Episode #56

Siim Land

Fasting and Muscle Mass, a Deep Dive into mTOR, and Reaching Autophagy With and Without Fasting

mTOR is the growth switch or anabolic switch in the body that’s going to switch you from the catabolic mode or fasted mode into a fitted state that’s going to facilitate cellular growth. Click To Tweet

Raise your hand if you’ve ever tried intermittent fasting or are considering trying it.

Now I want you to raise your hand if you’ve ever reached autophagy.

While I can’t see you, I’d bet that close to half or more have probably never heard of that word or, maybe you have but don’t really understand it, and that your hand went down when I asked the second question.

Even if you have heard of it, did you know that fasting isn’t the only way to reach autophagy?

Most people don’t realize that one huge benefit of fasting is reaching autophagy, an incredible life-extending process that you’ll learn more about in this episode where our guest Siim Land shares his incredible knowledge on the topic.

Siim has been obsessively studying autophagy and fasting for years but, instead of delivering his findings in a complex form, he uses one that’s easy enough to understand for both beginners and seasoned pros alike.

Because of that, you’ll hear about a range of topics from the basics of autophagy and why it’s so beneficial to complex ones like mTOR, fasting and muscle mass, and what happens to your body during fasts that stretch over a few days.

Fasting for 3-5 days is not long enough to experience significant muscle loss. Click To Tweet

We also dive into helpful tips for breaking a fast, keeping a fast going, and how to find the sweet spot for your body in terms of how long to fast.

And if you’ve never heard of Siim Land before, you’ll find his educational videos all over his YouTube channel.

On this platform — along with his other popular ones where he has a combined social following of close to 100k followers — he shares his incredible knowledge on all things fasting and autophagy.

But instead of having boring videos, Siim — who happens to be a best-selling author too — creates ones that are funny and engaging and also easy enough to understand.

You can see from his videos that he’s a wealth of knowledge in this area, which is why I couldn’t wait to get him on the show and pick his brain.

Instead of having to cherry pick through his extensive library of episodes to find answers, tune into this episode where we cover these topics and more:

  • Siim Land’s background and journey with intermittent fasting
  • What is autophagy?
  • The benefits of autophagy
  • Is it possible to reach autophagy without fasting?
  • What else can get you to autophagy
  • What happens if you’re metabolically flexible?
  • Siim also shares his tips for getting started with fasting and time-restricted feeding
  • How to measure autophagy
  • You’ll also hear what he thinks about fat fasting and fasting mimicking diets
  • What breaks a fast and how to postpone it
  • Sugar alcohols and calorie free sweeteners during a fast
  • How to find the optimal dose of fasting for you
  • Fasting long-term on muscle mass and lean mass preservation
  • Should you workout during a fast?
  • mTOR and fasting, including what it is and how it affects protein synthesis
  • Should you have carb refeed days?
  • Tips for the carbs you’re eating on refeeds
  • What a day of eating looks like for Siim and how long he fasts for
  • Siim also shares his go-to foods, both protein sources and vegetables
  • The two food categories you shouldn’t combine and why
  • The supplements he uses
  • Low protein diets for longevity and mTOR

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