The Fiber Diet has no special scientific backing, nor does it have a formal following. Nonetheless, I live daily by its two simple rules:
Every 200 calories of food must include 2 grams of fiber
The quantity of added sugar must not exceed the quantity of fiber.
Two sources inspired this diet. First, my interest and discipline in yoga brought me to the frugivore diet. Humans have the same teeth and intestinal proportions as monkeys. Monkeys are frugivores, and frugivores eat primarily fruits and nuts. Matching the food to the length of the intestines aids digestion and regularity of the bowels.
Herbivores have intestines that are many times longer than those of frugivores. Herbivores require the added length to digest the extra roughage in their diet. Conversely, carnivores have short intestines, omnivores have medium intestines, and frugivores have intestines a little longer than that. Curiously, a study by McKenney supposes an increased inconsistency among human intestine lengths because of the variability in the human diet. There is a correlation between the shape of our stomachs and the foods we eat, so we would do well not to stress ourselves with an excess of meat and lettuce.
Meat is not the most efficient source of protein.
The Fiber Diet, however, is not limited to fruits and nuts. The second inspiration for this diet is from Dr. Joel Fuhrman's "Eat to Live," summarized by a single excerpt: "Which has more protein—one hundred calories of sirloin steak or one hundred calories of broccoli?" The answer is broccoli. Dr. Fuhrman argues the key to a healthy diet is nutritional density. Dairy is not the most efficient source of calcium. Meat is not the most efficient source of protein.1 He argues, without saying it, for veganism.
Unfortunately, Western culture is not kind to a strict vegan diet, especially not in America. As I explain food to my friends, "I eat because I do not like the feeling of hunger." If I could be sustained by the finer forces of energy, from sunlight and oxygen alone, I would not eat. But alas! My consolation is eating simply. However, imposing a vegan diet on friends and family is nothing but an ordeal.
How, then, can we traverse the minefield that is the United States menu? My answer, for simplicity's sake, is The Fiber Diet.
...unregulated advertising allows marketers to villainize harmless ingredients like MSG and GMOs...
Our groceries are replete with fashionably marketed poison: typographic masterpieces adorning breakfast oats, granola, charcuterie crackers, dessert alternatives, and every chip, popcorn, and snack in between—all promising net-neutral carbs,2 ethically sourced seed oils, no GMOs, and mostly organic ingredients. Our groceries are propaganda commissaries where the highest bidder wins the highest shelf and unregulated advertisers villainize harmless ingredients like MSG3 and GMOs,4 thus diverting consumer attention from true poisons like added sugar.5
My mind needs a sword to help me slice the signal from the noise. I believe fiber is such a saber. Look at anything deemed "unhealthy"—the processed butter, cheeses, crackers, or cereals. Look at any of them and test them against The Fiber Diet. Do they have 2 grams of fiber? Most will not. Those that survive the fiber test will flagrantly fail the sugar test, for their added sugar contents more than double their fiber contents. Unhealthy foods fail to pass the two rules of The Fiber Diet.
The Fiber Diet reveals the common denominator of healthy foods.
Now test anything deemed "healthy" against The Fiber Diet. Test the fruit, the veggies, the legumes, and the whole grains. Do these foods have at least 2 grams of fiber per 200 calories? They do. Do they have more added sugar than fiber? They do not. I have found that the two rules of The Fiber Diet reveal the common denominator of healthy foods.
Fiber is poo glue and is needed to move our bowels. Our bowels need to move to rid our bodies of waste and toxins. Constipation poisons our blood. Thus, I find fiber essential for my own health and essential as the antidote to America's sugary food and drink. This leads to the final point of The Fiber Diet, which is its flexibility. Eat all the meat, cheese, and simple carbohydrates that are forever unavoidable at our dinner tables and restaurants. Eat it all, but do so while still adhering to your fiber diet. To do that you must also eat enough roughage, legumes, and whole grains to counteract the inefficient calories of the other things. The Fiber Diet is not an enumeration of all the things we should and should not eat. Instead, it is much more powerful. The Fiber Diet defines what is good for us by assessing just two metrics: is there fiber; is there not added sugar?
Most meat does have the greatest density of protein per calorie. Chicken has eighteen grams of protein per one-hundred calories while broccoli has just eight. The "efficiency" Dr. Fuhrmen references is broccoli's additional source of fiber and vitamins, which are absent from meat.
Keto diets that limit the intake of carbs use sugar alcohols and fiber to deduct from the total carb count. "The thinking is that, because fiber doesn’t significantly affect blood-sugar levels, the grams of carbohydrates it represents can be ignored."
MSG, or monosodium glutamate, is derived from glutamic acid, an amino acid found naturally in various foods, including seaweed. Some people have reported experiencing symptoms such as headaches, sweating, and nausea after consuming foods containing MSG, a condition often referred to as "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome" or "MSG Symptom Complex." However, scientific studies have generally not found consistent evidence to support these claims, and MSG is considered safe for the majority of people.
It is worth noting that while MSG is naturally occurring, food manufacturers label other chemicals as MSG — according to the Medical Medium. Generally, it is good practice to eat food as close to the source of light (fruits and vegetables) comprising whole ingredients not denatured by manufacturing.
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine conducted a comprehensive review in 2016, analyzing over 1,000 studies on the subject. They concluded that there was no substantiated evidence of a difference in risks to human health between commercially available genetically engineered crops and conventionally bred crops. This conclusion aligns with the findings of other reputable organizations, such as the World Health Organization, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the European Commission. All these organizations reached similar conclusions regarding the safety of GMOs for human consumption.
Professor Colin Goding from the University of Oxford highlighted a study that uncovered a key molecular mechanism through which high blood glucose could predispose individuals to cancer. This finding suggests a possible direction for novel therapies aimed at reducing cancer risk, particularly in obese and diabetic populations. The study underscores the need for further exploration of the relationship between sugar intake, obesity, diabetes, and cancer risk. "At least 1 in 3 of the main cancers (27-39%) can be prevented by improving diet, physical activity and body composition."