Healthy Meal Replacement with the Diced Diet

By Rikki Langston

Well, I did it.

I got through five days using the Diced Diet (reprinted below) as a meal replacement after having started once, making it through three days and then being distracted by out-of-town guests who thought I had lost my mind.

So, let me start with what I feel to be the benefits of the Diced Diet:

• It's easy to prepare;
  
  
• It's surprisingly filling (it actually turns out to be about 860 calories) and;
  
  
• Talk about Cleaning House -- if you catch my drift -- it was amazing.

The first day I tried it, the Gouda cheese that I used did not have that much flavor, but the second day I managed to find a better quality Gouda cheese and that made a big difference.

One of the challenges I encountered was trying to remember not to reach for a glass of water within two hours after eating the concoction. I did manage to remember, but it's such a habit now, to reach for water, that I had to make more of an effort to get in my water quota much earlier in the day.

By the fifth day, I did not want to see a peanut, a raisin, an apple, a lemon, a tomato, or a piece of cheese. Well, maybe cheese, but I tired of the dish after four or five days.

The Diced Diet as a meal replacement is definitely doable and works wonders on your "indoor plumbing" too, but I think next time (maybe in a month or so) I would start on a Sunday, working through to Thursday, so that social obligations don't tease and tempt me to blow the whole project and give in to a steak dinner.

I only ate the Diced Diet as a replacement for dinner and had other normal meals, along with my guiltless morning cup of coffee.

After five days of making the Diced Diet my dinner, I definitely felt lighter and more invigorated.

I absolutely believe that this can be of benefit to others.

I Felt Light and Good

by Adrienne Stiles

I started the Diced Diet on a Monday, thinking that it would be a good thing to try during the week rather than on the weekend. I chose to eat the specified food combination at lunch, since, according to Ayurveda, this is when digestion is the strongest.

So, for breakfast I would have my usual, consisting of 1 serving of oat bran mixed with half a serving of oatmeal, with one cup of almond, soy or whole milk. To that I add about 1 tablespoon of crushed flax seeds as well as nutmeg and cinnamon, the whole thing sweetened with stevia, since I prefer to not take in too much sugar.

I drink plenty of water throughout the day, but since you're not supposed to drink anything for two hours afterwards, I would have one cup of green tea and about 20 additional ounces of water in the am.

Then for lunch I would have the diced diet, substituting smoked Gouda for the regular variety. The smoky taste is wonderful paired with the tomatoes, apple, raisins, lemon juice and peanuts. It does take a long time to eat if you're chewing as thoroughly as you should be, somewhere in between 20 and 30 minutes. It is nice and filling, but since I work out about five days a week, I get hungry often and around three hours later I would have a light snack, a piece of fruit or some tea with some form of milk.

Dinner consisted of soup and a salad. As with most people, warm is much more satisfying and filling, so it is wise when eating light to have a good deal of warm things- tea, oatmeal, soup - in order to feel more satisfied (weather permitting). Then, another cup of tea before bed rounded out the day.

I noticed that around day three I was more hungry in the evening than I had been the two days prior. I think my body was starting to sense that it was “cleaning itself out”. So, I ate a little more on the nights that my body told me to, although still trying to keep it on the light side.

I didn't really encounter any problems, although I'm sure that if I hadn't chewed the food so thoroughly, there would have definitely been some digestive issues…

After this I felt good and light, and the meal was definitely satisfying due to the complexity of all the flavors mixed together! I hope this helps!

Note from Chet: Below is The Diced Diet that Rikki and Adrienne used so successfully as healthy meal replacements.

The Diced Diet

By Basil Shackleton
An excerpt from The Grape Cure: A Living Testament

The diced diet, given below, is my most successful discovery next to the grape diet. It is invaluable as a whole meal, lunch, or dinner, though preferably the latter, about the fourth day after the grape treatment. It has remarkable healing and cleansing properties, and will, if eaten regularly as a main meal during the day, actually cure rheumatism and skin rashes, and it is a guaranteed cure for constipation.

If the diced diet is eaten at least during five days of the week, it is impossible to be constipated, unless there is a structure in the intestines. The ingredients are well balanced, and the whole can be considered a perfect food.

Ingredients

Two ounces of well-washed raisins (preferably large with seeds)
One medium sized apple (crisp, preferably Granny Smith type)
One ripe and well-washed tomato
Two ounces sweet milk cheese (Gouda)
Two ounces dry-roasted peanuts or monkey nuts (no oils, fats, or salt) The juice of half a fresh, ripe lemon
The final ingredient is your own saliva

Method of Preparation

After washing the raisins several times in hot water, place them in a cup and allow to soak in really hot water for about ten minutes. Then squeeze the juice of the lemon into another cup and add the raisins after they have been drained of water. This may be left for twenty minutes to half an hour. The lemon juice should just cover the raisins.

Wash the tomato and apple and cut both into small pieces, and place in a bowl. Cut the cheese into small pieces and place in the bowl with tomato. Then throw the peanuts into the bowl, finally adding the raisins and lemon juice.

Stir thoroughly and the food is ready for consumption. In fact, it should be eaten within fifteen minutes of preparation otherwise it begins to lose its own vitality.

Now find yourself a comfortable chair and relax with a little reading matter and your feet up if necessary, because it takes at least half an hour to thoroughly masticate and swallow the food. Remember that saliva is a very important ingredient.

If possible, make the diced diet your evening meal - your dinner, but don't drink any liquids until two hours have elapsed after the meal.

After a week of this food as your main meal of the day, you will feel completely revitalized, especially if you cut down on other foods and leave out meat altogether during that week. The various ingredients can be adjusted to suit individual tastes, but no other may be added or taken away. The sweetness of the diet is controlled by the time allowed for the raisins to soak in the lemon juice. The longer the soak, the sweeter the juice.