[Dysphagia] Living on Air

[SuzMorris at aol.com (SuzMorris@aol.com)]

Dear Candace,

I would agree with you that living organisms require nutrients to thrive.   
But the interesting question to me is, could those nutrients somehow be 
converted in the body through some energy source other than food?   And if so, under 
what conditions?    I don't propose a specific alternative.   I'm basically an 
observer.   When I see something occur outside the realm of our standard 
accepted paradigm, I find it interesting and curious and I'd love to know why 
these exceptions exist.    I have watched a friend live comfortably without food 
and water for 6 years.   I cannot deny the reality of that event.    It has 
puzzled me because it clearly doesn't fit within the accepted paradigm. But it 
exists.   For me there was still a skepticism about her "real" state of health.  
 Was it possible that she could appear healthy and energetic externally and 
have her cells falling apart inside?   I think I was convinced that no one 
could do this without a terrible long-term toll on health.   then I read about the 
man in India who had not taken food or liquid for 65 years and who had gone 
through all the medical tests under careful observation conditions with 
essentially normal results.   I don't think we can deny that these things exist. . . 
.that it is possible and within the capacity of the human body to shift to 
another system of converting an external substance (i.e. air instead of food) 
into the energy we need to grow and thrive.    The huge unknown is under what 
circumstances is this possible?   and how does it work?    

One other set of observations that may be relate:    Over the years I have 
seen a small   group of children   with autism who eat what we would consider 
highly limited, non-nutritious diets without seeming to experience negative 
health and growth consequences.   One little boy, for example, at age 8 had eaten 
nothing but small amounts of white rice and highly processed white bread.   
Another child ate crackers and Cheerios and yogurt.   Neither child liked to 
drink so fluid intake was marginal.    The doctors and dietitians who were 
working with the children and families wanted them on a more balanced and higher 
caloric diet with liquid intake increases. This was impossible orally.   However, 
they were reluctant to insert a feeding tube for children who were normal in 
weight, had appropriate height-weight proportions and head circumference, and 
whose blood tests for vitamin and mineral levels were within normal limits.    
What was going on in these kids?   How did they not only survive, but appear 
to thrive?    My only hunch is that because of the autism they lived in a very 
different world with a different set of beliefs about how life and energy 
worked.   Is it possible that their detachment from adults with their belief 
pressures about eating a balanced diet combined with sensory aversiveness and 
discomfort when eating orally, somehow led to their ability to shift to a 
different internal system and thrive under these conditions?    I'm not saying this is 
true of all kids with autism or that this is the reason why these kids were 
an exception to our standard way of looking at things.   I'm just observing 
that these things exist, and opening to the possibility that there are systems 
that haven't yet been identified that would explain what some have observed.

I'd love to have that view into the future!

Suzanne


Suzanne Evans Morris, Ph.D.
New Visions
1124 Roberts Mountain Rd.
Faber, VA 22938
(434) 361-2285 ext. 5
www.new-vis.com



In a message dated 9/30/04 6:13:00 PM, candaceg@vitelcom.net writes:


> Dear Suzanne:
> Would you agree that it is a basic rule of nature that living organisms
> require certain nutrients? And would you agree that human beings are living
> organisms? If so, do you propose that there are certain human beings that
> follow a different set of rules, outside of such rules of nature?
> 
> Candace Grant
> candaceg@vitelcom.net
> 
>