a 2019 study on rats. Actually, the rats fasted for 24 hours and they were actually shown to have an increase in intestinal stem cell production, meaning the body was creating new, young, stress-resilient stem cells after just a 24-hour fast. Welcome back to the podcast. Today's episode is on four proven ways fasting heals your gut and stops autoimmunity. This is a great episode. I'm going to break down all the science on fasting and how it improves gut health and immune health and stops autoimmunity. Please share this with somebody that you know and that you care about. If you're looking for health coaching, if you need help in your health journey, check out our long distance health coaching page on drjockers.com. You can email us at info at drjockers.com. So I-N-F-O at drjockers.com. And we'll get you information on our long distance health coaching program. We work with people all over the world, help customize programs to help you reach your health goals. So be sure to check us out and you can find everything you need from a natural health perspective at drjockers.com. Best articles and infographics on every major health topic. Of course, if you're enjoying these podcast episodes, take a moment, leave us a five star review and share this with somebody that you know and that you care about. Thank you so much for doing that. Thank you for being a part of our podcast community. And let's go into this episode on fasting, using fasting to heal your gut and stop autoimmunity. I have great news. You can regrow your hair. You see, scientists in Switzerland have made a stark discovery. Hair loss doesn't have anything to do with age. In fact, it has to do with your hair follicles getting turned off. And now they found out how to turn them back on. You see, your hair cycles through three main phases, growth, transition, and shedding. And here's the problem. Some people's hair just doesn't grow back after shedding. The follicles get stuck before they can return to the growing phase. That's where anagane nu comes in, a compound carefully extracted from pea sprouts by Swiss researchers. This compound is clinically proven to stimulate hair follicle cells and turn them back on, sending them immediately into the growing phase. To guarantee you experience these effects, Purality Health has infused Anagane New with their powerful MyCell liposomal formula so that your body can fully absorb and use this compound. But don't just take my word for it. Purality Health gives you six whole months to try their formula so that you can see this new growth for yourself. Plus, they're currently offering a special buy one, get one free deal backed by a 180-day money-back guarantee. So six months to try it out risk-free. To access this exclusive buy one, get one free deal and turn your hair follicles back on, simply visit renewyourhair.com forward slash DRJ. That's renewyourhair.com forward slash DRJ to start regrowing your hair today. Hey, today we're talking about four ways that fasting or intermittent fasting improves gut health and autoimmune conditions. We know that all autoimmune conditions as well as chronic inflammatory conditions have something in common. There's damage in the gut. And so when we look at our small intestine, which is the largest portion of the human gut, the small intestine is only held in by one cell wall, which is almost kind of like my fingers here gliding together. And then when we're under stress, when we're eating bad foods, when we're not sleeping right, we start to actually tear that intestinal lining. It starts to tear and little openings start to occur. And those openings can allow large undigested food molecules to slip into the bloodstream, bacteria, other pathogens and microbes and bacterial waste products that end up driving up inflammation in the body. The body says, wow, there's a lot of potentially problematic proteins in my blood that could kill me quickly because most of our ancestors died from some sort of a infection that got into the blood, typically from some sort of a tissue wound, like if they were hit by a spear or if they had some sort of trauma, they would get a tissue wound. Bacteria would get in the blood, spread wildly throughout the body, and then they would end up with meningitis or they would end up with pneumonia or encephalitis where they get infections in vital organs. And so because of that the body is primed to make sure that we don end up with some sort of infection affecting our vital organs and it will end up creating inflammation Over time that inflammation can actually turn into autoimmunity. So in order to heal the gut, in order to heal autoimmune conditions and chronic inflammatory conditions, we've got to heal and seal the gut. And fasting is one of the best things we can do in order to heal the gut and support the gut microbiome. The reason why is Number one, it actually heals the gut lining. We're taking mechanical stress off the gut. Just like a sprained ankle or a broken ankle, if you want to heal, you can't be walking and jumping on your ankle. You actually need to rest it. The typical advice is rest it, elevate it, right? Put ice on it, compress it. And the resting process gives time for the body to heal all that connective tissue. So we need to rest the gut as well. The good thing is gut lining, the cells in our gut lining, they actually turn over every three to five days, meaning we've gotten an entirely new intestinal lining every three to five days. That's really, really quick healing. Whereas our cartilage, different tissues that make up our joints, I mean, they can take months, if not years to fully regenerate and heal. And that's why we typically have to stay off of a damaged joint for something like four to six, sometimes eight weeks to allow it and give it time to heal. With our intestinal lining, we don't necessarily need to do that. In fact, a 2019 study on rats, actually the rats fasted for 24 hours and they were actually shown to have an increase in intestinal stem cell production, meaning the body was creating new, young, stress-resilient stem cells after just a 24-hour fast. Now that is a rat study. It might take a little bit longer for humans, but a lot of people have noticed, A lot of anecdotal evidence shows that a lot of people have seen big improvements in their gut health with things like a 16-hour fast, an 18-hour fast, 20, 24-hour fasting on a regular basis has created better gut health, lower levels of inflammation in the body, lower levels of autoimmunity. And it could be because of some of this intestinal stem cell production. So that's one of the key things. We actually heal the gut lining. We take the mechanical stress off the gut. Number two is we reduce inflammation in the gut as well as the entire body. Research has shown that when we fast, when we are undergoing intermittent fasting, we help modulate or balance the immune system. What we do with that is we increase something called T-regulatory cells, which basically help to balance the immune system. and we decrease inflammatory T cells like Th17 cells and different cytokines like interleukin-6, which are associated with chronic inflammation. So studies have shown that fasting, intermittent fasting reduces inflammation. That's going to reduce the wear and tear in that gut lining. And of course, that's going to reduce overall systemic inflammation throughout the whole body. Number three is it improves the gut microbiome. And so researchers have been looking at the gut microbiome, and we know the gut microbiome plays a really critical role in overall health and, of course, all chronic inflammatory conditions. And what researchers have shown is that the greater diversity in the gut microbiome, meaning the different number of species, the more of the overall quantity of species of gut microbes, the healthier the individual is. And when that diversity reduces, the greater propensity for chronic inflammation and autoimmunity occurs. So research has shown that when we fast, we actually increase the overall alpha diversity in the gut, meaning the overall diversity in the gut has been shown to increase. In fact, they actually did a study. This, again, was on rats. They had a rat do an 18-hour fast daily for five weeks, and it showed significant improvements in the overall alpha diversity of the gut microbiome. On top of that, another study, this is actually a meta-analysis in the journal Advanced Biology, it actually showed that when we're fasting, right, when we're doing intermittent fasting, that it actually increases diversity and the production of short-chain fatty acids, which have an anti-inflammatory effect in the body. This is things like butyric acid, which is a preferred fuel source for enterocytes, for the intestinal cells, and it helps strengthen and create more resilience in the intestinal cells and reduces overall inflammation in the body. So powerful stuff right there And in fact when we look at the gut microbiome we have two major classifications of bacteria We have primary feeders which sit on top of the intestinal mucosa So riding right along that one intestinal cell line that we talk about in the small intestine is what we call the mucosa. The mucosa is where the primary area of our immune system is. In fact, our gut, they say, 70 to 80% of our immune system is in our gut, and it's actually right in the intestinal mucosa, so this layer of mucus right on top of the intestinal cells. There's primary feeders that live right above the mucus, and then there's secondary feeders in the gut that are inside of the mucus. And these secondary feeders, many of them can actually eat the mucus. In fact, there's one key bacteria called Ackermansia mucinophilia. Mucinophilia means mucus loving, It actually can eat the mucus, loves to eat the mucus, and will actually produce different postbiotic nutrients from that that are very healing and reparative for the gut lining. And so what happens is when we're constantly eating every few hours, we're constantly feeding ourselves, we actually end up overfeeding what's called the primary feeders, right? They start to overcrowd. So they start to overpopulate and overcrowd and they starve out some of the secondary feeders or they crowd out, I should say, the secondary feeders in the intestinal lining. We actually get a reduced level of gut mucosa and we have less secondary feeders. What if your only resolution this year was to get better sleep? Just imagine how much more energy you'd have, how you'd handle stress better. Pretty much all your goals would be easier, right? That's why the smart way to start 2026 is with CBD from CB Distillery. Get this, over 90% of CBD customers say they sleep better with CBD. That's tough to beat. And when you sleep better, everything feels easier. And CB Distillery has options for more than just sleep. Solutions for stress relief, mood, and pain after workouts. You can shop by benefit so it's easy to find what you're looking for. everything from cb distillery is premium quality third-party tested and free of artificial dyes or fillers and they have over 2 million happy customers and a 100 money back guarantee so if you're ready to start the year off right go to cbdistillery.com and use my code dr jockers that's D-R-J-O-C-K-E-R-S for 25% off. So go to cbdistillery.com, code Dr. Jockers, cbdistillery.com. Specific product availability depends on individual state regulations. And the way that I think about this is that actually, like in my yard, I've got an apple tree and I've got a blueberry bush. And so our apple tree, its branches will grow. and every single year we actually have to cut back some of the branches in the apple tree in order for the blueberry bush to get enough sun because the branches, the apple tree, will actually crowd out and shade the blueberry bush so it doesn't get the sun it needs to produce blueberries. So in our gut, we'll have these primary feeders which overcrowd the secondary feeders and now we get a lower production of secondary feeders, particularly acromanzium mecinophilia. Acromanzia mecinophilia is called the keystone bacteria in the gut because it's been associated in studies with when we have enough acromanzia with lower rates of autoimmunity and chronic inflammatory conditions. So we really want to support acromanzia. So intermittent fasting actually has been shown to reduce the overpopulation of primary feeders and that allows for the proper production of the gut mucosa and the secondary feeders that live in the gut mucosa. Acromansia will eat some of that gut mucosa and will actually stimulate the goblet cells in the gut to produce more mucus. So we get a stronger, thicker, healthier mucus lining. That's where the immune system lives, again, right above that small intestinal lining. And that helps protect these small intestine from pathogens, from bad bacteria, bad bacterial toxins, right? Endotoxins, different things like that, that drive inflammation. So we need that healthy gut mucosa, acromanzia is key for that. So going back to that apple tree, blueberry bush example, we actually have to cut some of the branches We have to trim the hedges and the branches we have to prune them back in order for enough sun to now get on the blueberry bush So we get a good harvest of apples on the apple tree as well as blueberries on the blueberry bush. That's really what we want. This is all part of an ecosystem. So we want the proper diversity of primary feeders and secondary feeders. Intermittent fasting gives us time between meals and allows for that to happen. And in fact, a study, a 2020 study actually showed that when, and this again was a rat study, it took three groups. One group fasted for 12 hours overnight. The other group fasted for 16 hours and another group fasted for 20 hours. What they showed was that basically the group that was fasting for 16 to 20 hours showed dramatic increases, right? An optimization of acromanzia and mesinophilia levels. And so doing something like a 16-hour overnight fast at least a few times a week can be really beneficial for supporting the diversity of the gut microbiome and the production of these secondary feeders like acromanzia, which strengthen the mucosa, the gut mucosa, and the gut immune system, right? So they help balance the gut immune function and help protect against leaky gut syndrome and chronic inflammation in the gut. So really powerful there. and then the fourth thing is the fasting increases intestinal cell resilience and here's why when we have optimal levels of acromansia acromansia will eat polyphenols from our diets let's say we take in some extra virgin olive oil or some oregano or some berries that we consume some blueberries or something along those lines we will get these polyphenols polyphenols you know the primary feeders will eat some of those. Some of them will drop down into the mucosa. The secondary feeders like acromanzia will eat them. Acromanzia as a postbiotic, when it's after it's had healthy food, healthy polyphenols or gut mucosa, it will produce something called urolithins. These urolithins will actually go into the mitochondria in the intestinal cells and stimulate what we call mitochondrial biogenesis or the formation of new mitochondria. And also they'll do something called mitophagy where they'll stimulate the breakdown of old damaged senescent mitochondria, these aged mitochondria, and the formation of new healthy stress resilient mitochondria. And really ultimately the mitochondria will produce all the energy in the cells. The healthier the mitochondria are, the healthier the cell is. The healthier the cell, the more stress resilient the cell becomes. That means the cell can now handle more mechanical stress. It can now handle higher levels of inflammation and toxins and be able to adapt and recover to it. So ultimately the quality of our life is going to come down to the amount of stress resilient mitochondria that we have in the cells of our body and in particular in the cells of the small intestine because it's so absolutely vital for protecting the bloodstream from these large undigested proteins that trigger inflammation throughout the body. So these are the four ways that fasting improves gut health and helps improve autoimmune conditions. Again, heals the gut lining by reducing mechanical stress, reduces inflammation, helps balance the immune system, improves the overall diversity of the gut microbiome, and helps improve the levels of keystone bacteria like acromanzia macinophilia. and then number four is it actually helps to improve the intestinal cell resilience so your body can handle more stress and successfully adapt to it so you can really thrive in life. Hopefully you guys enjoyed this and we'll see you in a future video training. Be blessed. Well, that's all for this show and I want to thank you again for spending your valuable time with me today and if there was something you heard in this interview that you have questions on or you want to dive into deeper, then drjockers.com is the best place to go. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider taking just a quick moment and giving us a great review. Your reviews help us influence more people and transform more lives. And if you took something valuable away from this episode, then please share it with someone in your life. You know it can help. We'll see you soon on a future podcast. Be blessed, everybody. Thank you.
