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Lipedema & Autophagy

I was recently diagnosed with Lipedema and my legs have been in pain. I was talking with my brother in law last night and he's done 48 hour fasts before and actually suggested trying a week long fast to initiate true autophagy. His theory is that my body will target my diseased fat cells and get rid of them. My question is does anyone know of any links to any research, if there is any research on this subject? I am very interested in his theory and have been wanting to try an extended fast anyway so why not if it'll help my legs. Also, any information/research on lipedema itself would be helpful as well. Thanks.

Answer

The number one recommendation to alleviate lipedema is to lose weight. From what I can tell there is limited data to suggest fat cells have shorter apoptosis cycles (programmed cell death), which is what autophagy help trigger. Currently it looks like it will trigger after years of “being inactive”, and this is likely due to it being triglyceride based versus amino acid based (which autophagy mainly goes afterwards).

That being said, fasting in combination with a diet providing low inflammation (for some people it’s low carb, others it’s vegan, for me it’s carnivore) will helpDeplete your fat stores and shrink your fat cells. The lower inflammation helps keep water from filling up those cells ones the fat is used, and helps keep the weight loss going.

Depending on what fasting you have done, I would start with ADF with the fasting day having no calories with exception of a tiny bit of cream in your coffee if you tolerate dairy. More in depth suggestions can be given with a bit more information about what you have done, your other goals, etc.