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 Originally Posted by thenonsequitur
 Originally Posted by bigspenda73
Stomach growls: 2
A ginger-based drink can help with this. Note that it has to be made with real ginger and not just something like an artificially flavored ginger ale. Every couple years, I fast for a few days, and I always include ginger tea in the liquids I drink.
Ginger is a stimulant that acts on digestive glands, causing them to produce more gastric regulatory molecules. This increased emphasis on regulation causes the digestive system to be more responsive to its current state. During a fast, this will cause it to slow down the action of the intestinal muscles and thus slow down the overall rate of the digestive process, and in turn decrease stomach growling (which is just the sound of the stomach and intestinal muscles moving against packets of air, which are in higher concentrations in the digestive system when you haven't eaten in a while). Ginger also has antiemetic (nausea-reducing) properties, which can be useful during a fast.
Kinda weird this was mentioned since we're in the GI module and I'm up studying for an exam. I did a quick search on PubMed and most of the studies I looked at suggest that ginger is a prokinetic, meaning it stimulates peristalsis (the smooth muscle contractions that move material through the GI tract).
But meh... I'm not a fan of starving yourself for the sake of detoxification. There are healthier and more effective ways of doing it.
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