"Fasting is a challenge to your brain."

Love this quote, "Humans live on one-quarter of what they eat.  On the other three quarters live their doctor." 
 Dr. Mark Mattson above explains the benefits not only to your overall health but also to brain health of fasting.  Huh.  Who would have thought?

In almost all things established in politics, economics, history, and whatnot, what I love most is questioning conventional wisdom.  This presentation does just that.  

The presentation begins by questioning the conventional wisdom of eating three meals plus one or two snacks a day.  One, who set this regimen?  And two, who benefits financially?  To answer the second question I would think that the food industry benefits, no?  I mean wouldn't it get people addicted to, well, food, all kinds of food from snacks to cereals to fruits even vegetables?  And even if one is not addicted to the foods, they can easily be keyed into the oversold benefits of different kinds of foods and be thinking about food, about getting to the grocery store, about preparing and cooking their next meal which if done three times a day including snacks is only minutes away.  

Why is it that the normal diet is three meals a day plus snacks? It isn’t that it’s the healthiest eating pattern, now that’s my opinion but I think there is a lot of evidence to support that.  There are a lot of pressures to have that eating pattern, there’s a lot of money involved. The food industry—are they going to make money from skipping breakfast like I did today? No, they’re going to lose money. If people fast, the food industry loses money.  What about the pharmaceutical industries? What if people do some intermittent fasting, exercise periodically and are very healthy, is the pharmaceutical industry going to make any money on healthy people?  

That should be an eye-opener.  Do you really need those three meals plus snacks?  Hmm.  Maybe.  I know that Barry Sears' Zone Diet recommends three meals, light but functional meals mind you (and who also understands calorie restrictions--hence, the smaller sized meals), plus two snacks in his diet.  I should I know.  I studied it and followed it religiously until all the benefits, at least for me, plateaued.  But I still observe many aspects of his Zone Diet.  I still try to keep my hormones in balance with a low protein profile, a higher healthy fat content, and vegetable enzymes to break proteins down and enhance digestion. 

One of the key points that Dr. Mattson makes above is that "fasting twice a week could significantly lower the risk of developing both Parkinson’s   and Alzheimer’s disease."  Okay, this should stand out as news to anyone, I mean anyone concerned about their long-term health. I wonder if one of the reasons that people who are very ill or injured tend to eat less or don't want to eat at all.  And folks who are healthier tell them, "Well, you've got to eat."  Ah, no, I don't. 

The benefits of fasting to the brain are impressive.

Fasting does good things for the brain, and this is evident by all of the beneficial neurochemical changes that happen in the brain when we fast. It also improves cognitive function, increases neurotrophic factors, increases stress resistance, and reduces inflammation.

Fasting is a challenge to your brain, and your brain responds to that challenge by adapting stress response pathways which help your brain cope with stress and risk for disease. The same changes that occur in the brain during fasting mimic the changes that occur with regular exercise. They both increase the production of protein in the brain (neurotrophic factors), which in turn promotes the growth of neurons, the connection between neurons, and the strength of synapses.

Challenges to your brain, whether it’s intermittent fasting [or] vigorous exercise . . . is cognitive challenges. When this happens neuro-circuits are activated, levels of neurotrophic factors increase, that promotes the growth of neurons [and] the formation and strengthening of synapses. . . .

Fasting can also stimulate the production of new nerve cells from stem cells in the hippocampus. He also mentions ketones (an energy source for neurons), and how fasting stimulates the production of ketones and that it may also increase the number of mitochondria in neurons. Fasting also increases the number of mitochondria in nerve cells; this comes as a result of the neurons adapting to the stress of fasting (by producing more mitochondria).

By increasing the number of mitochondria in the neurons, the ability for nerons to form and maintain the connections between each other also increases, thereby improving learning and memory ability.

Intermittent fasting enhances the ability of nerve cells to repair DNA.  

Remarkable. 

Think about what this means.  You eat less you'll do better following an illness and injury.  Eat less.  A lot less.  And when you do eat, eat functional foods.  Think bone broth for recovery.  

Mattson refers to Upton Sinclair's essay, called The Fasting Cure.  Give a read.