• Ketones increase Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (nADPH)

-Why Dr. Mercola changed his mind about the power of water fasting as a metabolic intervention...50:55

• We in the 21st century are exposed to chemical and industrial toxins not historically known to humans
• Toxins are stored in our fat
• When you fast, you release these toxins
• Cause unpleasant side effects and symptoms
• 2 phases:
  • Convert fat soluble to water soluble (not a problem)
  • Attach molecules to the toxin
• You need frequent refeeds to fuel the process of eliminating the toxins and enhancing detox pathways
• A keto fast (42 hours, 300-500 calories) 2x/week is far more powerful than an occasional multi-day water fast or even fast mimicking diet

-What Dr. Mercola views as the "dark side of fasting"...55:00

• Detoxification impairment
• Compliance: people just won't do it
• How Dr. Mercola recommends Ben improve his own fasting strategy:
  • Ben takes essential amino acids for protein during extended fasts
  • Don't eat meat protein (branch chain amino acids)
  • Take collagen protein
• Drawbacks to long-term ketosis
  • Requires significant calorie restriction
  • Women can develop thyroid impairment
  • You simply weren't designed to do it
  • Fasting primes your body for improvement; the real magic happens in the refeeds

-What is "keto fasting," and how cyclical ketosis addresses the above issues...1:00:13

• You must be metabolically flexible
  • Eat in a 4-6 hour window per day for 4 weeks
• Branch chain aminos: lucine, isoleucine, valine
  • Eat these on the refeed, not during the keto fast
  • Don't activate mTor along with autophagy
• Cyclical approach:
  • Keto fast 2x/week
  • Every day intermittent fast
• Strategies to deal with hunger or appetite cravings:
  • Vast majority of metabolically flexible people won't feel hungry
  • Coconut oil, MCT oil, aloe gel
  • Nicotine gum and sparkling water

-How sauna use supports a fasting protocol, an ideal sauna setup, and sauna do's and don't's...1:07:45

• Brian Richards' Sauna Space
• Near infrared is the best
  • 40% of energy from the sun is infrared
  • Near infrared heats you up very quickly
  • Penetrates much more of the body than far infrared
• Book: Sauna Therapy for Detoxification and Healing
• Compounds prior to sauna use:
  • Niacin (small doses)
• Use low EMF

-And much more! Resources from this episode:

-My previous episodes with Dr. Mercola:

• Killing Fat Cells, Fixing Mitochondria, Growing Superfoods & More: The Official, Much-Anticipated, Mind-Blowing, Geeked-Out Podcast With Dr. Mercola

• High-Fat Fudge Balls, The Best Fruits For Blood Sugar, Egg Allergies & More With “Fat For Fuel”

• How To Reverse The Damage From Cell Phone Radiation, Hidden Sources Of EMF, The Best Way To Measure Your EMF Exposure & Much More

-KetoFast: Rejuvenate Your Health with a Step-by-Step Guide to Timing Your Ketogenic Meals

-Meta.org for research studies

-Ben's Switzerland healing retreat at Paracelsus

-The Complete Guide To Fasting by Jason Fung

-TrueNorth Health Center

-My interview with Dr. Satchin Panda

-SEED Probiotic blend

-ATP science

-Dr. Mercola’s “autophagy tea” before my nightly fast to also limit mTor activation and increase autophagy:

• • 1 tsp Pau d’ Arco powdered tea
  • ½ tsp hydroxycitrate and garcinia (HCA/Garcinia powder)
  • ½ tsp quercetin powder
  • ½ tsp glycine powder
  • ½ teaspoon chamomile powder
  • Lakanto monkfruit sweetener to taste

-Pomegranate Pulled Apart podcast from ATPScience

-HVMN Ketones

-"The Longevity Diet" by Dr. Valter Longo

-Kion Aminos

-Kettle & Fire Bone Broth

-Aloe Gel

-Lucy Nicotine gum

-Saunaspace sauna

-Near infrared bulbs

-Dr. Lawrence Wilson's book "Sauna Therapy For Detoxification & Healing"

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Do you have questions, thoughts or feedback for Dr. Mercola or me? Leave your comments below and one of us will reply!

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