When you eat a ‘normal’ meal, glucose (from carbs) and fatty acid (from fats) are the primary energy sources for your cells. After you’ve eaten, glucose is used as a direct source of energy, and fatty acids are stored in your fat tissue in the form of triglycerides.
When you fast, meaning you are eating nothing or very little, your body runs out of glucose and needs an alternative energy source to keep going. It now breaks down your triglycerides into their individual components (fatty acids and glycerol), and then your liver will convert the fatty acids into ketone bodies.
Ketone bodies (or ketones for short) can be used as an alternative energy source for many tissues, including the brain. When you eat enough food (from all 3 macronutrient groups- carbohydrates, proteins, and fats), the number of ketones in your blood is low. When you fast, this level rises within the first 8-12 hours, reaching between 0.2-0.5 millimolar (mM) levels, maintained for about 24 hours with a subsequent increase to 1-2 mM by around 48 hours. However, fuel is not the ketone’s only function; it also significantly affect your cells and organs. For example, ketones able to:
1. Improve mitochondrial function
Mitochondria are often referred to as the powerhouses of our cells. Energy in our body is mainly from mitochondria releasing energy from ATP molecules. When we suffer from metabolic disturbances and obesity, our mitochondrial function is reduced, but Fasting may help improve this function.
2. Help your cells become more resistant to stress
During these times of food restriction, the cells adopt a stress resistance mode. Essentially you are making your cells more challenging to withstand.
3. Enhance autophagy
Autophagy, which is Latin that stands for “self-eating,” refers to when cells purposely eat other cells in your body. They might sound like a bad thing, but it’s not. Autophagy gives your cells the ability to clean up “cellular garbage” that usually accumulates in cells or when you are hurt or sick. Basically, it’s your cell’s version of taking out the trash! When autophagy doesn’t work properly, your immune system attacks this cellular garbage and can cause low-grade, chronic inflammation (the basis of most chronic diseases).
4. Help Recovery
When you eat or break the fast, the body is forced to switch from Fasting and using ketones to glucose. This is known as ‘metabolic switching.
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