> This would seem to be similar to, but not *exactly* like, what Jean-Claude
> is talking about. The rat does not instictively "know" if the food is
good,
> but does have a built in "food meter" it uses to classify the food for
> future reference.

it is exactelly what i was trying to explain . the inbuilt instinctive
mechanism is a means to evaluate foods .for it to work the food have to be
undenatured and experienced .
we do the same thing in instinctive eating framework when we introduced a
new food that have never be eaten before , if the smell is attractive we
just eat it , but if the smell is strange , not clear if it is good or bad ,
we put a piece in our mouth and spit it out or swallow it depending on how
it tastes , then wait a day and expose ourselves to it again .at that point
the body will have enough informations from the genetic recognition and
experience of that food to knows if it is needed or not .

when eating instinctivelly there is some foods that have a repelling smell
for a while ( for me it was papaya for 2 years ) this blockage  means that
the food will be very much needed at one point but will trigger too much of
a desintoxification at the moment if ingested , from time to time this food
will be presented to trigger the desintoxification process , when the body
is ready to do the job without danger the attraction for that food will
become very strong and enormous quantity often are ingested for a while .
papaya for me was certainly helping to eliminate unmetabolised  molecules of
dairy origin ( the smell , when in the  blocking phase , was reminding me of
vomited milk ).
>
> I would think that, if this same ability is present in humans, it is
> probably somewhat diminished. After all, a rat is not able to reason as a
> human does, and therefore must trust it's own hard-wiring a little bit
> more.

the means to eat instinctivelly are completelly present , human just don't
exercise it from birth but as soon peoples put themselves again in the
situation of eating foods in their natural state , there it is ... one food
denatured will upset the whole system so it is not to be done half way (
could be dangerous in fact with some toxic plants )
jean-claude
>