Constant fasting is harmful to the body, but when it comes to short-term fasting, not only various kinds of practices aimed at spiritual development, but modern science confirms its benefits. At the same time, short-term fasting not only contributes to the cleansing of the body and rapid weight loss, but also the natural renewal of cells and the strengthening of the immune system.

The fact is that when you are starving, the body tries to conserve energy, and one way to do this is to “recycle” a lot of immune cells that it does not currently need. In particular, damaged cells of the immune system fall under distribution.

In studies conducted on both mice and humans, experts deprived the subjects of food, which led to a decrease in the number of white blood cells in the body. They are responsible for the fight against diseases and fill the blood in case of penetration of disease-causing agents into the blood. However, the matter did not end with a drop in the level of leukocytes: the fasting cycle led to a natural “restart” in the production of leukocytes.

After 2–4 days of fasting, the hematopoietic system destroyed older and damaged immune cells and formed new ones. Scientists believe that short-term fasting is useful not only for the immune system, but also for other systems and organs of the body.

Intermittent fasting causes the body to store sugars, fats, and ketones and break down a significant amount of white blood cells. Ketones are produced when the body converts fat into energy and are major players in the weight loss field.

Intermittent fasting allows the body to use fat as its main source of energy. It helps speed up the metabolism and improve intestinal peristalsis, giving the digestive system a break. Such a break in food intake contributes to more efficient burning of calories, as if reminding the body of the correct digestive process.

Intermittent fasting is like a reset button for the whole body. It creates a healthy environment in which the body releases regulated hormones to learn to recognize real hunger. If a person eats every 3-4 hours, his body does not know what real hunger is. Having freed the body from the process of digestion for 12–24 hours, you give it the ability to focus on the regeneration of other systems.

Also, short-term fasting helps to eliminate toxins from the body and regulate the work of the “filtering” organs – the liver and kidneys.

Important! The fasting period should not exceed four days, and throughout the entire fasting period, it is necessary to increase the amount of water consumed.

With each “session” of intermittent fasting, the depletion of the white blood cell population leads to the formation of new cells of the immune system. When the protein kinase A (PKA) enzyme decreased along with the white blood cell count, the researchers realized that there was a “switch” in the body that allowed the formation of new cells and led to a decrease in IGF-1 levels, which is associated with aging, tumor growth and the risk of developing cancer.

To transfer stem cells to the regeneration mode, it is necessary to disable the action of PKA, as a result of which stem cells begin to proliferate and, accordingly, lead to the renewal of the system.

Also, the healing effect of intermittent fasting is to get rid of damaged or old elements that are no longer able to work effectively. This explains the beneficial effect of short-term fasting on the immune system after chemotherapy – it (the immune system) is simply updated.