Welcome

Hi. I'm J. Weighty (not really), and I'm trying the Shangri-La Diet (really).

• What's that? It's not so much a diet as an appetite suppression method. It requires no particular diet regimen, other than the once- or twice-daily consumption of either sugar-water or vegetable oil, or both. Additionally, one must not eat anything for an hour or so before or after the sugar-water or oil. Many descriptions may be found on the web; here's one.
  
• Sounds crazy. Yes, it does.
• Who's the crackpot that came up with this? Seth Roberts, Ph. D., a Berkeley associate professor of psychology.
• How's it work? I don't know that it does, but here's the story: Each person has a "set point," like a thermostat, that determines what weight the body "wants" to be. This set point can be pushed higher by some foods. It all goes back to our caveman feast-or-famine days, when if you were getting different, tasty things to eat ("feast" periods), the body would go into a mode of storing up lots of fat, in order to prepare for the inevitable famine period to follow. The relatively tasteless sugar-water or vegetable oil tricks the body into going into famine mode, where it uses up those fat stores. You're less hungry, so you eat less. Or so says the theory.
  
• You're one of those people that jumps on every diet fad, aren't you? Nope. Never really been on a real diet.
• Who are you? What's your deal? I'm 42 years old, male, American, 5'10"/178 cm., and I weigh about 200 lbs./90 kg. About nine years ago, I dropped from 224 to 192 lbs. in 60 days by exercising a lot, and shifting my diet a little -- more vegetables and whole grains, less meat and dairy. Nothing fancy. Since then my low was about 188, but I've been mostly between about 195 and 205 lbs. I've drifted back to my pre-weight-loss diet, though I probably don't eat as much meat as I did.
• Is this "diet" healthy? Not everybody thinks so. Here's somebody who focused mainly on the fructose component, which I haven't used, and won't. I'm using only olive oil, which is generally considered to be one of the "good" fats.
  
• So, does it work?

Well, that's the question, isn't it? That's what I hope to find out. Today is only my second day, so I can't tell you much other than I'm encouraged so far. I'll tell you why shortly, so stay tuned.

tags: diet, weight loss, Shangri-la Diet