>I was talking with a relative of mine about his breakfast at a restaurant
that
>day, and he happened to be talking about being served coffee, and I
suggested
>that it was always possible that the waitress had accidentally given him
>caffeinated instead of decaf coffee, and he replied "No way, I would know"
and I
>asked "How?" and he replied "When I drink caffeinated coffee, I feel the
>stimulant effect right away" and then I gently explained to him that it
took
>some minutes for the coffee to be digested and get into the bloodstream (at
>least 15-20 minutes AFAIK).


I will not dismiss somebody else experience just because it doesn't fit with
my rationalisation of the world .
May be it is an opportunity to strech our  thinking .off its usual
automatisms.
my experience is reinforcing the one lived by your friend.
It seems to me that there is no need to have completly assimilated a food
for the body to already respond to it .For exemple i can feel weak right
away if i overeat avocados before i actually been able to start the
digestion of it . ( the "indigestion " of it will finish me )

 The contact with  the taste buds , the volatile molecules in the smell ,
are allready  sending a bunch of information to the central nervous system
and could trigger certain metabolic response preparing the body to receive
that food .
I am sure you can find indications of that mechanism somewhere in the
scientific litterature ,  if you look for them ...

With muscle testing for allergy you have a triggering effect on your muscle
strengh   allready when holding the food in your hand.

A lover might not need to be actually  physicaly touched by his or  her
partner to be aroused . The sight of the other might just be enought to get
all excited .  Even the thought of it . For sure going  all the way
 digesting ) with  the enconter willl bring  a more complete experience and
will close the loop , reinforcing the initial response.
It might be the same with our  alchemic relationship with foods .

We know for sure that,  with love , 1  plus 1  doesn't necessarely equal 2 .
The mechanistic view of the world  is missing the creativity of life.

jean-claude

jean-claude