Fasting has shown to increase cellular stress response, which is impaired with age. Aging is cellular degradation; it's quite simply a loss of function. Free radicals, which are toxic byproducts of metabolism, latch on to and destroy healthy cells and cause aging.
The moment that you're born, the second law of thermodynamics, also known as the universal forces of entropy, which degrades all living things, begins to attack you. It's just what it is, and you can't do anything to change that.
You can, however, choose to not accept death so easily. You do in fact have the equipment to defend yourself.
This natural arsenal of weaponry to combat aging includes all the natural rejuvenation processes to fight off oxidative damage, such as the antioxidant system (any collection of enzymes that serve as a person's natural cellular defense mechanisms). And guess what can help you use it to the fullest possible extent. You guessed it. Fasting is one of the two ways to combat premature aging (the other being exercise).
It's no wonder nature favors the lean and wiry. Fasting is an acute stressor, much like exercise, and through stressors, your body can thrive. In fact, hunger and exercise are specifically the primal rejuvenation triggers.
Studies have shown, again and again, that the human body flourishes when faced with physical and nutritional challenges. In fact, a 1982 study found that mice fed every other day outlived mice fed regularly by 82 percent. This rejuvenation happens through the process of autophagy.
Furthermore, eating, especially heavy eating, actually hastens the aging process. Too much insulin and mTOR overactivity speed up the rate of cellular degradation. And so, as you may expect, people combat aging by not eating.
Here are some of the positive physiological benefits brought about from a lack of food:
Cellular cleansing and tissue rejuvenation
Improved body composition
Increased energy efficiency
Increased resistance to fatigue
Physical hardship, or stress, isn't what kills people. Pleasures are what kill people. Overindulgence is what kills people. Through stress, people thrive, and hardship makes the body grow stronger. In other words, those people who eat less tend to live longer. But there's more to it than that. People who eat less also tend to live healthier.