Below is an excerpt from Part One of

The 2004 Multi-Diet

by Anderson A. Anonymous, M.D., Ph.D.

The Water Factor

Water is a macronutrient so often taken for granted that it's not even mentioned. But water is the second most vital of all your physical needs in terms of how fast you'll die if you don't get it. Further, water is extremely important to allow the body to "flush out" substances---including nutrients---that it may temporarily have too much of. This is an especially important factor for Multi-Dieters who are supplementing macrominerals.

When The Beast gets thirsty, it will often wake up and make you hungry. At such times it doesn't seem to know that it only needs water. (Or else it uses this as an excuse to eat. It's not smart, but it does have a sort of low cunning:)).

Of course, The Beast is not totally irrational---most natural foods do have a lot of water in them. But obviously food also has those calories we don't want. So another Multi-Diet rule-of-thumb is: whenever you feel The Beast stirring, drink a glass of water. If this is its problem, it will settle down again within about 15 minutes. If not, you will need to work out what other factor may be disturbing it.

A good preventive rule-of-thumb is to drink a 10- to 12-oz. glass of water about every two hours (except when you're trying to sleep:)). Additionally, if you drink things with caffeine, alcohol, or other diuretic substances in them, they will make you lose water and will also suppress the thirst sensation, so you will need to consciously drink extra water to make up for this.

You can substitute low-Calorie soft drinks for some of the water, but do not substitute them for all of it. The only way to find out what proportion works best for you is to experiment with different amounts until you develop a feel for it.

Rule-of-Thumb For The Water Factor

Drink a 10 to 12-oz glass of water when you get up in the morning and every two hours thereafter. (You should stop about two hours before going to bed---for obvious reasons.:)) This will get you into about the right ballpark on the total amount of water you need.

If you'd like to know more on this subject now, please turn to MORE ON... WATER on page 257 in Part Two. Otherwise, just continue in this section. 

The Fiber Factor

Fiber (the indigestible part of plants) may be considered a sort of "proto-nutrient". It has no biochemical function (like, e.g. a vitamin), but it is important to keep your intestines functioning sufficiently for proper elimination of food waste. There is very good evidence that an insufficient amount of fiber promotes colon cancer and other nasty diseases. This effect is probably due to the fact that various toxic substances (both from your own body and from bacterial decomposition) stay in contact with the intestinal wall too long if there's insufficient fiber to help the intestine move them out expeditiously.

The internal homeostatic mechanism we irreverently call "The Beast" does not like things that make you unhealthy, and obviously getting rid of that "stuff":) you don't need from food is just as important to health as making sure you get the right amounts of the right things in the first place. In other words, constipation will "wake The Beast" which will want you to eat things with lots of fiber---like chocolate cheesecake. (Of course, chocolate cheesecake doesn't have any fiber, but remember that The Beast is a primitive sub-mind, and not very smart.:) All it really knows how to do is to make you hungry whenever it needs something---and hope you then feed it whatever it really needs.)

Since you'll be eating a lot of vegetables and other high-fiber foods on the Multi-Diet, a lack of fiber is not likely to be a problem, but since the U.S. food labeling system provides information on fiber, we will be keeping an eye on it anyway. The desirable amount of fiber is 20-30 grams per day. Somewhat more may be better, but don't overdo. Supplements are also available and can be very handy on days when you find you haven't gotten quite enough fiber.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

That Beastly "Early Warning" System

The main reason to pay attention to The Beast is that when you can feel it waking up (which means it's making you think about food), you can assume it has a good nutritional reason to do this. Your job is to figure out what that reason is before it starts to make your diet difficult. The Multi-Diet gives you the information you need.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Rule-of-Thumb for The Fiber Factor

Select for meals foods that will give you at least 20 grams of fiber per day (read labels).

Remember that if you give The Beast its fiber and its other requirements from among the Eight Vital Factors, it won't bother you about eating too few calories. It knows you're not likely to run low on Calories anytime soon---because you're lugging around that huge reserve of them.:)

For a discussion of the research and references on fiber as well as more technique for handling it easily, turn to MORE ON... FIBER on page 253 in Part Two and return here when done. Alternatively, you can just continue on in this chapter.