Cut Out Lunch. Bring in Autophagy.

A study by the National Library of Medicine found that 74% of Americans are overweight, which includes 43% who are considered obese (Linda 1). This places the United States at #1 for obesity rates amongst wealthy, high-income, developed nations. Just for comparison, Mexico is under 37%, the United Kingdom is under 28%, Canada is under 27%, France is at 10%, and Japan is under 6% (Global Obesity Observatory). Adjusted for population differences, for every obese person in Japan, there are more than 7 in the United States.

The solution to this is introducing autophagy. Autophagy is when the body reuses old and damaged cell parts by fasting, restricting calories, switching to a high-fat and low-carb diet, and exercising (Cleveland Clinic 1). By extending the time frame between two meals to approximately 16–24 hours, autophagy increases. If you eat dinner around 6 PM and eat breakfast/brunch around 12 PM, that’s 18 hours.

Water, tea, salt, and electrolytes are generally considered safe to consume during a fast. Coffee, diet sodas, and gum are more debatable. Anything with calories, protein, or carbohydrates breaks a fast. The best time to fast is during your sleep, as it is usually the longest chunk of the day that people do not eat, and that window can be extended by reducing the number of meals before bedtime and right after waking up.

The benefits of this are remarkable; 20 years' worth of research suggests that they can prevent disease by destroying pathogens and can increase cell efficiency by removing nonfunctional cell parts. In addition, some studies show that it can potentially slow down the aging of cells and extend life spans.

Fig. 1. Exercise-driven cellular autophagy: A bridge to systematic wellness. ScienceDirect, 3 Jan. 2025, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2090123224006131

After personally giving it a try myself, the first few days were difficult to get used to, particularly because my body wasn’t used to going those long periods without eating. However, by the end of the week, that desire had gradually faded away, and I got used to the feeling of hunger. Another adjustment to my life that I had to make was more of a social aspect; eating only breakfast and dinner every day meant skipping lunch and just sitting there with my friends around campus while watching them eat. It removed me from a consistent routine that I had been following basically my entire life. Furthermore, for the slow eaters out there, eating only two meals a day instead of three saves a large chunk of time. For most meals, I have to buy the ingredients, prepare the food, consume it, and then clean it afterwards, which can often take hours off the day. This allows me to allocate that time to other productive activities and tasks.

If you have ever tried cutting out a meal in a day, what was the hardest part about it? Why not give it another try, but this time, more strategic?

Works Cited

Searing, Linda. “News: About 74 Percent of Adults in the U.S…. (the Washington Post) — behind the Headlines — NLM.” NCBI, 18 Dec. 2020, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/search/research-news/12328/. ‌

Global Obesity Observatory. “Ranking (% Obesity by Country).” World Obesity Federation Global Obesity Observatory, 2022, data.worldobesity.org/rankings/?age=a&sex=t.

Cleveland Clinic. “Autophagy: Definition, Process, Fasting & Signs.” Cleveland Clinic, 23 Aug. 2022, my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/24058-autophagy.

Fernández, Álvaro F, et al. “Autophagy Couteracts Weight Gain, Lipotoxicity and Pancreatic β-Cell Death upon Hypercaloric Pro-Diabetic Regimens.” Cell Death & Disease, vol. 8, no. 8, Aug. 2017, pp. e2970–e2970, https://doi.org/10.1038/cddis.2017.373. ‌

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Obesity and Severe Obesity Prevalence in Adults: United States, August 2021–August 2023.” CDC.gov, CDC, Sept. 2024, www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db508.htm. ‌

Zhou, Xiao-Han, et al. “Exercise-Driven Cellular Autophagy: A Bridge to Systematic Wellness.” Journal of Advanced Research, 1 Jan. 2025, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jare.2024.12.036. ‌