91–100 of 194 posts
>>But I think the most sensible way forward would be to synthesize this effect with drugs. I'm no naturopath, but something about this attitude really bugs me. I know in context he was cautioning against jumping to conclusions, but if there was a safe, low barrier to entry, non-drug way of achieving an effect, why would you encourage people to take a drug instead?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Fasting for three days is not a safe, low barrier to entry, way. A healthy person with no critical commitments or delicate work can do it safely, but lots of people would not. Note that one side effect observed during the protocol was fainting.
Is there any evidence that fasting for 3 days is not safe or is this just an assumption? As I understand it is perfectly safe for all but the most fragile people.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25552155
"Conclusion: Ramadan fasting is associated with transiently impaired insulin sensitivity, compensated for by an increased p3-cell function. However, the pattern of insulin resistance-mediating adipocytokines suggests a potentially beneficial metabolic effect of Ramadan fasting."
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-long-can-a-per...
"At the age of 74 and already slight of build, Mahatma Gandhi, the famous nonviolent campaigner for India's independence, survived 21 days of total starvation while only allowing himself sips of water. In a 1997 article in the British Medical Journal, Michael Peel, senior medical examiner at the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture, cites well-documented studies reporting survivals of other hunger strikers for 28, 36, 38 and 40 days."
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-17095605
"Experts believe it is possible for the human body to survive without food for up to two months."
Earlier quoted context omitted.
>> - fasting on Ramadan was probably created by a religious leader who felt better after doing it himself and though it to be a good idea for everybody else to do it. That religious leader would be Muhammad. That's one way to see things and how I explain part of my belief in Islam to non-religious people: Worst case scenario, I'm just doing things that I believe are pretty smart (fasting, praying, helping the poor an…
you're supposed to 'believe' to benefit from the best case scenario dude :) just rationalizing about it is not supposed to be enough... and additionally, fasting was around before it was introduced in islam; check it's versions in judaism, christianity... actually, it was also around before that. people used to fast during equinoxes for a very long time for all sorts of different ceremonies...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
By "call," maybe you are inferring belief but I mean it with no belief and even plenty of skepticism implied.
Can you separate belief from labelling someone prohpetic/visionary? I label a dog a dog because I believe it's a dog. I don't call a cat a dog with plenty of skepticism. I'm not going to give anyone the label of prophetic/visionary, even with plenty of skepticism. As a non-mormon I consider the prophetic/visionary concept to be fiction, and won't use it on anyone because I don't consider it possible - skepticism does…
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Are mormons not christians?
They are Christians in the same sense as Moslems are.
Mormons do get drawn outside of Christianity by some christians for a variety of reasons (non-trinitarian, open canon, cosmological background quasi-polytheism), and some people have suggested classifying the faith as another Abrahamic one as a means of sidestepping that discussion, which may be where one could get the idea that the comparison to Muslims is a good one. But if Mormons are outside mainstream Christianity, it's only marginally so.
I've been eating once a day for the past 3.5 years and I'd read about the supposed immune system benefits. I've not had a cold/flu since then and I used to get 3-4 a year, so I'm sticking with it and I've become used to it anyway.
So, if the conclusions of this study are at all accurate, perhaps part of the mechanism is that fasting reduces the load on the system for a time, reduces the amount of sorting out which foreign material to use as building blocks and which foreign material to treat as dangerous invaders so it can put resources to other uses.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have heard Christians use the term "prophetic". Search Amazon for the term and you will find many books on the topic.
Are mormons not christians?
I'm not sure these additional beliefs necessarily disqualify them as "Christian" though as they do appear to have retained most of the fundamental basics.....
I suppose it depends on ones definition of Christian. No doubt plenty of "Christian" denominations consider that others aren't.
"In truth, there was only one Christian, and he died on the Cross" -Nietzsche
>>But I think the most sensible way forward would be to synthesize this effect with drugs. I'm no naturopath, but something about this attitude really bugs me. I know in context he was cautioning against jumping to conclusions, but if there was a safe, low barrier to entry, non-drug way of achieving an effect, why would you encourage people to take a drug instead?
There's nothing inherently better about a "non-drug" method.
Better publicity materials: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-06/uosc-fts06021... The paper: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.stem.2014.04.014 Really it's just not worth even reading whatever the popular press has to say about a particular strand of research, especially when lines like "regenerate the entire immune system" are thrown around. No, no, no. Not what is happening: read the paper or even just the publ…
1/http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4190937/ - short term allergic response reduced in mice as an effect of fasting, but returned after a bit of time.
The study is from august 2014, and in it's short literature review it doesn't mention any prior research regarding fasting allergy.
2/http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14519913 - weekly 1-day fasting decreased symptoms in a single female suffering from skin allergies.there's also some previous research talking about such effects in mice
3/ http://ebm.sagepub.com/content/226/11/1045.short , http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378427403... - dietary restriction reduces skin allergy in mice