Monday, June 28, 2010

Health Benifits of Fasting

There has been much contention in the scientific field about whether or not fasting is beneficial to one's health. Fasting is an integral part of many of the major religions including Islam, Judaism and Christianity. Many are dubious as to whether the physiological effects are as beneficial as the spiritual promoted by these religions. There is a significant community of alternative healers who believe that fasting can do wonders for the human body. This paper will look at the arguments presented by these healers in an attempt to raise awareness of the possible physiological benefits that may result from fasting.

Fasting technically commences within the first twelve to twenty-four hours of the fast. A fast does not chemically begin until the carbohydrate stores in the body begin to be used as an energy source. The fast will continue as long as fat and carbohydrate stores are used for energy, as opposed to protein stores. Once protein stores begin to be depleted for energy (resulting in loss of muscle mass) a person is technically starving.

The benefits of fasting must be preceded by a look at the body's progression when deprived of food. Due to the lack of incoming energy, the body must turn to its own resources, a function called autolysis. (2) Autolysis is the breaking down of fat stores in the body in order to produce energy. The liver is in charge of converting the fats into a chemical called a ketone body, "the metabolic substances acetoacetic acid and beta-hydroxybutyric acid" (3), and then distributing these bodies throughout the body via the blood stream. "When this fat utilization occurs, free fatty acids are released into the blood stream and are used by the liver for energy." (3) The less one eats, the more the body turns to these stored fats and creates these ketone bodies, the accumulation of which is referred to as ketosis. (4)

Detoxification is the foremost argument presented by advocates of fasting. "Detoxification is a normal body process of eliminating or neutralizing toxins through the colon, liver, kidneys, lungs, lymph glands, and skin." (5). This process is precipitated by fasting because when food is no longer entering the body, the body turns to fat reserves for energy. "Human fat is valued at 3,500 calories per pound," a number that would lead one to believe that surviving on one pound of fat every day would provide a body with enough energy to function normally. (2) These fat reserves were created when excess glucose and carbohydrates were not used for energy or growth, not excreted, and therefore converted into fat. When the fat reserves are used for energy during a fast, it releases the chemicals from the fatty acids into the system which are then eliminated through the aforementioned organs. Chemicals not found in food but absorbed from one's environment, such as DDT, are also stored in fat reserves that may be released during a fast. One fasting advocate tested his own urine, feces and sweat during an extended fast and found traces of DDT in each. (5)

A second prescribed benefit of fasting is the healing process that begins in the body during a fast. During a fast energy is diverted away from the digestive system due to its lack of use and towards the metabolism and immune system. (6) The healing process during a fast is precipitated by the body's search for energy sources. Abnormal growths within the body, tumors and the like, do not have the full support of the body's supplies and therefore are more susceptible to autolysis. Furthermore, "production of protein for replacement of damaged cells (protein synthesis) occurs more efficiently because fewer 'mistakes' are made by the DNA/RNA genetic controls which govern this process." A higher efficiency in protein synthesis results in healthier cells, tissues and organs. (7) This is one reason that animals stop eating when they are wounded, and why humans lose hunger during influenza. Hunger has been proven absent in illnesses such as gastritis, tonsillitis and colds. (2) Therefore, when one is fasting, the person is consciously diverting energy from the digestive system to the immune system.

In addition, there is a reduction in core body temperature. This is a direct result of the slower metabolic rate and general bodily functions. Following a drop in blood sugar level and using the reserves of glucose found in liver glycogen, the basal metabolic rate (BMR) is reduced in order to conserve as much energy within the body as can be provided. (2) Growth hormones are also released during a fast, due to the greater efficiency in hormone production. (7)

Finally, the most scientifically proven advantage to fasting is the feeling of rejuvenation and extended life expectancy. Part of this phenomenon is caused by a number of the benefits mentioned above. A slower metabolic rate, more efficient protein production, an improved immune system, and the increased production of hormones contributes to this long-term benefit of fasting. In addition to the Human Growth Hormone that is released more frequently during a fast, an anti-aging hormone is also produced more efficiently. (7) "The only reliable way to extend the lifespan of a mammal is under-nutrition without malnutrition." (5) A study was performed on earthworms that demonstrated the extension of life due to fasting. The experiment was performed in the 1930s by isolating one worm and putting it on a cycle of fasting and feeding. The isolated worm outlasted its relatives by 19 generations, while still maintaining its youthful physiological traits. The worm was able to survive on its own tissue for months. Once the size of the worm began to decrease, the scientists would resume feeding it at which point it showed great vigor and energy. "The life-span extension of these worms was the equivalent of keeping a man alive for 600 to 700 years."

In conclusion, it seems that there are many reasons to consider fasting as a benefit to one's health. The body rids itself of the toxins that have built up in our fat stores throughout the years. The body heals itself, repairs all the damaged organs during a fast. And finally there is good evidence to show that regulated fasting contributes to longer life. However, many doctors warn against fasting for extended periods of time without supervision. There are still many doctors today who deny all of these points and claim that fasting is detrimental to one's health and have evidence to back their statements. The idea of depriving a body of what society has come to view as so essential to our survival in order to heal continues to be a topic of controversy.

Friday, June 25, 2010

Learning how to go with the flow.

Success comes in being able to set goals, make a plan; however, more importantly, in being able to be flexible enough to change with the greater changes and still keep in mind those goals. I tend to think that while I make plans for my life and set goals, that God, "The Almighty", has an ultimate plan and goal for me. ...The Eastern Taoist "philosophers" would understand this wisdom as: that while I try to "do" life, life has a way of "happening". The wisdom, in one sense, comes in learning how to access that greater plan and have faith that God has plans to prosper us; and in another more philosophic translation it is to be an active part of the "happening" that seems to be part of life, all of life.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Approaching the hard problem of consciousness.

So, how is it possible for the intangible yet personally subjective experience of consciousness, can come from mere matter? Is this hard problem of consciousness something that can be answered through biochemistry and psychology, or will an answer come from knowledge not yet understood? Perhaps we are approaching the question in a reverse order than it really is, maybe we should ask, "how is it that perceived matter can exist from conscious experience. Or even possibly, it may be such that perceived matter and consciousness are two different forms of something fundamental to the existence of the universe. They could be just two different experiences of the same thing: matter is perceived through phenomenon, while consciousness is felt in a form more closely to the noumenon. Both matter and consciousness behave quite similarly to that which we call light. Light can be both a particle (matter) and a wave (consciousness). Just as light behaves as a wave until observed, when at that precise moment it collapses into a particle; quite similarly, may be the way matter and consciousness behave. They are simply two different forms of the same stuff. And, I believe it to be the stuff of the universe, of which it is made. And, yes, made as in created by an omnipresence in a patterned image of itself (like the infinite fractals within a hologram) known to mankind as God.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Center and Circumference of the self.

Without the center there is no circumference, and without the circumference there is no center. .. In this way the human being is inseparable from the whole of the universe... one's centrality of existence is something like an aperture of which the fundamental principle of the universe has come alive and can view itself.

Noumenon and consciousness

An excerpt from one of my analytical papers on the nature of consciousness:

Consciousness, is an awareness; however in its noumenon form it is a particular series of energetic principals and patterns occurring in nature that we may understand as “I” myself, and is not separate from our bodies and souls; however, is of o...ur body, which is greater than mere physical consideration, that exist in a conjoined relationship with our environment and universe; inasmuch consciousness is the unifying factor of self between what separatist logic deems as the body and as the divine...

As noumenon is an archaic word predominately utilized by Kantian philosophers, I will define it here as from the same paper.

Noumenon: The aspect of reality that is the true form of the phenomenon, not based on appearance but something greater and usually undetectable by ordinary means. Or, The noumenon (from Greek νοούμενoν, present participle of νοέω "I think, I mean"; plural: νοούμενα - noumena) is a posited object or event that is independent of the senses. It classically refers to an object of human inquiry, understanding or cognition. As a concept it has much in common with objectivity, that which is tangible but not perceivable; the reflection of phenomenon.
The term is generally used in contrast with, or in relation to "phenomenon", which refers to appearances, or objects of the senses. A phenomenon can be an exceptional, unusual, or abnormal thing or event—but it must be perceptible through the senses; A noumenon cannot be the actual object that results in the phenomenon in question. Noumena are objects or events known only to the mind - independent of the known and ordinary senses. It may be further contrasted with the perception and processing of a phenomenon in the human mind.

If you think about the fact that we human beings utilize less than 10% of our brain capacity, and many of us even less than that, there is yet another 90% which is a potential or unseen.

To also consider, briefly, what ancient Chinese philosophers called Tao Te is most simply translated as The Way. The way that oceans wave, the way that the sun shines, the way that birds migrate, the way of things in their most natural state. What they were talking about was that deeper sense of things, that Western philosophers call noumenon. I ... See Morefind it even more interesting that Jesus Christ, the "I am" also understood himself as "The Way". Perhaps that because of the very nature of his Divinity was rooted in the source of that which is the ultimate nature of God and God's way. How else would the son of God be able to tell the world that he is indeed the Divine one of prophesy than to describe himself "I Am" (the transcendentally divine consciousness), and "I am The Way". Furthermore, he stated he is The Way, The Truth, and The Light, all of which when considered in the context of the noumenon would be ways that would best describe that the truth central to the core of reality, that which is beyond existence, that which is the noumenon itself.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

You get what you pray for.

Indeed, it seems, that for any of the wisdom virtues to grow and become incorporated into the soul, they must be challenged. I prayed for patience and I was gifted with a son who is as challenging as myself. I prayed for my life to change for the better, and I was allowed to nearly destroy myself prior. I prayed to never feel alone again, and I was... See More gifted with an amazing wife and children. I prayed to become humble, and I was given a job to toilet and bathe the demented and dying. I pray for wisdom daily, and it usually comes threefold in personally challenging ways that are more like exercises or tests. I think that when we talk to God directly and ask him to increase our potential, if our hearts are aligned, we are given just what we pray for; thus, "Be careful of what you pray for, you just might get it". Now, think of a good parent as a steward, nurturer, and trainer, as our Heavenly father is our ultimate parent in these ways. He doesn't just give us what we ask for because that would not really "create" us in a lasting way; instead, he acknowledges us and allows us to receive these wisdoms and spiritual fruits through meeting the challenge of circumstances. Again, this is why faith is of the most important virtue for taking upon the path of such internalized wisdoms.

Spiritual tools of faith

Immanuel Kant described reality observable through scientific things as phenomenon, and aptly called the central unseen center of reality as the Noumea, or Noumenon.Our world seems to readily believe in things that it can see and measure with ruler and pen; however, there are others tools with which we encounter the me...taphysical, the spiritual, God in essence. Those tools are glimpsed in the peripherals of our conscious experience, and are internalized as things like faith, love, forgiveness, etc... They are the spiritual tools of which have been implanted in each and every human being so that each of us may indeed come to know (personally) that which is beyond existence and time and space, so that we may come through faith to know God. Indeed, Kant left off with simply stating that this needed more investigation in a metaphysical work, because at the time he was writing "The critique of pure reason". Still, however, as a fellow INTP (who impulsively searches for meaning and truth) he could not dismiss the overwhelming fact of the human experience to those intuitive kinds of tools that seem to be ingrained somewhere deep in our souls.I can see that Faith is belief in things unproven and unseen, for it is itself something unseen but surely felt; more deeply in some than in others. It has also been said that Faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see (Heberews 11:1) On a bit of a rabbit trail this is an excellent chapter discussing deeply the virtue and wisdom of faith.