We can use fasting as a tool, and we’re going to get into how this works and why this can be so beneficial for you. It’s a little bit different than intermittent fasting. You’ve probably heard of intermittent fasting at this point. It’s very mainstream, but in intermittent fasting, we don’t get to the point of autophagy necessarily. That happens after two days into our third day. There’s autophagy as the cellular clean-up that we need and that starts to happen when we have a water fast. But it’s hard to do a water fast for five days. That’s where the fasting-mimicking diet comes in. There are so many benefits we see, that it promotes autophagy, supports weight loss and fat reduction, enhances metabolic health, improves cardiovascular function, promotes longevity, boosts mental and cognitive function, and can help your mitochondria.
But what we’re going to focus mainly on our point today is it also boosts immune system function. That’s where it comes into play for us when we’re talking about mast cell activation syndrome and histamine intolerance. For those of us dealing with mast cell activation syndrome, we know that it involves the overactive response of your immune system. Your mast cells, which are part of your immune system, play a critical role in protecting your body from pathogens. However, in mast cell activation syndrome, these cells become overactive and release excessive amounts of histamine and other chemicals, and this leads to a wide range of symptoms that we feel, including gastrointestinal issues, skin issues, hives, congestion, headaches, allergic reactions, insomnia, fatigue, anxiety, all of the things that we talk about. We know that it’s a whole-body issue and that there are histamine receptors all over our bodies. We’re getting all of these variety of symptoms and can feel this hypersensitivity.
The fasting-mimicking diet can help to modulate these responses by reducing the number of overactive immune cells, including mast cells through this process called autophagy. Autophagy is a natural cellular mechanism where the body breaks down and recycles damaged or dysfunctional cells. During the fasting period of the fasting-mimicking diet, the body initiates autophagy, effectively cleaning out your old and damaged cells, and these include the overactive mast cells. This reduction in overactive immune cells helps to lower histamine levels and other inflammatory mediators, which are responsible for many of the symptoms that we experience when we have mast cell activation.
Research shows us that during fasting, the body undergoes a significant reduction in all damaged immune cells. When refitting occurs, which is the phase where normal eating is resumed, there is a regeneration of new healthy cells. This process helps to reset the immune system. It makes it less reactive and more balanced. This dual action of reducing inflammation and promoting healthy immune cell regeneration can significantly benefit those with MCAS, leading to fewer flare-ups and better symptom management. The exciting news is that there are also even studies showing that the benefits of the fasting-mimicking diet can last long after the diet period ends. The reduction of inflammatory markers and the improvement in immune function can persist for weeks or even months. Incorporating a fasting-mimicking diet periodically, such as once a quarter, can benefit you long term.
I want to just show you this. This is the ProLon kit. This is the one that I use. What I love is it’s laid out so simple. Every day is a different box. You just have your box and you have everything you need. There’s food that you do get to eat. I mean that’s the difference, when you’re doing the fasting-mimicking diet, you can feel sustained. Water fasting can be stressful on the body and you’re not getting any substance. Research, as we said, is showing that fasting can prevent mast cell degranulation and, prevent the release of more histamine in the body from the mast cells. you can get the cardio benefits, the metabolic benefits that are protective benefits from doing this. That means you won’t feel the starvation that you’re feeling from just fasting with water.
To look at this process, on day one, the body transitions into a fasting state and fat-burning mode to begin cellular cleanup. Then day two fat burning ramps up, contributing to the initiation of keto genesis and ketosis may occur. Day three is when the autophagy starts. That’s when we begin to see the cellular cleanup. The fat-burning and ketone production and utilization continue and increase. Day four, for cellular cleaning and rejuvenation, continues. Day five sustains cellular recycling, rejuvenation, and renewal and sustains ketosis. Then day six and beyond. You work on re-nourishing your body.
I just want to share this ProLon Fasting-Mimicking Diet. There is so much science behind this. They have done so much research on this particular program, and the tool that you can use to help reset your immune system to help with mast cell activation and histamine assays. Have a great day.
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