Drink lots of liquids

  As you burn fat, various waste products are released into your bloodstream. One way to minimise the impact of these chemicals is to dilute them in the bloodstream and, at the same time, crank up the rate at which the kidneys remove waste and dispose of it. This is easy to do; turn up the throttle on the bottle--drink more liquids every day.

For the duration of your diet, you should drink at least two quarts of liquid per day. ``Liquid'' means water or any non-caloric beverage you enjoy: diet soft drinks, artificially sweetened lemonade, Coiled Springs reduced benzene designer seltzer, etc. ``Liquid'' does not mean milk, beer, or Classic Coke, unless you're willing to subtract the calories they contain from the food you eat.

The best way to ensure you drink enough liquid every day is to make up a two quart pitcher of your beverage of choice, or buy a two quart (or two litre--they're about the same) bottle of your favourite commercial swill, then make sure you empty it by the end of the day. That way you won't have to keep a mental total, adding up every little cup and glass; as long as you empty the pitcher, you're cool.

  That's ``at least two quarts,'' by the way. Go ahead and drink any other liquids you like, whenever you feel like it, but make sure you guzzle the two quart minimum every day. It's hard to err in the direction of too much. As we saw on page , the body is a very efficient water pump; the more you put in, the more that comes out. And come out it will. Yes, increasing the number of trips to the bathroom every day is annoying, but with every visit you make to the temple of the porcelain goddess, you're flushing out chemicals released from burning fat that would otherwise continue to circulate in your blood, gumming up the works.