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Eating unhealthy fried vegetables and grains (kuttu-coated fried pakoras) or sugar- loaded sweets, as happens in many religious fasts, does not provide any gut gain.

SIRTUINS : The POWER GENES

• sirtuins are housekeeping genes, which are responsible for the repair and maintenance of cells.

• We all have these ‘skinny genes’. In mammals, there are seven of them. They determine our ability to burn fat and our susceptibility to disease, and help regulate our lifespans.

• recent studies in which yeast cells were engineered to produce higher than normal levels of sirtuins made the cells live 30 per cent longer.

• What gives sirtuins this power? Their ability to make cells switch to a survival mode, in which cellular toxins are cleared and fat is burnt.

• how can we activate sirtuins? Fasting, exercise and certain foods.

• plant chemicals called polyphenols can help activate sirtuins.

• Nutritionists are working on a ‘sirtfood’ diet: it is high in plant-based foods that contain polyphenols and sirtuin activators (berries, turmeric, kale, coffee, chocolate, red onions, extra virgin olive oil, etc.).


Here comes an end of chapter - 10