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Date: | Wed, 2 Apr 1997 20:45:50 +0200 (MET DST) |
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(It was me who posted something about fasting)
Pat:
>If one studies a
>healthy, hungry animal, from amoeba to blue whales, one finds an animal
>seeking food. Must be a reason for it, don't you think? An instinct to
>survive, based on millions of years of experience?
I don't find that argument convincing. Wild animals may occasionally
suffer from food deprivation, so we are probably genetically adapted
to fasting. Being hungry doesn't necessarily mean that skipping a few
meals will harm one's health: maybe it simply means that the body is
beginning to use the energy that is stored in its reserves; the red
signal in your car indicates that you should gas it up, not that you
are doing harm to the engine.
BTW, here are further details I read in a book:
-urine excretion of H+ considerably decreases the risk of acidosis
caused by ketones;
-the glucose level is "almost normal".
Not very precise and satisfying, eh?
Best wishes,
Jean-Louis
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