Transcription
So today I'm going to teach you a new word. All right, it's a very long word, and then I'm going to describe what it is. This way, you can go to a party and sound very smart. So what is this word? The word is AMPK. What does that stand for? Five prime adenosine monophosphate activated protein kinase. Okay, so just memorize that word, and you can use it at a party.
So what is this thing? Well, it's the mitochondria protector. They call it the guardian of your metabolism. Now, in this sense, metabolism isn't necessarily just about weight loss; it's about producing energy, and this energy is produced in the mitochondria. So basically, it's the central regulator of energy homeostasis. Homeostasis is the ability to adapt the internal part of your body to the external part, the environment, so we can maintain survival.
For example, if it's cold outside, our body starts to shiver to increase temperature. That's homeostasis. If you were to run upstairs, your pulse rate would go up to adjust for the need for oxygen to your brain so you wouldn't pass out. That's homeostasis.
So AMPK basically is an enzyme that adapts to things that deplete your cellular energy. It senses this drop in energy in the ATP, which is like the energy currency of the body within the mitochondria, and then it adapts the mitochondria and other things to be more efficient so it can survive. It's going to increase more ATP and decrease the consumption of ATP. So basically, it rewires your metabolism to make it more efficient.
Any time we're talking about efficiency in the cells, we have to talk about autophagy. Autophagy is the condition in your body where you're recycling old, worn-out cell parts and turning them into new cells. So AMPK triggers autophagy and mitophagy.
Now, what is mitophagy? That's a condition where you're recycling damaged mitochondria into new mitochondria. What's significant about that is there are so many diseases, including cancer, that are related to damaged mitochondria. Then we have something called xenophagy, which is the removal of intracellular pathogens and turning that material into new cells.
Now, isn't that cool? To be able to get rid of pathogens, viruses, and bacteria that are unwanted in your body? As a side note, it suppresses tumors, it's anti-cancer, it helps you get rid of diabetes, and it helps get rid of a fatty liver. But other than those things, it pretty much doesn't do anything else.
All right, so now what's the significance of this enzyme? The main thing we want to know is how do we trigger it? Well, anything that lowers your energy will trigger it, like low glucose, as in a low-carb diet, and hypoxia. I know what that is; that's low oxygen. I've done a video on this where you can exercise with a certain breathing restriction mechanism to induce hypoxia, and that can activate that as well.
We also have exercise, because you're using up your glucose. Fasting, of course, is the big one; you're depleting your glucose and then running on ketones. Metformin, by the way, which I'm not recommending, and I'm not telling you to get off your metformin either, but I'm just telling you that metformin is a synthetic version of a natural plant chemical that helps you with insulin. It makes insulin more sensitive and also helps your liver not make so much glucose. Of course, a lot of diabetics are using metformin. I think out of all the medications for diabetes, that one probably is the least damaging.
But if you're on metformin, I would highly recommend you start taking vitamin B1 and B12 because metformin can deplete you of B1, and that can increase your risk of lactic acidosis. Now, there are some other things too that can increase this enzyme, AMPK. Polyphenols—what are polyphenols? It's a natural compound in certain plants. Resveratrol from red grapes can increase this enzyme. Certain phytonutrients in green tea can do it. Berberine is another natural extract that can help increase it. Curcumin is another one; I've done a lot of videos on that. Ginseng is another one, and alpha-lipoic acid.
So anyway, I just wanted to teach you this long, complex word so you can sound smart at a party. Comment down below and let me know how that goes. Hey, before you go, if you're benefiting from any of my content, I would love to hear about your success story. Please share it in the link down below.