COVID-19 Outbreak Information Updates (Reboot) [over 150.000,000 US cases (est.), 6,422,520 US hospitilizations, 1,148,691 US deaths.]

I don't want to get too far down the intermittent fasting helping covid rabbit hole, but that's not the only way to induce Autophagy. A 10-40% calorie restriction (long term, like 3+ years) is the strongest inducer of autophagy. Intense exercise, probably HIIT, also induces it. There are lots of ways to starve cells.

However, it goes also delve into the whole point of overall healthy eating, and any improvements towards that, usually makes people feel better.
I agree that fasting isn't the only way, however research shows that fasting is just as good if not better than exercise for autophagy.

Simply reducing caloric intake will not do it. Autophogy doesn't really happen while the liver has glycogen and even small amounts of protein, fat, or carbohydrate halts autophogy