What Happens To Your Body When You Starve?

What Happens To Your Body When You Starve?

Whether it's a ritual fast or prolonged starvation of the most involuntary kind, people have studied the effects of total food deprivation extensively. Some people view starvation as a traumatic ill that besets far too many members of the human population, while others think of it as a temporary method to cleanse your system by giving your system time to process all the food in your intestines. Either way, the effects of starvation on your body have been well documented, and occur in five phases. In today's article we will examine what those five phases are, and help you understand what happens to your body if you decide to fast.

The first phase lasts about eight hours, and is usually experienced by most people each night that they sleep. During those eight hours your body is still processing the food of your previous meals, and thus there is a ready amount of glucose being released into your blood. This means that nothing untoward or different yet occurs to your body. Within ten hours however of your last carbohydrate containing meal, about fifty percent of your dietary needs are being met by free fatty acids. This reflects the drop in available glucose.

The second phase kicks in after the first day of starvation. There will now be no glucose in your blood, forcing your body to turn to the stores of glycogen in your liver and muscles. These stores are not very large however, and so your body will continue to burn free fatty acids as well. Your stores of liver glycogen will usually become depleted within 12 hours.

The third phase which lasts the first week sees a dramatic increase in the process known as gluconeogenesis, wherein your body ramps up the production of glucose from protein. While this is going on, other tissues cut back their dependency on glucose.

The fourth phase of starvation begins a process known as ketosis, where your body begins to harness fat and turn them into a glucose replacement known as ketones which can feed your brain and certain other key tissues that are glucose dependent.

The fifth and final phase which begins with the second week sees a slowdown in gluconeogenesis and your body's dependence on protein as the process of ketosis really takes off. This last phase will last as long as you stay alive, ending once your body burns all available forms of fuel and you pass away.

POST COMMENT

Visalus Distributors - BodyByVi Uncovered: Three Solutions Designed to Radically Supercharge Your Income THE OVERALL HEALTH OF A PERSON Omega3 Fats Can Be Your Key to Good Health and Happiness Why Your Child Can't Sleep Health Degrees For Students Electronic cigarette: A convenient way of smoking cigarettes Symptoms of Cerebral Palsy Ladies, here is how to get skinny fast The thing that Can often be Incorporated from Hemorrhoids Photos? An Alzheimer's Disease - Is It The End of Your Life? Tricks on how to get really skinny Find Do Away With Of a Acne Condition - 5 Tips to Restore to Health a Acne Condition Electronic Cigarette Brands And Choosing The Best Stop Smoking cigarettes in No Time