Fast

1. Promote insulin sensitivity, which is crucial for your health, as insulin resistance or poor insulin sensitivity contributes to nearly all chronic diseases
2. Promote leptin sensitivity
3. Normalize ghrelin levels, also known as the "hunger hormone," resulting in lowered hunger
4. Improve blood sugar management by increasing insulin-mediated glucose uptake rates
5. Lower triglyceride levels
6. Increase human growth hormone production (HGH) — Commonly referred to as "the fitness hormone," HGH plays an important role in maintaining health, fitness and longevity, including promotion of muscle growth, and boosting fat loss by revving up your metabolism. Research shows fasting can raise HGH by as much as 1,300 percent in women and 2,000 percent in men. The fact that it helps build muscle while simultaneously promoting fat loss explains why HGH helps you lose weight without sacrificing muscle mass, and why even athletes can benefit from intermittent fasting 7. Suppress inflammation and reduce oxidative damage
8. Upregulate autophagy and mitophagy, natural cleansing processes necessary for optimal cellular renewal and function
9. Boost fat burning and improve metabolic efficiency and body composition, including significant reductions in visceral fat and body weight in obese individuals
10. Prevent or reverse Type 2 diabetes, as well as slow its progression
11. Improve immune function
12. Lower blood pressure
13. Reduce your risk of heart disease — One study11 found those who fasted regularly had a 58 percent lower risk of coronary disease compared to those who never fasted
14. Reproduce some of the cardiovascular benefits associated with physical exercise
15. Boost mitochondrial energy efficiency and biosynthesis
16. Shift stem cells from a dormant state to a state of self-renewal
17. Reduce your risk of cancer
18. Increase longevity — There are a number of mechanisms contributing to this effect. Normalizing insulin sensitivity is a major one, but fasting also inhibits the mTOR pathway, which plays an important part in driving the aging process
19. Regenerate the pancreas and improve pancreatic function
20. Improve cognitive function, thanks to rising ketone levels
21. Protect against neurological diseases such as dementia, Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease, thanks to the production of ketone bodies (byproducts of fatty acid breakdown, which are a healthy and preferred fuel for your brain) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF, which activates brain stem cells to convert into new neurons, and triggers numerous other chemicals that promote neural health)
22. Eliminate sugar cravings as your body adapts to burning fat instead of sugar