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Try This – A Powerful Way to Stimulate Autophagy (And It’s Not Fasting...)

Author

Dhru Purohit
November 08, 2024

Our bodies are amazing. Within each of us is the ability to heal. One of these healing processes is called autophagy—the act of cleaning up damaged cells formed on a daily basis through normal acts like metabolism (converting food into energy) and things like infections, nutrient imbalances, free radicals, and more. 

Fasting, in particular, has been touted as one of the most powerful therapies for stimulating autophagy, but fasting is hard for a lot of people! 

For me, long fasts get in the way of my goal of building muscle through adequate protein consumption. And experts agree fasting should be individualized and can change throughout different life stages or even according to the menstrual cycle for women. 

Basically, fasting can be complicated, is not always recommended, and is often challenging. 

But what if I told you there was an even more powerful way to clean up damaged cells and stimulate autophagy—one that had so many other amazing benefits and didn’t leave you feeling super hungry or depleted? 

Well, there is.

Let’s dive in…

I’m so excited to share with you guys an incredible scientific breakthrough to support our long-term health and wellness. It’s called C15, and it’s the first essential fatty acid to be discovered in 90 years. 

Essential nutrients keep our cells healthy, and many of us are deficient in C15, which results in weaker cells that make less energy, aging us faster and making us sleep poorly, feel sluggish, and just off. 

By replenishing our cells with that essential C15: nutrient, fatty15 strengthens and repairs our cells, improving our mitochondrial function and protecting us against damaging free radicals. The result? Better long-term metabolic, liver, and heart health.

C15 works in multiple ways: It repairs age-related damage to cells, protects them from future breakdown, boosts mitochondrial energy output, and activates pathways in the body that help regulate our sleep, mood, and natural repair mechanisms that support our overall health.

This functionality leads to lots of exciting benefits now and as we age. It even leads to smoother joint functioning, deeper sleep, and healthier hair, skin, and nails. Now, that’s essential.

Fatty15 is a science-backed, award-winning, vegan-friendly, and pure C15 supplement that is free of flavors, fillers, allergens, or preservatives. C15 is the only ingredient! 

Fatty15 is on a mission to replenish your C15 levels and restore your long-term health. You can get an additional 15% off their 90-day subscription Starter Kit by going to fatty15.com/DHRU and using the code TRYTHIS at checkout!


Exercise: A Miracle Habit 

Before we get into this powerful tool for supporting autophagy, let’s do some background. As I mentioned before, autophagy is our body’s way of getting rid of damaged cells. It’s kind of like our cells’ housekeeper. It works to sweep up debris and repair any damage done to a cell that keeps it from doing its job. 

And we need this housekeeping system to be in tip-top shape for so many reasons including removing damaged parts of the cell, getting rid of viruses and bacteria, supporting the health of our nervous system, and maintaining overall homeostasis in the body. 

When we don’t support autophagy, we make ourselves susceptible to chronic diseases like cancer, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, dementia, and so much more. 

Research has shown that the following can help stimulate autophagy: 

  • Fasting

  • Caffeine

  • Curcumin

  • Green tea

  • Ketogenic diets

  • Hot and cold exposure

  • And more…

But the most impactful way to fuel up our inner housekeeping system is exercise! 

I recently came across a tweet from Dr. Rhonda Patrick, who shared a study comparing fasting and exercise, and the conclusion was shocking! 

Published in the FASEB Journal, this study took well-trained athletes and looked at the impact of an overnight fast (16 hours) versus 30 minutes of high-intensity exercise on the body. They found that 30 minutes of vigorous exercise was more effective at inducing autophagy than 16 hours of fasting! 

I don’t know about you, but 30 minutes of high-intensity exercise sounds way better than 16 hours of fasting! 

This works because exercise is a form of positive stress on the body—and autophagy is a reaction to this stressor. 

Autophagy initiated by exercise can improve skeletal muscle, make us more metabolically flexible, improve our mitochondria, and restore damaged tissues and cells (plus, exercise just makes us look and feel better). 

This is great news for people like me who want all of the benefits of fasting but cannot fast for long periods of time without experiencing consequences like muscle loss (or for others who simply do not respond well to longer periods of fasting for whatever reason). 

For so long, many of us believed that fasting was the most impactful way to stimulate autophagy, and studies like this show us that even short sessions of high-intensity exercise can give us the results we’re looking for. 

So whether it be strength training, cardio, HIIT, circuit training, or whichever form of vigorous exercise you prefer, today is the day to make it happen. Your body is seriously going to thank you! 

Here’s to your health,  
 
Dhru Purohit  

P.S. Are you looking for products to kick-start your wellness routine this holiday season or gifts for your loved ones? Be sure to check out next week’s Try This Newsletter, where I’ll be sharing my favorite products, how they help optimize my daily routine, and exclusive discount codes for anyone interested in trying them.