How Fasting Works & Tips to Enhance w/ Jason Fung, MD

What I found to be very effective when it comes to initiating a fast is suppressing your glucose early ... If you're trying to get the most benefits from your fast, make sure that your last meal is low in carbohydrates.

Insulin stops you from burning fat. Why? Because insulin is telling your body to gain fat, so you don't want to burn fat and gain fat at the same time. So, we say insulin inhibits lipolysis.

Calorie restriction in and of itself leads to changes in cortisol. So, people that are embarking on calorie restriction for longevity, science has shown that they have a reduction in thyroid hormone and an increase in cortisol.

What I found over the years of interviewing people that embark on intermittent fasting [or] periodic extended fasts is they generally look younger.

Over the course of a 5-day fast, growth hormone increases 3-5x.