Welcome to the Doctor Burg, Healthy Keto and Intermittent Fasting Podcast.

Now, your host, the man taking your health to a whole new level.

Doctor Eric Burg.

So, you always want to fast during an infection as much as possible.

It's going to really help you. We're going to talk about why.

Fasting is amazing. It delays aging. It can extend your life span.

It does the same thing with insects and animals.

And when we get sick, we tend to lose our appetite.

The reason why is because fasting creates a profound effect on your immune system.

There's all sorts of genetic survival mechanisms that occur when we stop eating.

When you stop eating, your body starts to burn your fat, start making ketones.

Ketones have anti-infective properties, so they can act as an anti-microbial to some degree.

Also, when you fast, you increase the survival of your T-cells and your B-cells.

Now, the T-cells are the ones that run the immune system, kill microbes, help put the fire out,

help reduce inflammation. B-cells have to do with making antibodies, so you have a memory of the infection,

so you can fight the infection off the next time that microbe comes around.

Fasting increases the survival of both of these.

But initially, when you fast, you get a drop in the white blood cells.

The lymphocytes decrease in the blood.

Now, where are they going?

They're going into the bone marrow, and they're going into the gut, and they're recharging, and they're eating.

Now, we get an increase in memory cells, which help destroy pathogens much faster.

...