At 11:27 AM 5/8/01 -0700, Paula wrote:
>> Perhaps this is more psychosomatic than anything else?
>>
>> Charles
>> San Diego, CA
>
>Do we really need people like this on the listserve?

I think it's a valid question, myself.

It's not some kind of insult, after all--it's what the placebo effect is
all about and why they have to do double-blind tests on things like
drugs... the mind has a powerful influence over our bodies, and one of our
strongest survival mechanisms involves categorizing things as "good" or
"bad" based on very little data, so it's not at all a stretch for our
bodies to have a bad experience with something and thereafter be *very
clear* that we're not to repeat that experience :)  A more common version
is a gag reflex to something that has made one sick in the past--even if
it's just due to overeating that thing or something similar.

Dianne