After you eat a meal, some of the food that is processed through your liver is stored in the form of glycogen. This glycogen is stored in order to be utilized as energy in the form of glucose in between meals. It takes about 12-18 hours to deplete these glycogen stores naturally, without exercise. Once depleted, your body shifts its energy metabolism towards burning fat for energy. In other words, individuals who eat three dispersed meals a day and do not exercise rarely deplete their glycogen stores. There may be significant benefits to depleting these stores beyond just burning fat. The human brain uses ketone bodies for energy rather than glucose when the body’s glycogen stores are depleted. Ketone bodies have been shown to benefit the brain due to their ability to increase the production of proteins called ‘neurotrophic factors.’ These factors increase the growth, connection, and synapses of neurons which can improve memory!
Exercise and intermittent fasting are two proven ways 
to deplete glycogen stores and shift the body’s metabolism to burning fat for energy. Because fasting and exercise are mild energetic stressors to the brain, the neurons respond adaptively by increasing mitochondria, which helps them produce energy more efficiently, increase learning ability, and also slow the aging of human cells through slowing the shortening of telomeres. This phenomenon may also help explain why we feel as though we have better focus when we are not eating as heavy.
Please note that this information does not apply to diabetics
Written by: Student Doctor Navpreet Singh Badesha
