When water fasting, feel free to have two large cups of green tea because it stimulates autophagy – which is the most important process for cleansing and rejuvenating the body! It is the catechin content that promotes autophagy, and catechin also has strong anti-inflammatory and antiviral effects. In case of water fasting, coffee is also good because it contains the polyphenols (also called flavonoids) which stimulate autophagy. Text: Sannas Fastebok.

Green tea has long been a popular health drink in Asia due to its many beneficial properties, and it is now common and highly valued in the West. Green tea has been shown to have beneficial effects against a variety of diseases such as cancer, obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and neurodegenerative diseases.

• FACTS ABOUT AUTOFAGIA: is the main process of cleansing and rejuvenating the body, replacing old cell parts and proteins with new ones. It provides essential rejuvenation, as the accumulation of junk proteins in the brain and other tissues increases the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and cancer, among others.

Tea, especially green tea, has been shown to activate autophagy due to its catechin content. EGCG (epigallocatechin-3-gallate) is the most abundant catechin in tea, and it also has strong anti-inflammatory and antiviral effects. You need to drink a large cup of green tea (at least 4 dl) to get the right dose of EGCG and get the autophagy effect. Coffee (preferably organic) is also good because it has polyphenols that stimulate the body’s central self-cleaning mechanism.

There are also other benefits, see box below. For example, research has shown that the catechins in tea have the potential to inhibit the dangerous metastasis of breast cancer cells. They do this by modulating specific proteolytic enzymes, which suppress the formation and development of tumors.

Find your favorite green tea!

The production of green tea is more gentle than that of black tea. It preserves many more nutrients in green tea, than when black tea is made using oxidation. Therefore, green tea is rich in antioxidants and also a smaller amount of vitamins and minerals. Green tea contains caffeine just like coffee, but less than half the amount of caffeine found in a cup of coffee.

Try to find a green tea that you like, because there is a big difference in quality, taste and even caffeine content varies. I like green, organic sencha tea in bulk.

I recommend for water fasting only green Senchate, because it is produced by steam treatment of the green leaves so minimum of impact. You can buy excellent quality green tea for intermittent fasting or VASS – water fasting here: https://naturalshop.se/crearome/crearome-te-gront-sencha-eko-100-g/

-> When you’re not fasting , it’s good to have green tea flavored with ginger, lemongrass, hibiscus, rose hips and more. Yerba mate tea is a delicious, nutritious and invigorating tea.

• Water fasting (therapeutic fasting ) involves the intake of only water. It is the real fast when autophagy and a series of biochemical processes are activated, which are not activated by calorie restriction because carbohydrates or proteins (even a few amino acids) break the essential autophagy directly. You can drink any cup of green tea or coffee (all organic and not sweetened) because it stimulates autophagy. More products for the VASS fast https://naturalshop.se/vass-fasta/

FACT: research has shown that catechins

• is good for the skin as it stabilizes collagen and prevents brittleness in the finest blood vessels (capillaries) that oxygenate the outer layers of the skin.
• reduces the risk of many common cancers, and also has preventive functions in low-potency treatment.
• suppresses human cell proliferation
• can trigger apoptosis (natural cell death) of breast cancer cells.
• stimulates apoptosis related to calcium, thereby further promoting cancer cell death via natural body systems (such as using the P53 protein).
• can provide significant inhibition of tumor formation due to the fact that catechins inhibit DNA methylation (suppress DNMT, DNA methyltransferases) as well as increasing the levels of sulfur-containing and scavenging methionine products (SAH, S-adenosylhomocysteine).

I’m always a fan of good flavors, and the best thing about fasting is that your sense of taste and smell is ten times sharper, so everything you eat afterwards tastes phenomenal – and your body notices what’s good.

–> Yame Sencha is like the champagne of green tea. It is considerably more expensive but not really as 1/2 tsp of tea leaves is enough for three cups of tea, you just add hot water. Here is from the very first harvest of the year 2022, tea of the highest quality – Sencha from Yame, Fukuoka.

Dr. Sanna Ehdin

• Text mainly from Sannas Fastebok and read more there!
• Read more about autophagy
• Read blog on 12 reasons to start fasting
• Read about What are the different types of fasting?

References:

• Cao, Y., Cao, R., Angiogenesis inhibited by drinking tea. Nature 1999 398:381.
• Nabavi SF. et al  Regulation of autophagy by polyphenols: Paving the road for treatment of neurodegeneration. 2017 Biotechnology Advances 36(6).
• Pallauf K. & Rimbauch G. Autophagy, polyphenols and healthy ageing. Ageing Res Rev 2013 12(1):237-52.
• Ohishi T et al, Anti-inflammatory Action of Green Tea. Antiinflamm Antiallergy Agents Med Chem 2016 15(2):74-90.
• Xiang L-P. et al. Suppressive Effects of Tea Catechins on Breast Cancer. Nutrients 2016 8(8), 458.
• Xu J et al, A Review of the Antiviral Role of Green Tea Catechins. Molecules 2017 12;22(8):1337.

More references can be found in Sannas Fastebok.