Hunger

I put myself on a diet a while back. I’m a little overweight. I lost ten kilograms last year then put seven back on again. I was working hard at the time and I don’t seem to work well with no sugar. I was concentrating on getting jobs done and putting less emphasis on other issues such as eating restraint. I am on another Trans-Siberian Railway trip.  I am traveling from Vladivostok to Irkutsk. I put in an increased effort this time away to loose weight. I have discovered something. If I go to bed hungry, I am not hungry when I wake up. Last night’s hunger seems to have no influence on my hunger level in the morning.

I also found that, if I have a cup of decaf coffee when I get up, I can often last two or three hours before having breakfast. Perhaps, that is why it is called: “Breakfast.” as in ‘break’ ‘fast’, meaning a break in the fasting. This means that many days I don’t eat for twelve hours. I have informally included this into my diet: ‘avoid eating for twelve hours each day. I shall write more on fasting in a while. Part of the task is to learn to operate while feeling hungry. That is quite difficult.

Another interesting observation is that hunger does not operate like the fuel gauge on a motorcar. Hunger does not measure the fullness the stomach and give a direct reading from empty to full. I can see overweight people in the popular ‘fast-food’ restaurants pushing food into their mouths. They clearly do not need this volume of food.

Another interesting observation is that when an ‘interesting’ female walks past, the hunger feeling disappears. Another observation is that sometimes my stomach feels bloated but my hunger sensation is demanding that I eat something sweet. If I try to get writing like this done or some database work, my hunger is demanding sugar. A cup of hot chocolate is sufficient to quell the overwhelming demand. I have my own ‘Hot Chocolate’ recipe. I have a glass jar in the kitchen containing a mix of forty percent Cadbury Hot Chocolate and sixty percent Nestlé cocoa. I create the hot chocolate with hot water only. I try to limit myself to one hot chocolate each day, but often I am not strong willed enough. Subconscious desire overpowers neocortex personal discipline. This is somewhat like holding your breath for a minute. Your subconscious overpowers the neocortex. The subconscious does not allow your neocortex to demand actions of the subconscious that the subconscious deems inappropriate. Interestingly, our brains never had a system to tell us not to overeat. Overeating must never have been an issue in our development.

These observations and others have brought me to the conclusion that the feeling of hunger does not emanate from the stomach but from the subconscious reptile brain. It is the same with pain and other ‘feelings’ such as touch. Dieting is then a battle of the brains. It is a battle between the neocortex and the subconscious reptile brain.

This is my current diet as instructed by my friend, Doug. He advocated:

• Breakfast: Two slices of bacon and two eggs. The idea is that this is protein and is quite tasty.
• Lunch: One small can of tuna. This again is protein.
• The evening meal: Whatever appears on your plate as it is often subject to circumstances.
• Evening: Nothing to eat if possible. If I want a tasty snack, I might have a sheet or two of seaweed. I believe this is the green wrapping they use to make Japanese savory rice treats.

Other guidelines that I have added are:

• Minimize wheat intake.
• Drink soda water with a slice of lime when out at venues. I ask for a slice of lime squeezed to make it drinkable.
• I try not to use a ‘punishment’ diet, as I call them. If you are fussing over calories, it will feel like a punishment for being overweight and you may just capitulate and decide that you might as well remain overweight. Doug’s diet does not feel like a punishment. I eat quite well.

Don’t forget pre-history. We were not eating ‘three meals a day’ and we were not eating ‘meat and three vegies’. We were eating different foods in different ways. Many of your eating habits have come from propaganda and local custom. Changing your eating habits is not going against nature. Neanderthals did not have stoves, fridges, nor boxes of sugary cereals.

Now let’s run through a few topical topics.

Fasting.

The Muslims have a good fasting session through Ramadan. They avoid eating during the daylight hours. I do it the other way round. I avoid eating during the hours of darkness, which is possibly closer to the habits of our pre-civilisation ancestors. One good theory is that when fasting, the body will ‘eat’ anything that the body can manage without. This may include cells not functioning correctly such as cancer cells and those unsightly spare tyres around the waste. This makes a lot of sense. If you constantly have a perfect food intake, the body has no need to clean unwanted body cells including cancer and stomach rolls including those after pregnancy. Here are a few comments about fasting and cancer:

“Emerging evidence suggests that fasting could play a key role in cancer treatment by fostering conditions that limit cancer cells’ adaptability, survival, and growth.” [1]

“Fasting as an Effective Anti-Cancer Strategy.” By Ellen Wan
“Fasting has gained much popularity in recent years. In addition to its weight loss benefits, research has found that fasting also plays a role in cancer prevention and treatment. In the two inspiring stories below a stage IV cancer patient achieved remarkable success in fighting and eliminating cancer through fasting, and a Japanese physician who followed a 16-hour fasting routine for 13 years is living cancer free.

An important paragraph from the above article is:

“Ohsumi, a Japanese cell biologist, discovered that cells undergo a process called autophagy during fasting or starvation, where they consume themselves due to a lack of nutrients and energy supply, as a response to temporary survival pressure. Ohsumi was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his research findings on this phenomenon.”

Another article has:

“Cedars-Sinai suggests the difference between cancer and normal cells is in metabolism.

Cancer cells have a higher glucose uptake than healthy cells, meaning if you limit glucose coming into the body for several hours or days, healthy cells can switch to alternative fuel sources, while cancer cells don’t have the ability to make the same switch, and essentially, they starve.” [3]

Whilst talking of cancer, we must be aware of this comment made one-hundred-and-thirty years ago:

“Cancer is reported to be increasing not only in England and the Continent, but in all parts of the world where vaccination is practised.” Dr. William Tebb, “The Increase of Cancer”, 1892

Here are more comments. Some are over one-hundred years old. They have been ignored.

“Cancer was practically unknown until the cowpox vaccination began to be introduced. I have seen 200 cases of cancer, and never saw a case in an unvaccinated person.”
Dr. W.B. Clark in New York Times 1909

“Studies are increasingly pointing to the conclusion that vaccines represent a dangerous assault to the immune system leading to autoimmune diseases like Multiple Sclerosis, Lupus, Juvenile Onset Diabetes, Fibromyalgia, and Cystic Fibrosis, as well as previously rare disorders like brain cancer, SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), childhood leukemia, autism, and asthma.” Dr. Shiv Chopra

“The further I looked into it, the more shocked I became. I found that the whole vaccine business was indeed a gigantic hoax. Most doctors are convinced that they are useful, but if you look at the proper statistics and study the instance of these diseases, you will realise that this is not so.” Dr. Archie Kalokerinos, pediatrician for over 30 years.

“Vaccinations are now carried out for purely commercial reasons because they fetch huge profits for the pharmaceutical industry. There is no scientific evidence that vaccinations are of any benefit.”
Dr. Gerhard Buchwald

“My own personal view is that vaccines are unsafe and WORTHLESS. I will not allow myself to be vaccinated again. Vaccines may be profitable but in my view, they are neither safe nor effective.”
Dr. Vernon Coleman

“Everyone who is vaccinated is vaccine injured — whether it shows up right away or later in life.”
Dr. Shiv Chopra

“Studies are increasingly pointing to the conclusion that vaccines represent a dangerous assault to the immune system leading to autoimmune diseases like Multiple Sclerosis, Lupus, Juvenile Onset Diabetes, Fibromyalgia, and Cystic Fibrosis, as well as previously rare disorders like brain cancer, SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), childhood leukemia, autism, and asthma.” Dr. Shiv Chopra

They are now trying to develop a vaccine for cancer! It is ironic that a vaccine is to be created to stop an illness caused by vaccines! Nobody is big enough to stop the corporate madness, so we have to live with the lunacy.

Back to fasting. It can be noticed that humans loose appetite when ill. It may be one of nature’s way of rectifying the illness.

Here are some quotes on fasting and cancer to encourage you to do your own research. Religions often formalise the practice of fasting. One might guess that their forefathers knew of health benefits from the practice. In distant history, we probably went for periods of food shortage. In more modern times of well-stocked supermarkets, such ‘periods of food shortage’ have to be encouraged by religion and culture. The time of ‘Lent’ was a period of fasting for Christians. It is commonly ignored in this time of efforts to destroy our Christianity. In the Christian ‘West’, by the fourth century, a regular practice of forty-day fasting became common in Christian churches. With the Catholic Church pendant for punishment for sins not committed, lent is treated as ‘repentance for one’s sins’. Even if the sins don’t exist, the Catholic Church appears to treat you as a sinner!

Today, Catholics and some other Christians still abstain from eating meat on the Fridays of Lent, and eat only one meal, with two smaller snacks permitted, on two days of complete fasting. In addition, they also engage in the practice of “giving up something” during Lent. Often this is a favorite food or drink, or another pleasurable activity, like smoking or watching television.

Other activities are also suggested, in keeping with the idea of Lent as a time for spiritual renewal as well as self-discipline. These include making amends with estranged family and friends, reading of the Bible or other spiritual writers, and community service. [*]

And:

Historians generally agree that the 40-day period before Easter, known as Lent, emerged shortly following the Council of Nicea in 325 AD. Earliest observances of Lent seem to have focused particularly on the practice of fasting. [*]

Here are some quotes on fasting and cancer.

Fasting or fasting-mimicking diets (FMDs) lead to wide alterations in growth factors and in metabolite levels, generating environments that can reduce the capability of cancer cells to adapt and survive and thus improving the effects of cancer therapies. [*]

Over the past several years, many studies have been published showing that intermittent fasting or a fasting-mimicking diet can reduce risk factors for and reverse symptoms of serious health conditions including cancer. [*]