Juice cleanses have been one of the most trendy cleanses promoted for good health. However, there isn’t a whole lot of evidence to support the claim that they detox you from anything.
The human body is actually built with it’s own mechanism for detoxing the body. However, our modern American lifestyle does not take advantage of this fact.
The first thing you can do to detox is simply lose weight. This is because our fat is typically where our body stores toxins not cleaned out by the body. But, if you are at an ideal weight, there are still a few things that can help detox your body without having to force yourself to drink green juice all day for month.
In this new article from the Bulletproof Blog, they talk about how a process called Autophagy is the real way to cleanse your body:
“Forget Juice Cleanses. Autophagy Is the Real Way to Detox Your Body
By: Bulletproof Staff
Over time, humans evolved to live longer because of our ability to respond better to biological stressors. Now, a Newcastle University study[1] finds that this ability is due to small adaptations in a protein known as p62 that induce autophagy (“self-eating”), a vital process where your body cleans out damaged cells and toxins to help regenerate newer, healthier cells.
Autophagy is the key to improved human lifespan
Over time, our cells accumulate a variety of dead organelles, damaged proteins, and oxidized particles that clog their inner workings, accelerating aging, inducing dementia, and increasing the risk of cancer as well as other age-related diseases. Because many of our cells, like those in the brain, need to last a lifetime, the body has developed a unique way of getting rid of those faulty parts and defending itself naturally against disease. The body’s natural cleaning process, which recycles the junk in your cells and turns it into energy, is known as autophagy. There are several ways you can turn on your body’s autophagy process (that have nothing to do with juice cleanses). When you activate autophagy, you slow down the aging process, reduce inflammation, and boost your body’s natural ability to function.
Study reveals protein p62 induces autophagy
According to the Newcastle study, this is where a protein called p62 comes in. By sensing the metabolic byproducts that cause cell damage (called reactive oxygen species ROS), protein p62 activates to induce autophagy, or start cleaning. That’s when they remove all the damaged goods that have accumulated in your body, so that you’re better equipped to handle biological stress – and this is what keeps you young and healthy.
Researchers created genetically modified fruit flies with p62 – and they lived longer
While humans possess this capacity, lower organisms like fruit flies do not. So the research team set about identifying the part of human protein p62 that allows for the sensing of ROS. They then created genetically modified fruit flies with ‘humanised’ p62. The result? The ‘humanised’ flies survived longer in stressful conditions. “This tells us that abilities, like sensing stress and activating protective processes like autophagy, may have evolved to allow better stress resistance and a longer lifespan,” says the study’s lead author Dr. Viktor Korolchuk.”
One of the ways to kick start the autophagy process is so go on a protein fast by limiting your protein consumption just a couple days a week.
There are also three other simple ways you can detox the body via autophagy. To find out what these are, finish reading the blog post on blog.bulletproof.com.
Photo By ikkyartz