Debbie Cousins's Journal, 09 May 21

congratulations on both 

Glad you can worship with your church family. Hope that diet coke doesn't trigger your addiction to have more after your fast is over, even though it does kill up to 50% of your friendly bacteria in your gut. You are doing great otherwise, and am so glad for you. You have a great attitude about your husband taking out his mother and others. Happy mothers day. Love ya. 

Happy Mother’s Day 👩 

Congrats. Does the chicken thing affect autophagy? 

WTG!!👏👏👏👍🎉💐 

Chewing up and spitting out food is a very concerning behavior exhibited by people who are struggling with eating disorders, please be careful. ❤️ 

Thank you for your concern, @she_loves. I really don't think I have an eating disorder, but I AM addicted to food and to Diet Coke - working on trying to break those addictions now, so I can have a healthy relationship with both. @ruthe1213, not sure whether "the chicken thing" affects autophagy or not. I would think it would not, but since it is a strange behavior, it wasn't in any of the 7 books I read about fasting. Yes, @snowwhite100, I am being very mindful to keep it to no more than 12 ounces a day (1 can). Last night, I was REALLY tempted to get another sip, and even put my hand on a fresh can, but God gave me the strength to refrain. I too hope (pray) that having the 1 can a day won't set me up for going back into my addictive behavior of drinking 1 LITER a day. Even though I am drinking the DC in small amounts, I am still drinking water in LARGE amounts. "Normally," I would drink exclusively DC in a day. Yesterday, I had a full gallon of water, spaced out over a 12-hour period. 

I understood, specifically regarding autophagy, any amount of protein will knock a person out of autophagy, at least temporarily, or stall it from happening at all. Autophagy is very sensitive to the presence of protein. Protein is THE trigger for cell rebuilding or growth hormone, so it stops/stalls the autophagy phase or cycle. Protein, or actually the lack of it, for most of us, generally causes hunger, more than fat or low glycemic vegetables. That's why some people cannot consume even bone broth when trying to fast, it knocks them out of autophagy and induces hunger cravings. That's why some pros recommend totally fasting from protein specifically for a day or two before beginning an extended fast, because when your body senses the total absence of protein as fuel, usually on day 3 of a fast, that's when not just cravings, but genuine (natural) hunger pangs begin. If you'll reread or watch the videos for what Dr. Fung says about autophagy I think he even says it's a relatively very small amount of protein which will "break" or prevent autophagy. Too much coffee for example, which has tiny amounts of protein, could be enough to stall autophagy for some people. So while coffee can be very helpful for fasting in general (so for weight loss), if a person drinks more than, I think it's like, 3 cups or so in a day they'll be preventing autophagy, despite the other wonderful benefits of fasting. So, if some of the protein is swallowed in your saliva, it might interrupt autophagy specifically and might be promoting hunger cravings. I also understand, Autophagy benefits cycle, or rather peaks after a few hours and wanes off. I'll try to find where I read how many hours. It takes like 24-36 hours of fasting to fully induce autophagy, then the benefits of it peaks over something like the following 24-36 hours of fasting so that the full benefits are minimal after about 4-5 days of fasting. I understood, the benefit of autophagy (say for stopping or preventing cancer, or healing organs or tissues, or getting rid of skin tags, etc.) is not in how long of an extended fast a person can achieve, but in understanding and following the cycle of it. Specifically for autophagy (not fasting in general) I believe it is better to do so many hours/days to induce the cycle of autophagy which cleans out damaged or abnormal cells, then so many eating hours/days to induce cell rebuilding or regrowth through consuming food, high quality foods which include fats, protein and vegetables to get all the vitamins/minerals, then so many hours fasting again to re-induce the autophagy phase, etc., etc., and on and on. Like in the feast, famine, feast, famine, cycle of existence our hunter-gatherer ancestors did before agriculture. Just my thoughts. (I know you didn't ask my advice, but, if you would like, I can also give you some advice on how to pray specifically to break a stronghold, like cola. When you get mad enough, get angry enough, and take your authority in Christ's name, to command cola or any food consumption cravings to stop, they will. It's up to you as a Child of Christ with authority over all aspects of your body, to take control and command your body to obey. --Now, advising that and doing it is another, speaking of myself. I wouldn't be here now if I always followed my own advice. My strongholds have been very dark (90%) chocolate and alcohol, especially the alcohol. I have them under control at the moment, but haven't evicted them entirely. I don't desire to evict them totally for several reasonable health and social reasons, so I'm not angry enough to get rid of them permanently. But it really is like trying to domesticate a demon, to make it acceptable to live with, when it should be sent to hell since it keeps trying to take authority over me rather than the other way around.) Hope you had a great Mother's day Debbie! Praying for you that all your plans succeed and that God continues to lead you through each phase of your journey! 

Thanks DLynne for the info on autophagy. 

Thank you so much, @DLynneGarner for the very thoughtful and thorough explanation of autophagy!!! It was so kind of you to take so much time to help enlighten me about the process of it! Yes, I agree that we DO have the authority over strongholds, if we ask for it in Christ's Name. I don't know that it's a once-for-all thing, though? Could it be that God continues to let us be tempted so that we will continue to lean on Him? I would LOVE to be able to get rid of food and Diet Coke addictions FOR GOOD. I know God blesses some people in that way - an alcoholic who has no desire for alcohol after getting saved, for instance. Then, there are others who continue to struggle for victory every day. "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!" (Romans 11:33) Thanks for prompting me to remember that! 

I apologize for being so wordy.