Naked Science Forum

Life Sciences => Physiology & Medicine => Topic started by: ArmenArtist on 15/09/2006 10:01:06

Title: Fast
Post by: ArmenArtist on 15/09/2006 10:01:06
Fasting helps to heal because the energy normally used to digest food is redirected.

Now, the 'energy' used to digest food is in your stomach.

Now, the stomach has i think...more 'brain chemicles' or neurotransmitters than the brain, and so the 'energy' that helps to heal is...mental energy in your stomach?

i notice that before i eat, i feel more spiritual than after i eat, and other people connect fasting to religious spirituality.

Is that 'spirituality' because our stomach is making us more aware of ourselves, with its neurotransmitters, instead of directing its energy into food?
Title: Re: Fast
Post by: simon_alfie on 15/09/2006 13:13:45
I would disagree.

I would say the spiritual feeling you get from fasting is more to do with lack of sugars in your brain. You will get what I would describe as a "light headed" feeling.

After eating a large amount you will often feel sleepy, and this is due to the stomach requiring additional energy to digest the food.
Title: Re: Fast
Post by: another_someone on 15/09/2006 14:18:18
Dopamine is an important neurotransmitter in the brain, yet receptors for it in many places in the body, not least in the intestinal tract.

http://ajpregu.physiology.org/cgi/content/full/279/2/R599
quote:

Dopamine (DA) is regarded as an important modulator of enteric function. Recent experiments have suggested that newly cloned DA receptor subtypes are widely expressed in peripheral organs, including the gastrointestinal tract. In the present studies, the D1A receptor subtype was identified in rat gut regions through localization of receptor protein by means of light microscopic immunohistochemistry and Western blot analysis and receptor mRNA by RT-PCR and in situ amplification and hybridization (3SR in situ). D1A receptor immunoreactivity was shown to have a diverse distribution in the gastrointestinal tract, being present in the gastroesophageal junction, stomach, pylorus, small intestine, and colon. The receptor has a transmural distribution present in both epithelial and muscle layers as well as in blood vessels and lamina propria cells of different gastrointestinal regions. Western blot analysis demonstrated a single 50-kDa band for esophagus, stomach, duodenum, jejunum, and colon. The in situ hybridization signal was localized to the same sites revealed by D1A receptor immunoreactivity. RT-PCR revealed an appropriate sized signal in similar regions. This study is the first to identify expression of the central D1A receptor throughout the normal mammalian gastrointestinal tract.
immunohistochemistry; messenger ribonucleic acid




Serotonin is another neurotransmitter that exists in the intestines.

http://altmedangel.com/ibs.htm
quote:

(Serotonin is made in the intestines, which is also where 95% of the body's supply is located -- most of the rest is in the brain, with trace amounts in the blood and other organs.)



It would make sense that the body would have means to reduce the alertness of an animal when it's apatite has been sated – why would an animal has to be on full alert when it no longer needs to hunt, or that its level of alertness should be raised as it feels hungry.



George
Title: Re: Fast
Post by: gecko on 16/09/2006 02:10:48
i think the spiritual feelings you may get from fasting are a result of your relating fasting to spirtuality. if you expect to feel that way, you will.
Title: Re: Fast
Post by: ArmenArtist on 16/09/2006 02:59:01
No, it is a proven fact.  like a drug.  you cannot control it.  And by spiritual, i simply mean a more medatitive state.
Title: Re: Fast
Post by: another_someone on 16/09/2006 03:02:15
quote:
Originally posted by gecko

i think the spiritual feelings you may get from fasting are a result of your relating fasting to spirtuality. if you expect to feel that way, you will.



What is meant by spirituality?

Insofar as you may refer to religion, then I would agree that one can only associative the feeling with a particular by virtue of prior conditioning; but if you are talking about a feeling of 'other worldliness' in some way, a feeling that better lends itself to a spiritual perception of the world, then one can well imagine that this might be due to some shift in neurotransmitters within the brain.



George
Title: Re: Fast
Post by: neilep on 16/09/2006 03:45:21
It would be good to get a medical doctors opinion as to whether there is in fact any known data to corroborate that fasting for a certain period of time actually does you any good at all....or bad for that matter !

ArmenArtist...How long do you fast for ?....and what about liquids ?

Men are the same as women, just inside out !
Title: Re: Fast
Post by: ArmenArtist on 16/09/2006 08:15:06
5 days the most.  but ive read books about it, and the news media, during the whole terry chiavo thing, spoke with doctors about how she in her 'fast' was feeling elated because of the hunger and thirst.
Title: Re: Fast
Post by: neilep on 16/09/2006 20:13:57
5 days !!!...does that include drink also ?

Men are the same as women, just inside out !
Title: Re: Fast
Post by: neilep on 16/09/2006 20:13:57
5 days !!!...does that include drink also ?

Men are the same as women, just inside out !
Title: Re: Fast
Post by: Karen W. on 19/09/2006 07:08:32
That does not seem safe!! As a religious offering I have fasted once amonth and only for two meals and water has been a part of mine..

Karen
Title: Re: Fast
Post by: Karen W. on 19/09/2006 07:08:32
That does not seem safe!! As a religious offering I have fasted once amonth and only for two meals and water has been a part of mine..

Karen