It is no wonder that anxiety can cause stomach upsets very quickly. This ancient but direct brain-gut connection allows brain to easily tell the digestive system to vomit or excrete during times of danger, as an empty stomach makes it easier to respond to a fight or flight situation. Eating prudently, lightly, and mindfully does have enormous benefits for health.įrom the perspective of science, the brain and the digestive system are intimately linked by the vagus nerve which connects the brain directly to the stomach.

The brain and the digestive system consume the most energy in the human body, so if the mind is relaxed and the digestive system has less work, energy is released to better care for the rest of the body. What I would like to add to this book is that ancient yogic wisdom advocates the importance of caring for the digestive system as many human diseases arise out of a dysfunctional digestive system - indigestion, ulcers, acid reflux, irritable bowel syndrome, diabetes, constipation, piles. And a lesson that the reader can draw from this is the importance of caring for the digestive system, and not tax it too much with overeating and unhealthy foods. However, the extended fasts of 2 weeks or more advocated by him seems quite radical.īut even if you are not into such a radical overhaul of your health, this book still makes for interesting reading due to the many positive testimonials that he had received from readers who went on the same route. In a way, Sinclair was ahead of his time (this book was written in 1911).

Sinclair also ran unsuccessfully for Congress as a Socialist, and was the Democratic Party nominee for Governor of California in 1934, though his highly progressive campaign was defeated. Time magazine called him 'a man with every gift except humor and silence.' In 1943, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Four years after the initial publication of The Brass Check, the first code of ethics for journalists was created. In 1919, he published The Brass Check, a muckraking exposé of American journalism that publicized the issue of yellow journalism and the limitations of the “free press” in the United States. The Jungle has remained continuously in print since its initial publication. meat packing industry, causing a public uproar that contributed in part to the passage a few months later of the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act. These direct experiences exposed the horrific conditions in the U.S. To gather information for the novel, Sinclair spent seven weeks undercover working in the meat packing plants of Chicago.

He achieved popularity in the first half of the twentieth century, acquiring particular fame for his classic muckraking novel, The Jungle (1906). was an American author who wrote close to one hundred books in many genres.

The Fasting Cure by Upton Sinclair