Fiber & Weight Loss

Below is an excerpt from Part Two of

The 2004 Multi-Diet

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

The Multi-Diet View of Fiber

Since fiber is never digested, it cannot be considered a “nutrient” in the normal sense. But since your body needs it to perform a vital internal cleansing function, it treats it just like a nutrient—i.e. it makes you hungry whenever it needs more. So we can probably call it a “proto-nutrient”.

The effect of fiber that Multi-Dieters find most useful is its “regularizing” effect on the intestines. Eliminating what you don’t need is just as important to your health as getting enough of what you do need. Since The Beast’s main evolutionary focus is trying to manage food in order to keep you healthy, we are not surprised to find it taking an interest in foods that can help you eliminate that “stuff” that may cause disease.

Fiber prevents the constipation that was seen in virtually every VLCD research project. One respected VLCD researcher found that fiber not only reduced hunger but also made it more likely that people would actually be able to stay on the VLCD. These are exactly the effects that would be predicted by the threshold theory.

Fiber keeps the muscles of the intestine contracting smoothly and regularly rather than spasmodically and haphazardly. Since the sensation of hunger is itself partly a matter of the nature of the contractions of the intestines, it is wise to make sure the intestines don’t become “distressed” and “wake The Beast” to make you go eat some of that “high-fiber” chocolate cheesecake.

All this means that even though you may be tempted to think that fiber is “not so important”. Don’t! It is important! The Beast gets sneaky and tricks you into eating more when you aren’t eliminating properly. It knows you need dietary fiber and that you are a whole lot more likely to get it if you eat than if you don’t eat. (Duhh! The Beast isn’t smart, but it’s got that much figured out ).

This sneaky eating behavior often happens gradually and almost unnoticeably until you finally catch on that you’ve been eating more than you thought for several days—and then you’re likely to think it’s happening for some other reason. It can happen even after you’ve been doing the Multi-Diet for a while and think you’ve mastered it. “Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom.”