Fasting to reset the immune system

[MyQul]

With all the C-19 thing going on the moment, one thing you may have heard or read about is try to boost your immune system. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a way to actually "boost" your immune system.

"There’s no such thing as boosted immunity

Unfortunately, the idea that pills, trendy superfoods or wellness habits can provide a shortcut to a healthy immune system is a myth. In fact, the concept of “boosting” your immune system doesn’t hold any scientific meaning whatsoever."

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200408-covid-19-can-boosting-your-immune-system-protect-you
However you can "reset" you immune system by fasting

"Six years ago, a study showed that a 3-day fast can essentially reset the immune system, providing many potential benefits. These benefits include better cardiovascular health, better endurance, lower blood pressure, and reduced inflammation."


"In the 2014 study, Valter Longo and colleagues at USC found that fasting lowered white blood cell counts, which in turn triggered the immune system to start producing new white blood cells. White blood cells (or lymphocytes) are a key component of your body’s immune system. Once you start eating again, according to Longo, your stem cells kick back into high gear to replenish the cells that were recycled."

https://www.forbes.com/sites/steven...asting-reset-your-immune-system/#1792e19127ac
The bad news for most people (because they aren't used to fasting and think it's impossible) you have to fast for about three days to reset your immune system

But fasting has a huge number of benefits many of them at less than the 3 day mark

Weight loss/control
Control diabetes
reduce stress
lower cholesterol
improve cardiovascular funtion
induces anti aging function
Nomalizes blood pressure
Increases testosterone
increases human growth hormone
Lower blood sugar
There's a lot more

There are two main types of fasting, intermittenant fasting, whereby you restrict your eating to a time window in any one 24 hour period and extended fasting whereby you fast for more than 24 hours in one go.

I've been following an fasting lifestyle for about 18 months now. I've mostly been doing intermittent fasting following a 20:4 protocol (what this means is I fast for 20 hours in a 24 hour period and only eat in a 4 hour time window - basically I've only been eating in the evenings).

Recently I've been "stepping up" my fasting and doing extended fasting, fasting more than 24hrs. I've been doing 60:12 fasting protcol or 44:4 protocol (fasting for 60 hours or 2 and a half days then having a full day eating window or fasting for just shy of two days and having a 4 hour eating window)

I think most people would think this is way too hard core and impossible. But I've found fasting is like a skill and just takes practice. I dont think most people could just jump straight into a 3 day fast (unless they were locked into a room). The best way is to build up. The easiest fasting protocol to start on is 16:8, whereby you would fast for 16 hours and eat in an eight hour window. Not eating for 16 hours sounds hard but for 8 of those hours you would be asleep (if you sleep for 8 hours). Then you just skip break fast and eat lunch and dinner as normal (within a period of 8 hours) . As you get used to doing 16:8 you then shorten your window successively to 20:4 then 23:1 then 36:12 etc. I found it gets easier and easier.

Perhaps not for everyone but it suits me well

 

[Gingerbrews]

Fasting??..............No chance!!!!

 

[MyQul]

Fasting??..............No chance!!!!

Like I say, perhaps not for everyone.

Edit. Fasting is really just a tool and most people have a (health) reason to do it. I could say, Woodwork??.....No Chance!! But if I didnt have any chairs, wood work would be a good skill to have.

 

[MickDundee]

I read the thread title as “farting”. I’m a lot less interested now I’ve seen the OP.

 

[MyQul]

I read the thread title as “farting”. I’m a lot less interested now I’ve seen the OP.

I also do lots of that (mainly because Im vegan) but I have no evidence either way whether it helps my immunes system (I doubt very much whether it helps MrsMQ's immune system when Im letting one rip next to her)

 

[Rodcx500z]

I just did a quick wiki on him, not many letters after or before his name, like you say its not for everyone, my immune system resets after a session on the home brew

 

[An Ankoù]

With all the C-19 thing going on the moment, one thing you may have heard or read about is try to boost your immune system. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a way to actually "boost" your immune system.

"There’s no such thing as boosted immunity

Unfortunately, the idea that pills, trendy superfoods or wellness habits can provide a shortcut to a healthy immune system is a myth. In fact, the concept of “boosting” your immune system doesn’t hold any scientific meaning whatsoever."

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200408-covid-19-can-boosting-your-immune-system-protect-you
However you can "reset" you immune system by fasting

"Six years ago, a study showed that a 3-day fast can essentially reset the immune system, providing many potential benefits. These benefits include better cardiovascular health, better endurance, lower blood pressure, and reduced inflammation."


"In the 2014 study, Valter Longo and colleagues at USC found that fasting lowered white blood cell counts, which in turn triggered the immune system to start producing new white blood cells. White blood cells (or lymphocytes) are a key component of your body’s immune system. Once you start eating again, according to Longo, your stem cells kick back into high gear to replenish the cells that were recycled."

https://www.forbes.com/sites/steven...asting-reset-your-immune-system/#1792e19127ac
The bad news for most people (because they aren't used to fasting and think it's impossible) you have to fast for about three days to reset your immune system

But fasting has a huge number of benefits many of them at less than the 3 day mark

Weight loss/control
Control diabetes
reduce stress
lower cholesterol
improve cardiovascular funtion
induces anti aging function
Nomalizes blood pressure
Increases testosterone
increases human growth hormone
Lower blood sugar
There's a lot more

There are two main types of fasting, intermittenant fasting, whereby you restrict your eating to a time window in any one 24 hour period and extended fasting whereby you fast for more than 24 hours in one go.

I've been following an fasting lifestyle for about 18 months now. I've mostly been doing intermittent fasting following a 20:4 protocol (what this means is I fast for 20 hours in a 24 hour period and only eat in a 4 hour time window - basically I've only been eating in the evenings).

Recently I've been "stepping up" my fasting and doing extended fasting, fasting more than 24hrs. I've been doing 60:12 fasting protcol or 44:4 protocol (fasting for 60 hours or 2 and a half days then having a full day eating window or fasting for just shy of two days and having a 4 hour eating window)

I think most people would think this is way too hard core and impossible. But I've found fasting is like a skill and just takes practice. I dont think most people could just jump straight into a 3 day fast (unless they were locked into a room). The best way is to build up. The easiest fasting protocol to start on is 16:8, whereby you would fast for 16 hours and eat in an eight hour window. Not eating for 16 hours sounds hard but for 8 of those hours you would be asleep (if you sleep for 8 hours). Then you just skip break fast and eat lunch and dinner as normal (within a period of 8 hours) . As you get used to doing 16:8 you then shorten your window successively to 20:4 then 23:1 then 36:12 etc. I found it gets easier and easier.

Perhaps not for everyone but it suits me well

I agree entirely with you as I do much the same thing with beer: fast solidly for 20 hours and then let rip for 4 hours and not a second longer.

In spite of my facetious reply, I found this a very interesting post and I might give it a go as I find I'm putting on a bit a weight and feeling a bit jaded with all this confinement.

 

[MickDundee]

I just did a quick wiki on him, not many letters after or before his name, like you say its not for everyone, my immune system resets after a session on the home brew

Just “Professor”, although I appreciate he’s at USC and the American Universities tend to call just about all of their academic staff Prof rather than it being something that is earned from years of research like over here.

 

[MyQul]

I agree entirely with you as I do much the same thing with beer: fast solidly for 20 hours and then let rip for 4 hours and not a second longer.

In spite of my facetious reply, I found this a very interesting post and I might give it a go as I find I'm putting on a bit a weight and feeling a bit jaded with all this confinement.

Your reply might seem facietious but that's exactly what I've been doing. I would only drink beer (as well as eat food) in the four hour feed window/only in the evenings. I havent drunk any beer in the day since I started fasting.
With the lock down and eating and drinking used by many as something to relieve boredom I think the nation is going to get even fatter than it is already (Im sure you are aware we have a obesity crisis). Fasting can be a tool to get rid of the extra 'lockdown weight'.
Incidently I've read loads of articles in the paper about pros(such as extra time with family, catching up on reading etc) and cons of the lockdown but nothing about the inevitable increase in people's weight due to stress/boredomw eating

 

[MyQul]

I just did a quick wiki on him, not many letters after or before his name, like you say its not for everyone, my immune system resets after a session on the home brew

The NHS seem happy enough t have on their website about a similar study (By I think the same professor) on white blood cells/infection protection, the damage caused by chemotherapy and fasting (albeit the study wasnt done on humans just mice)
https://www.nhs.uk/news/food-and-diet/52-diet-style-an-immune-booster-study-finds/
And yes of course homebrew is well know to protect against all know pathogens and diseases (well I would say that wouldnt I, being a mod on the UK's biggest HB forum )

 

[GhostShip]

I've done the 5:2 fast diet a few times. Two days a week I would eat 600 calories or less. In theory, you can eat what you want on the other 5 days, but you become very concious of not wanting to undo the work you've done on the fasting day, so you generally eat less.

For me, the secret was never to do a fast day on a weekend (weekends are for drinking beer), drink water all day, and do something in the evening to take your mind off food (I used to go for a long walk).

It's a brilliant way of losing weight and I always feel sharper and more awake when I'm on it. Humans were not born to graze like cattle, but that's now what many people do.

I read about the supposed immune system benefits, but have no way of substantiating it.

 

[prog99]

Been doing it for the last 5 years. Was 2 days a week for a year and then 1 day a week since.
Ive done it for weight reasons and have kept what weight I lost off quite easily.

 

[MyQul]

I've done the 5:2 fast diet a few times. Two days a week I would eat 600 calories or less. In theory, you can eat what you want on the other 5 days, but you become very concious of not wanting to undo the work you've done on the fasting day, so you generally eat less.

For me, the secret was never to do a fast day on a weekend (weekends are for drinking beer), drink water all day, and do something in the evening to take your mind off food (I used to go for a long walk).

It's a brilliant way of losing weight and I always feel sharper and more awake when I'm on it. Humans were not born to graze like cattle, but that's now what many people do.

I read about the supposed immune system benefits, but have no way of substantiating it.

Been doing it for the last 5 years. Was 2 days a week for a year and then 1 day a week since.
Ive done it for weight reasons and have kept what weight I lost off quite easily.

My daily energy expediture is 2300kcal per day (there's online calcs to find this out if anyone is interested. Just google TDEE calculator). But I love eating (and drinking) loads more than that. Sometimes I can easily get up to 4000 calories in a day. I've never been fat I only ever seem to go up to the top of my BMI no matter how much I eat. But I've been reading recently how dangerous visceral fat (fat around the gut and organs) is for men. So I've started the extended (60:12 ) fasting to deal with the bit I have. But it also allows me to carry on eating like a pig (even though what I actually eat is fairly healthy - I follow a whole foods diet). Even if I eat 4000kcal I still lose weight because 4000kcal averaged over 3 days is only 1333 kcal

 

[An Ankoù]

With all the C-19 thing going on the moment, one thing you may have heard or read about is try to boost your immune system. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a way to actually "boost" your immune system.

Are you sure? I keep coming across recommendations to keep up vitamin D, specifically vitamin D3, levels and to overdose with Vitamin C. When I was working and didn't want to be off work sick, at the first sign of a sniffle, I'd take 1000 mg of vit C and repeat a couple of times during the day. It never failed. I'm not suggesting it's an antiviral, but it sure kept the common cold at bay and I don't think I've ever had flu.
Needless to say, I've got sufficient vit C in stock to last both of us at least 6 months. (cheapest way to buy it is as ascorbic acid from homebrew suppliers. It's used as an antioxidant in beer).

 

[MyQul]

I read about the supposed immune system benefits, but have no way of substantiating it.

Tbh there's not huge amounts of research data into the various benefits of fasting because there's no money in it. Fasting is the abscence of something (food) so there's no pill to sell or specific food to promote. So no mega corp is going to pour money into it

 

[Covrich]

I am a big herbal tea drinker and have always been led to believe there are many health benefits from these many I can feel obvioulsy a lot I cannot. Those being antioxidants.

Have to say I tried intermittant fasting and I will try it again maybe but when I did , I felt terrible after a week.. It was like it crashed my Tersterone levels very noticable..

I am 192cm I workout a lot I am not a gym bunny but I do try and maintain being althetic and typically need up to and some days if I did a lot of activity well over 3000cal.

For me I worked on my nutrition often porridge for breakfast with honey , mid morning fruit or nuts seeds / trail mix, a huel shake lunch afternoon cereal bars or fruit and a normal dinner.

I may give the fasting a try again, I certainly dont need to lose weight but I am worried I will have a crash again which didn;t feel good.

 

[MyQul]

Are you sure? I keep coming across recommendations to keep up vitamin D, specifically vitamin D3, levels and to overdose with Vitamin C. When I was working and didn't want to be off work sick, at the first sign of a sniffle, I'd take 1000 mg of vit C and repeat a couple of times during the day. It never failed. I'm not suggesting it's an antiviral, but it sure kept the common cold at bay and I don't think I've ever had flu.
Needless to say, I've got sufficient vit C in stock to last both of us at least 6 months. (cheapest way to buy it is as ascorbic acid from homebrew suppliers. It's used as an antioxidant in beer).

No I'm not sure as I havent read loads of stuff on it but (for example) the BBC link I posted say taking loads of Vit C is bunkum but having low levels of Vit D means a higher risk of respitory infection. So if you have enough Vit D anyway you dont need to take more but taking some might be a good idea. So with vit D your not boosting your overall immune system but ratherhelping to prevent respitory infections (if you dont have enough Vit D). But C-19 doesnt just attack the respitory system. It attacks the heart as well in some people. The respitory infections are secondary to C-19 (has unfortunately forumite bevvied has found) . This is where fasting can come into play

 

[MyQul]

I am a big herbal tea drinker and have always been led to believe there are many health benefits from these many I can feel obvioulsy a lot I cannot. Those being antioxidants.

Have to say I tried intermittant fasting and I will try it again maybe but when I did , I felt terrible after a week.. It was like it crashed my Tersterone levels very noticable..

I am 192cm I workout a lot I am not a gym bunny but I do try and maintain being althetic and typically need up to and some days if I did a lot of activity well over 3000cal.

For me I worked on my nutrition often porridge for breakfast with honey , mid morning fruit or nuts seeds / trail mix, a huel shake lunch afternoon cereal bars or fruit and a normal dinner.

I may give the fasting a try again, I certainly dont need to lose weight but I am worried I will have a crash again which didn;t feel good.

Fasting is supposed to boost testoserone levels. What could be happening is, if you drink a lot of coffee/eat a lot of sugar (or are particularly sensitive to it without knowing) fasting means that your withdrawing from coffee/sugar for an extended period of time. So you could be going through withdrawal symptoms?

 

[strange-steve]

Resetting the immune system sounds a bit pseudo-sciencey to me, and if you read the studies there's not a lot of evidence to support it. The majority of this research has been done on mice, which often has limited transfer to humans. The bit that was carried out on humans was in a very specific setting (chemotherapy side effects) and had a sample size of only 10, only 6 of of which reported a reduction in side effects. Also as was pointed out, this was for a 48 hour minimum fast which certainly is hardcore. That being said, I think the 5:2 diet is without a doubt a great way to lose weight and to keep it off, because compliance is probably easier for most people in comparison to other calorie restricting diets.

 

[Covrich]

Fasting is supposed to boost testoserone levels. What could be happening is, if you drink a lot of coffee/eat a lot of sugar (or are particularly sensitive to it without knowing) fasting means that your withdrawing from coffee/sugar for an extended period of time. So you could be going through withdrawal symptoms?

I dont drink Coffee and stick to low non caffine hot drinks.. I dunno I am not an expert but all my signs were what I woudl expect from a battered T level.. and when I decided to search it up it my resulst all shown suggested "skipping breakfast" style fasting can lower them significantly.. maybe they were rubbish but it certainly lined up with what I was expereincing.. I neevr did a Testererone test or anything but the symptoms were all there. It was after that I decided to alter my nutrition like I said and have felt great since.

I am not saying it doesnt work and perhaps I exectued it wrong but it threw my body out of balance. We are all different and respond to different things, which is why so many online studies will have just as many opposing studies as supporting ones.