間歇性禁食：健腦抗衰老

文/拉格達·扎伊通 瑪拉·烏達 譯/劉偉

The food we eat acts as the primary source of energy that enables our body to perform its daily functions.Our eating habits and the type of nutrition we consume have a long-term effect on the health of our brain and internal systems.Recently, the concept of intermittent fasting has been trending as a “diet”to lose weight.But the truth is it is not a diet at all.In fact, it is an eating pattern and a lifestyle that is as old as humanity itself, by which our bodies are designed to fast, and you already do it every day.

2From the time you eat your last meal at night, to the time you eat breakfast in the morning, you’re fasting.Intermittent fasting is about gradually pushing out this window until your brain and body start reaping the benefits.So, as long as you meet all your nutritional requirements within your eating window and avoid artificial ingredients or overly processed foods, any meal plan would feasibly work.

我們所吃的食物是確保我們身體能執行日常功能的主要能量來源。我們的飲食習慣以及攝入的營養類型會給我們的大腦和體內各系統的健康帶來長期影響。最近，間歇性禁食的理念已成風尚，人們將其視作一種“節食”減肥法。事實上，間歇性禁食根本不是節食，而是一種和人類本身一樣歷史悠久的飲食模式和生活方式，我們的身體就是為適應禁食而生的，而且你已經每天都在這樣做了。

2從晚上吃完最后一頓飯到早上吃早餐，這中間你都在禁食。間歇性禁食就是逐漸推開這扇窗，直到你的大腦和身體開始受益。因此，只要你在飲食窗口期內滿足自身所有營養需求，避免攝入人工配料或過度加工的食物，任何膳食計劃都是可行的。

3Intermittent fasting has many benefits to the human body which include reducing insulin resistance while sustaining brain health, promoting neuroplasticity, and minimizing diseases caused by inflammation.

4Although conventional advice would have us believe that we need to eat every 2—3 hours to sustain ourselves, our evolutionary history paints a different picture.Our hunting and gathering ancestors didn’t have regular access to food like we do, so their bodies had to develop a way to operate without a consistent source of glucose.That’s where fasting comes in as a survival mechanism.

5In the same way that you might clean your home and throw out the things you don’t need, fasting is our body’s way of detoxing itself, a process called autophagy.Fasting for extended periods allows your body to cleanse itself and use up leftover nutrients from the previous day’s meals, which triggers a process called “metabolic switching”.This is when the body switches its energy source from glucose to stored fat.

6Metabolic switching slows the aging and disease processes and promotes weight loss in obese individuals.Fasting could potentially prevent breast cancer in both women and men, and studies suggest that it may improve longevity.Intermittent fasting also prevents inflammaging, a process where aging is accelerated in the presence of elevated levels of inflammatory markers in the blood.

3間歇性禁食對人體好處多多，其中包括降低胰島素耐受性、維持大腦健康、提高神經可塑性，以及最大限度地減少炎癥誘發的疾病。

4一直以來我們聽從建議，認為自己需要每隔2—3 小時就餐一次以維持生命，但我們的進化史卻描繪了另一番景象。我們以狩獵和采集為生的祖先不像我們現在這樣擁有穩定的食物來源，因此他們的身體只得進化出一種機制，確保在沒有葡萄糖持續供給的情況下依舊能運作，這時禁食作為一種生存機制發揮作用。

5就像你在家大掃除，扔掉不需要的東西，禁食是我們身體排毒的方式，這個過程叫作“自噬”。長時間禁食可以讓身體自我凈化，耗盡前一天飲食中的剩余營養，這個過程會觸發“代謝轉換”。此時，身體將其能量來源從葡萄糖切換為儲存的脂肪。

6代謝轉換能延緩衰老和疾病進展，還能促進肥胖人士減重。禁食可能有助于預防女性和男性乳腺癌，還有研究表明禁食可以延年益壽。此外，間歇性禁食可以預防炎性衰老，也就是血液中炎癥標志物水平升高從而加速衰老的過程。

7Intermittent fasting can be used to help maintain brain health.In addition to slowing the aging process,it increases neuroplasticity in the brain.This helps optimize brain function and increase the brain’s resistance to injury and disease.Intermittent fasting also triggers autophagy, which prevents the onset of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s.

7間歇性禁食有助于維持大腦健康。除了延緩衰老外，它還能增強大腦的神經可塑性。這有助于優化大腦功能，增強大腦對損傷和疾病的抵抗力。間歇性禁食還會觸發自噬，這個過程可以防止神經退行性疾病發作，比如阿爾茨海默病和帕金森病。

8禁食還可以驅散腦霧，讓思維更敏銳。許多禁食人士反映自己的思維更清晰了，情緒也得到了改善，這有利于腦—腸連接，增強整體幸福感。

8Fasting can also clear brain fog1腦霧是大腦難以形成清晰思維和記憶的現象，可表現為思維和反應遲緩、模糊、混亂，健忘，注意力難以集中，情緒低落等。除疾病外，誘發腦霧的因素還有睡眠不足、酒精或藥物成癮、焦慮情緒、饑餓、缺水等。and sharpen the mind.Many people who fast report clearer thinking and improved moods, which can benefit your brain-gut connection2腸神經系統有“第二大腦”之稱，它與真正的大腦之間存在一個強大的雙向交流系統。迷走神經是連接腸道和大腦的重要紐帶，它通過傳入纖維將有關內臟器官狀態的信息傳送給大腦。and increase your overall happiness.

9To summarize, the benefits of fasting are numerous and clear.It can promote longevity, healthy aging3世界衛生組織于1990 年提出了“健康老齡化”的概念。這個概念指的是老年人個體的身心健康及良好的社會適應、老年人群體的健康、健康預期壽命的延長以及與社會整體的協調等的總和。, lower your risks for diseases and improve your brain’s overall health.Intermittent fasting provides you with the perfect framework that allow your body to heal itself and enables you to plan your meals ahead of time.■

9總而言之，禁食有很多顯而易見的好處：可以延年益壽、促進健康老齡化、降低患病風險、改善大腦的整體健康。間歇性禁食為你提供了一個完美的準則，能讓你的身體自我療愈，也使你能夠提前規劃飲食。 □