neural regeneration with nutrition

"There are actually a broad range of natural compounds with proven nerve-regenerative effects. A 2010 study published in the journal Rejuvenation Research, for instance, found a combination of blueberry, green tea and carnosine have neuritogenic (i.e. promoting neuronal regeneration) and stem-cell regenerative effects in an animal model of neurodegenerative disease.  Other researched neuritogenic substances include:

Curcumin
Lion's Mane Mushroom
Apigenin (compound in vegetables like celery)
Blueberry
Ginseng
Huperzine
Natto
Red Sage
Resveratrol
Royal Jelly
Theanine
Ashwaganda
Coffee (trigonelline)
There is another class of nerve-healing substances, known as remyelinating compounds, which stimulate the repair of the protective sheath around the axon of the neurons known as myelin, and which is often damaged in neurological injury and/or dysfunction, especially autoimmune and vaccine-induced demyelination disorders.  It should also be noted that even music and falling in love have been studied for possibly stimulating neurogenesis, regeneration and/or repair of neurons, indicating that regenerative medicine does not necessary require the ingestion of anything; rather, a wide range of therapeutic actions may be employed to improve health and well-being, as well."

http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/6-bodily-tissues-can-be-regenerated-through-nutrition

fermented foods ~ instant energy for the brain

kefir with yacon, a prebiotic

We have been finding from experience that fermented foods such as kefir and kraut and jun give us a particular instant energy boost that we don't experience from other foods.  This intrigues us and we have been wondering what is the explanation.  With the question about what is the ideal fuel for the brain on my mind I came across the information below.

First thing to mention is that while glucose is an oxidative fuel for our bodies and brains,  it is actually used to make ATP or adenosine triphosphate which is a  usable form of energy for cells - "the energy is "trapped" in a chemical bond that can be released and used to drive other reactions that require energy. (endergonic reactions)."   http://scienceline.ucsb.edu/getkey.php?key=2254


So how do we go from glucose to ATP? "This is achieved through the process of "oxidation" - and this is carried out through a series of metabolic pathways. Complex chemical transformations in the cell occur in a series of separate reactions to form each pathway, and each reaction is catalyzed by a specific enzyme. Interestingly, metabolic pathways are similar in all organisms, from bacteria to humans. In eukaryotes (plants and animals) many of the metabolic pathways are compartmentalized, with certain reactions occurring in specific organelles. Basically, cells trap free energy released from the breakdown (metabolism) of glucose. This energy gets trapped in the ATP as it converts from ADP to ATP by the addition of phosphate.
There are 3 main pathways for harvesting energy from glucose:
Glycolysis - begins glucose metabolism in all cells to produce 2 molecules of pyruvate. Occurs outside of mitochondria, usually in cytoplasm.
Cellular Respiration - uses oxygen from the environment and converts each pyruvate to three molecules of carbon dioxide while trapping the energy released in this process in ATP. There are 3 sub-pathways of cellular respiration - pyruvate oxidation, the citric acid (Krebs or Tricarboxylic Acid) cycle and the electron transport chain. Occurs in different sub-compartments of mitochondria.
Fermentation - converts pyruvate into lactic acid or ethanol; does not need oxygen. It is not as efficient as cellular respiration; it occurs in the cytoplasm." http://scienceline.ucsb.edu/getkey.php?key=2254

We want to look more into this but on first sight  it seems we have an explanation, we are using the help of friendly micro-organisms to convert the sugars on milk or vegetables or honey into ATP, an immediate energy source for the body and brain.

Now the brain uses a  lot of energy, a high percentage of the body's energy requirements.  Glucose is  a very immediate source of oxidative fuel for ATP production (and it seems the brain does need at least some glucose) while the breaking down of fat, protein of glycogen is a bit more long-winded.  However it seems to us that fermented foods can supply instant brain energy without having to take in a lot of fruit sugar which, as many of us know can cause challenges to our bodies in other ways.

Could it be that in order to advance our evolution as a species we do need a more instantly accessible source of large amounts of energy for the brain and that by engaging harmoniously with friendly micro-organisms we have this?

what is the oxidative fuel for our brains?

So..., these days many people are finding that they feel much better on low sugar high fat diets.  I myself eat a diet that is rich in raw dairy and fats and, while I eat fruit, it is not my main calories source.   If the brain uses glucose as its oxidative fuel, which has been my understanding, how can this be?  Well, personally, having experimented with eliminating fruit sugars altogether, I have found I feel best if I include some fruit albeit mainly low glycemic fruit which does not elevate the blood sugar too fast for me. 

Speaking to Tony Wright about this in view of his proposition that we evolved our large brains through eating tropical fruit he explained to me that although our origins are symbiotic i.e. with fruit trees (see http://www.beyond-belief.org.uk/node/7 and http://www.beyond-belief.org.uk/node/8) we are not that symbiotic organism any more.  Our system is not frugivorous any more...we are not the same species we were..we are now running on an ancient mammalian system that precedes our frugivorous phase.  So, in short, dues to changes in our brains and digestive systems we can no longer assimilate and run healthily on a predominantly frugivourous diet.

Tony gave me this link where there is a bit of a summary regarding brain glucose and other means of fuel http://evolvinghealthscience.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/why-you-can-all-stop-saying-meat-eating.html while remarking that "no consideration is given in the article of increasingly specialised fruit eating in non seasonal tropics regarding energy requirement and gut/brain theory given our obviously delicate tropical physiology....  Also of interest is  the structure of neural tissue, which is much less protein rich than muscle i.e .protein cannot have been a limiting factor" as we see here http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/facts.html.

Interestingly something I have noticed in my own life is that in situations of exalted expanded states of consciousness my metabolism has changed in a marked way and suddenly I have craved lots of tropical fruit and can metabolise it, it as if my brain is just burning it up.  On return to a more mundane or 'normal' state of awareness this effect drifts away.

This is an interesting topic and connects us deeply to the ongoing story of our species.

the great work

"Alchemy is the making of supernature from the human effect in the natural world"  |~ John Lamb Lash
http://gaiaspora.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Nav-Briefing-113-Addendum-The-Great-Work-02-March-2014.mp3
In this audio John talks about the Holy Grail and how it has come to be confused with the chalice cup of Christianity.  The Holy Grail is a mystical experience which is potentially available to all humans who truly seek it.

the global brain

Peter Russell's documentary postulates that through information technology, wisdom can build up much more swiftly amongst the populace than in ancient times, spearheading a shift in consciousness, the awareness that we are part of something greater and of our individual potential for expanding the frontiers of our minds.

Whether there is actually global brain or not, there is for sure an individual consciousness awareness  of the living planet that humans can potentially communicate with.  And although the industrial revolution removed us from close connection with the land it paved the way for the information revolution through the technology that came out of it.  Although humans have latent telepathic and other extraordinary abilities, we lost full access to these faculties long before then and information technology has been a useful crutch.  However much we despair of wifi and other electromagnetic radiation, there's no doubt that the internet is being used to disseminate deep and new insights into the human condition and make them available to all those who have ears to hear it, and this in itself could help facilitate a profound shift in the human state.

swan deva

Nairatmya, otherwise known as Swan Deva  'whose body is the sky' , the union of desire and emptiness, correlates to the constellation of the Fishes.  The first appearance of the sunrise crescent of the moon this month was in this part of the sky.

I have been remembering about investing every aspect of our lives in the dream, Her dream of humanity, rather than human behaviour as we see it now.  In feeling 'right' or 'on course' rather than being in a conceptual state of righteousness.  Righteousness, the idea that there is a right way of doing things, that we or others are wrong in the way we feel is anti-human, because feelings are our guidance system.  

How things 'should be' or how others 'should behave' is a made up reality, maybe the first virtual reality, subtly different to a vision of how beautiful things could become. It is so easy see the failings of other humans because we are all so vulnerable and, in the grand scheme of things, far from our true potential.  Easy, but possibly not  the most enjoyable or productive activity we can be filling our time with and possibly not fulfilling our highest desires. Attacking other humans indiscriminatingly  hurts our own feelings and damages our own lives because energetically we are so connected.  There are so many positive things we can do to improve our sense of well-being that we can share with each other too without even having to engage with the concept of 'should'. And we can protect from the negative impact of the forces that are truly against humanity as a whole more effectively from a sober standpoint where we are making allowances for other humans we are involved in because we understand the situation that faces us all. The real enemies, the forces that are getting in the way of humanity and our happiness are unfeeling, anti-feeling, these are the things that need to be moved out of the way so that we can engage with a story, a narrative that is favour of the life force and that feeling.  

barefoot on the tor

 And we did see the sunrise crescent!, unexpectedly on the way home, I love these unexpected views that we get when the sky clears in these cloudy islands. Occurred to me that so much of Celtic divination is plant and tree based because star divination became less of an option as the Celtic peoples who were deeply established in the mysteries moved into these parts of the world. The Celestics course can be found at http://www.metahistory.org/SkyLore/celesticsintro.php. You probably would probably want to familiarise yourself with much else on John Lash's www.metahistory.org website if you were pursuing this study as it would enrich the experience. We made this video on 3rd March.