Day 183

Thoughts: You body is magnificent! Really! It performs daily amazing feats to keep you alive! Your body can take multiple pieces of food, swallow and accept it, digest and absorb it, and spit out the waste! Ever wondered what happened to the food once the taste is over?

Food is first introduced into the mouth, where it is chewed by the teeth in order to break up large food particles and to mix it with saliva, thus beginning the process known as digestion. The food is then propelled into the esophagus by the tongue with the aid of the swallowing mechanism. The food travels down the esophagus until it reaches the stomach.

The stomach is a sac-like organ with strong muscular walls. In addition to holding food, it serves as the mixer and grinder of food. The stomach secretes acid and powerful enzymes that continue the process of breaking the food down and changing it to a consistency of liquid or paste. Food is stored in the stomach, mixed with acid and other digestive juices, and released at a controlled, steady rate into the entrance of the small intestine, where it is digested further and absorbed in the small intestine, the intestinal contents are mixed with pancreatic juice, bile and other secretions.

The intestinal contents continue down the long, winding tube of the small intestine until they pass into the thick tube of the large intestine, the main function of which is to absorb water, salt and other minerals, and certain vitamins. Stool containing inorganic (non-carbon containing) material, undigested plant fibers, bacteria, and water are excreted from the body through the rectum. It normally takes about 36 hours for stool to get through the colon.

Absorption of Food

Although limited amounts of water, alcohol, simple salts, and glucose are absorbed through the stomach wall, the small intestine is by far the most important organ for absorption. Absorption into the small intestine consists primarily of the transfer of nutrients from the lumen of the small intestine through the cells lining the intestinal wall into the wall of the intestine (the lamina propria). From there the nutrients enter the blood and lymph vessels. The nutrients are then carried to all parts of the body through the bloodstream. The waste materials are eliminated from the body via stool, urine, sweat, and expired air. The small intestine, then, is the main site of selection of the nutrients for use in the body, leaving the waste for eventual elimination.

Use of the Nutrients

The end products of the digestive processes discussed are amino acids of proteins, fat derivatives, and simple carbohydrates. These compounds are absorbed and metabolized in the body by various routes. The intricate details of their metabolism are studied by biochemists.

How do we get energy from the food we eat? The derivation of energy from a physical source is the most spiritual of our bodily processes. To function properly the body must be constantly supplied with fuel or energy, supplied by either digesting food or drawing on its fat stores when adequate food is not available. The chemical energy which derives from this as well as all life processes is held in the high-energy bonds of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), found in all forms of life.

Plants derive ATP from light energy when they produce and store excess carbohydrates, mostly as starch. Through the food chain, the stored energy of plants becomes the potential energy of animals and man. Animals and man, in turn, through their metabolic processes convert stored plant energy into a usable form of ATP to sustain their life processes. Most of the energy consumed as food is used up as heat, released either directly in the body's metabolic reactions or as a by-product of work performed by the body. Only that part of food energy which is captured in chemical form in the high-energy bonds of ATP can support these functions.

Jinjee's "Health & Enlightenment" article will keep you fixated on her musings, too. Jinjee says: "What if I only took in 'light' material for a year: spiritual literature, film, and music, the Bible, church services at Agape.... -- And only created 'light' material for a year: writing about spirituality and health, creating healing music, working in spiritual service to mankind.... -- And only took 'light' foods into my body for a year: fruits, vegetables, soaked almond milks, water..... -- And made 'light' choices for a year: being in nature, with my family, praying, meditating, hiking, dancing, yoga, chi gung, tai chi, kung fu..." Find out what conclusion Jinjee arrives at www.thegardendiet.com

What happens to your body an hour after you drink coca cola?

* In The First 10 minutes: 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system. (100% of your recommended daily intake.) You don’t immediately vomit from the overwhelming sweetness because phosphoric acid cuts the flavor allowing you to keep it down.
* 20 minutes: Your blood sugar spikes, causing an insulin burst. Your liver responds to this by turning any sugar it can get its hands on into fat. (There’s plenty of that at this particular moment)
* 40 minutes: Caffeine absorption is complete. Your pupils dilate, your blood pressure rises, as a response your livers dumps more sugar into your bloodstream. The adenosine receptors in your brain are now blocked preventing drowsiness.
* 45 minutes: Your body ups your dopamine production stimulating the pleasure centers of your brain. This is physically the same way heroin works, by the way.
* 60 minutes: The phosphoric acid binds calcium, magnesium and zinc in your lower intestine, providing a further boost in metabolism. This is compounded by high doses of sugar and artificial sweeteners also increasing the urinary excretion of calcium.
* 60 Minutes: The caffeine’s diuretic properties come into play. (It makes you have to pee.) It is now assured that you’ll evacuate the bonded calcium, magnesium and zinc that was headed to your bones as well as sodium, electrolyte and water.
* 60 minutes: As the rave inside of you dies down you’ll start to have a sugar crash. You may become irritable and/or sluggish. You’ve also now, literally, pissed away all the water that was in the Coke. But not before infusing it with valuable nutrients your body could have used for things like even having the ability to hydrate your system or build strong bones and teeth.



Challenges: Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful - Buddha

Triumphs: I love you Diana! You are a beautiful beautiful woman :)

What I Ate Today:

Breakfast: Water with lemon squeezed in it! A beetroot, carrot, celery, ginger juice! Strawberries and blackberries and peanut butter (purely crushed peanuts!!

Lunch Avocado with walnuts!

Dinner: Raw cauliflower. Avocado and walnuts again :) Green Apple.

Dessert: Chocolate balls!

Snacks: Peanuts and an orange.

Recipe: Recipe for my chocolate balls will be in my book coming out this November!

Exercise: I exercised physically today when I rode to the store to buy a coconut! And in the arvo it was so windy so went for a walk in the wind!

182 days to go!!!

References: http://www.nutritionresearchcenter.org/healthnews/what-happens-to-your-body-if-you-drink-a-coke-right-now/
www.kabbalaonline.net
http://www.medicinenet.com/the_digestive_system/page2.htm
www.thegardendiet.com