Did you know your body is a powerhouse machine that is capable of delivering a self-detox?  

This natural process is called autophagy, it’s the process of how your body cleans out the bad cellular stuff and keeps your systems tuned. There is emerging evidence to suggest that autophagy can be influenced and provide a range of health benefits including supporting anti-aging, vibrancy, and wellbeing.  

The Cambridge Dictionary defines Autophagy as ‘a  natural process in which the  body breaks  down and  absorbs its  own  tissue  or cells ’ - it’s as though the body so clever it is able self-clean by identifying the damaged cells and nurturing the rest. Sounds great right but how do we maintain autophagy? 

As we age our bodies are exposed to more pollutants and toxins, meaning a greater build-up of damage. Think about a brand-new vacuum cleaner, as opposed to one that is years old. The new one is clean and shiny with powerful suction. The old one has cleaned many crumbs, missed some filter changes and the suction is not what it was.  

While autophagy naturally happens in the background, it may not work as well as it should or once did. The good news is that autophagy can be naturally triggered or even increased through following these top tips: 

• Practice intermittent fasting (of course!) 
• Eat a high-fat, low-carb diet - aka go keto, helping you to burn ketones (fats)  
• High intensity interval training - autophagy loves the short-term stress! 
• Sleep well - restorative sleep, interrupted or fragmented sleep has been found to disrupt autophagy 
• Try a protein fast once a week - limiting protein intake to 15-25g per day so that your protein recycles