Autophagy, catabolic, anabolic

[Velocibuddha]

This is no doubt a mine field and I think most “nutrition” and “health” studies are pseudoscience (at best).

I do imagine that there is an interesting interplay going on between different elements related to diet, exercise and health.

That some of the more neutral posters might have some interesting comments and insights.

So let me state my superstitions and then my questions:

My superstitions:

1. A) I believe that a low calorie diet (especially one that is high in nutrients, other than simple carbs) - promotes longevity and “health.”
   This is idea is promoted in the link below and by several doctors I know.
   B) That a high activity level increases calorie requirements but does NOT undermine A).

2. Too much simply sugar and/or sports nutrition will undermine the positive effects of 1B).
   That most research into sports nutrition is funded by the manufacturers of sugary sport’s nutrition products. That it is therefore very hard to establish a good understanding of what the correct balance might be.

3. A) Occasional autophagy (burning through blood sugar) - promotes health and longevity and good long term hormone balance.
   B) That occasional light training in autophagy (or light training that pushes one into autophagy) is also beneficial.
   C) That chronic or very hard training in autophagy-inhibits recovery, destabilizes hormones and is highly disruptive.

Questions:

1. What simple (at home strategies) might a high volume/ high intensity athlete use to ensure they have struck the correct balance?
   Weight, energy levels, attitude, sleep, heart rate, pinch test?

2. What simple (at home strategies) might a low volume/ low intensity athlete use to ensure they are maintaining the correct balance.
   “Low body” fat might be a good indicator.
   But it seems many athletes hide behind the fiction “that they are just big guys.”
   Or the fiction that 30lbs of marbled (nonlean) pecks, abs and biceps will produce improvements in longevity and “health”.

3. How to establish if the funk one is currently suffering from is caused by: a) too much self-flagulation, b) not enough, or the wrong kind, or c) if it’s caused by aging, or something else?

Here is a typical article for non-athletes

https://honehealth.com/...s-autophagy-fasting/

[philly1x]

What could possibly go wrong with reading and following the advice found on the linked web site?

$US130/mo to have a dr on call to get scripts for T (and whatever else you might need) just in case you run out before a big event.

[James2020]

1. A) I believe that a low calorie diet (especially one that is high in nutrients, other than simple carbs) - promotes longevity and “health.”

Being a lower weight generally correlates with better health, to a certain point.

Many people report feeling full of energy and more “awake” when fasting. It’s the same process as starvation - cortisol spikes and energy expenditure goes up (evolutions way of saying you need to go forrage/hunt for some food). Having raised cortisol levels is not particularly good for health.

I’m not sure there is any strong research to suggests high intake of simple sugars is any worse for health in active otherwise healthy people consuming a diet at maintenance calories and hitting all their macro and micronutrient recommendations.

Although it’s kind of moot as I don’t think anyone is suggesting consuming lots of simple sugars outside of training anyway. If anything simply because they are usually too easy to overeat from a kcal point and view and generally quite empty kcal (fruit being the exception).

Also worth noting that when you take on simple sugars during exercise, the uptake mechanism is different. You don’t get the insulin spike for example. So again, even if you can prove simple sugars are bad in general you’d have to show this uptake mechanism produces the same outcomes.

That most research into sports nutrition is funded by the manufacturers of sugary sport’s nutrition products.

There are a lot of independent researchers working on sports nutrition. Go and read the academic papers and they will state who if anyone funded them. Back when I worked in a sports science department, carb drinks was a popular choice for undergrad research projects because it’s so cheap and easy to do i.e. if you want to research it there’s little need for a corporate sponsor.

You are right that researchers don’t put any focus on the health. They are simply interested in designing products that improve performance. They will improve performance, the research is overwhelming.

Performance =/= health. Nobody wants to talk about the potential negative effects of chronic endurance training. If your goal is health/longevity over performance cutting back on endurance training and doing more strength training might be another consideration.

Occasional autophagy…

Our bodies go through autophagy all the time. Yes it can be increased but it’s not an on-off process.

Some guru’s seem to think it’s the solution to all problems, and get far too excited about what they can see in a Petri dish/animal model. Truth is we are still at a far too early stage to really know, there’s lots we don’t understand, and even some conflicting things - for example autophagy has been shown to both increase and suppress cancer.

Recent review paper conclusion:

“…there are some scientific studies to suggest that autophagy can have positive, but also negative health effects…Nevertheless, scientists still do not have a clear picture of all health implications of autophagy, so further researches are necessary, especially with the human subjects (most of researches have been conducted on non-human subjects).”
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.803421/full

There’s also the classic reverse causation problem of finding autophagy is lower in clinical groups and suggesting it is the cause of the disease. When it might just be the case sick people have less autophagy.

Also, there is some suggestion that fasting is sub-optimal for building or even maintaining muscle.

To answer your questions, completely optimising your health 100% is almost impossible, and would send you crazy trying. The good news is you can get the majority of the benefits by doing the things we all already know:
Good sleep
Regular exercise
Maintaining a healthy weight
Good diet. We can argue over exactly what this looks like but most dieticians would agree: maintenance kcal, no processed foods, adequate protein, lots of fibre, fruit and vegetables.