Ritual eating
Ritual eating is an ASMR powered spiritual rite, functioning as therapy to various ailments. It’s about eating in a pattern that evokes ASMR sensation. The key to evoking ASMR while eating is rumination, a word which has dual meaning. Nowadays, rumination is known as repetitive, and passive dwelling on negative feelings, distressing past events, or personal failures, often leading to anxiety or depression due to psychology. However in the past rumination described the act of chewing on thoughts like how a cow chews on its cud. Before rumination was limited to chewing cud but was metaphorically extended to mean to ponder thoughtfully or to meditate on some ideology. In fact, ruminate originates from the Latin noun rumen which is the name for cows' first stomach. The Latin verb ruminari refers to the digestive process used by cows, goats, sheep and all other animals that chew cud. Notably all animals that chew the cud are known as ruminants. Basically, ruminant animals first swallow food, keeping it in the rumen. Later this food is regurgitated back into the mouth in a form called cud to be chewed. If they didn’t eat in that way, their health would deteriorate. By eating in this way ruminants are able to make the most of their meal. Likewise, ritual eating is about ruminating over food to derive benefit. There are 4 guiding principles listed below that should dictate how you perform ritual eating.
- ASMR - piloerection
- Classical conditioning
- Blood circulation (light exercise)
- Blood oxygenation (synchronized breathing)
To follow a healthy eating pattern long enough to see hair improvement, you must eat ritualistically. The main reason people stay committed to their eating pattern isn’t because it works. The efficacy of a diet has little to do with how committed to a diet a person is. It is the ritualistic nature of a diet that motivates a person to remain committed. A diet supported by science isn’t enough. It must be supported by a sense of righteousness to bring motivation. It’s in human nature to choose an eating pattern that aligns with an ideology. For example, the paleo diet otherwise known as “caveman” attracts mostly men who subscribe to masculine ideology found in the manosphere. On the other hand, a vegetarian or vegan diet appeals mostly to women because women are more compassionate. Most people who don’t follow a diet are just pleasure seekers, eating whatever tastes good. People don’t choose diets; diets choose people. Science is used to justify an eating pattern already rooted in personal identity. Look into the personality and background of an average diet follower and you’ll find at least one obvious reason for their choice. Whether it’s gender, genetics, parentage, politics, geography or any other factor, there is always an identity-based reason to believe in a particular diet. Science hasn’t conclusively defined an optimum diet because people are able to strive under many different diets as long as it's healthy. Because humans are predisposed to eat ritually, it was inevitable someone would marry science and diet in support of their particular ideology. Ritual eating seeks to fill an ideological vacuum that would have been taken by diets such as paleo, vegetarian or vegan.
To maximize the spiritual and worldly benefits of each bite, eating ritualistically is essential. The act of ritual eating is independent of diet. It's not what you eat but how you eat the food presented to you that can make a difference. Although eating healthy is important, special emphasis is placed on how you eat healthy food. Unlike other eating patterns, ritual eating is an ideological eating pattern that revolves around God. The purpose is to evoke ASMR while eating by being grateful to God for giving you food. Food should be considered a privilege not an entitlement. Counting the endless number of blessings with reference to food while eating evokes ASMR. It’s up to the eater to eat in a manner that maximises ASMR sensation. However, there are general rules that work for most people. The first rule isn’t talking while eating as it interferes with your ability to chew and evoke ASMR. The second rule is keeping food in the oral cavity for a longer period like how a ruminant animal keeps food in the rumen. Furthermore, the additional time gained allows you to chew and salivate over food which in turn stimulates the digestive system. It’s advised to hold food in the mouth for a minimum of 2 minutes. The final rule is evoking ASMR by engaging in mental mantras in praise of the divine. Gratitude is the key to evoking ASMR which in turn activates the parasympathetic nervous system responsible for rest and digest functions, aiding in food digestion.
Ritual eating is a simple eating pattern unlike what you would find in regular diets. For now only small details were revealed, you can discover more if you're interested, buy the book 'Cure baldness'. Let's finish by covering a little more about the guiding principles listed above.
ASMR - piloerection
ASMR is a personal sensation described as a tingling sensation around the scalp area involving psychophysiological responses in the body. The target response is piloerection which is the contraction of small muscles at the base of hair follicles resulting in visible erection of hair. This phenomenon is also known as goosebumps. There is a muscle at the root of each hair follicle called arrector pili muscle (APM). When APMs contract, they stimulate stem cells to regrow hair. To activate these muscles, electrical impulses must reach them. ASMR is a natural electrical muscle stimulator (EMS), rehabilitating APMs and preventing muscle atrophy. EMS is a concept widely used in the fitness industry to stimulate muscle growth. EMS delivers intermittent electrical impulses to APMs preventing the loss of these muscles which is associated with baldness. In androgenetic alopecia, the arrector pili muscle is progressively replaced by adipose tissue and loses its attachment to the hair follicle bulge. The APM plays a significant role in maintaining hair follicle integrity. The loss of APM and hair miniaturization are unique to androgenetic alopecia. Superficial treatments are beneficial to an extent that APMs still remain in the scalp. Lack of APM is correlated with depletion of stem cells. With intense ASMR sensation during ritual exercise, APMs can be restored over time. APMs should be trained like any other muscle for real regrowth. Approach APMs like how a bodybuilder trains muscle but use ASMR instead of weightlifting. You may have heard of ASMR YouTube videos. This supply of ASMR is inferior to meditation. ASMR artists leverage common triggers like whispering, tapping, physical touch, personal attention and page turning. Meditation uses mental mantras and other spiritual practices to induce ASMR. Furthermore ASMR relaxes the tight muscle around the scalp, loosening the balding area that has the highest tension. ASMR relaxation is similar to Botox which is proven to grow hair superficially after injection. Relaxation is necessary before and after arrector pili muscle contraction to facilitate continued piloerection.
Classical conditioning
Classical conditioning, also known as Pavlovian, is a type of associative learning where a previously neutral stimulus is paired with a stimulus that naturally elicits a specific response, leading to a neutral stimulus gaining the ability to evoke that same response on its own. In order for the two stimuli to be associated, they must occur together repeatedly, evoking a response in the organism. Through repeated pairing, both stimuli become associated. Pavlov did an experiment in 1897 to prove this phenomenon. Dogs normally salivate when food is presented but they don't salivate from a neutral stimulus. However it was discovered dogs can be taught to salivate from a neutral stimulus. A neutral stimulus was presented to a dog before food was given. A bell was chosen as the neutral stimulus and it was rung just before food was presented each time for multiple occasions. Over a period of time, the dog associated the sound of a bell with food. When the sound of a bell alone was presented the dog started to salivate as if it was food. Pavlov concluded that if a particular stimulus in the dog's surroundings was present when the dog was given food then that stimulus could become associated with food and cause salivation on its own. Using the same technique, humans can learn to associate food with an ideology instead of a physical stimuli. Feeling grateful to God while eating evokes an ASMR sensation. Reciting a mental mantra in praise of God while eating teaches you to love God. You’ll gain the ability to intensify ASMR sensation when God is remembered. Furthermore, ASMR stimulates the digestive system, causing more salivation. Saliva is good for the teeth.
Blood circulation
Mastication, commonly known as chewing, is performed by four primary muscles (masseter, temporalis, medial/lateral pterygoids) that move the mandible to break down food and mix it with saliva. The muscles surrounding and in the oral cavity are the strongest and closest to the scalp, in particular masseter muscle is considered the strongest muscle in the body. Besides smaller muscles directly positioned in the scalp called arrector pili muscle, other surrounding muscles contribute to increasing blood flow as well. When chewing, blood flows to the surrounding area especially the scalp. Notably, the temporalis muscle nearest the scalp is activated, further flowing blood to hard to reach areas of the scalp, specifically the crown. The blood vessels leading to the scalp first pass through the external carotid artery (ECA), branching off to various regions like the mouth. Increased demand for blood in the mouth invariably increases blood to the scalp because blood volume will be split between various branches. Additionally superficial temporal artery that branched off from ECA, further branches off where the temporalis muscle is positioned. Extra blood flow results from temporalis contracting near the blood vessels. Nevertheless, the scalp already receives enough blood flow however more blood flow is needed to supply arrector pili muscle activated by ASMR.
Blood oxygenation
Nothing is needed from you apart from evoking ASMR to increase blood oxygenation. When you chew and evoke ASMR, breathing becomes streamlined and effortless automatically. Furthermore, chewing will flow newly oxygenated blood straight to the scalp where it is used to contract arrector pili muscles. There are moments between each food intake, allowing for a deeper breathing. Overall, the ritual is an oxygen therapy and it may be considered hyperbaric since chewing puts pressure on the scalp.