SHANGRI-LA DIET
The Shangri-La Diet was developed by Seth Roberts, an Associate Professor at the Berkeley Psychology Department. The diet involves drinking sugar-water and/or olive oil before meals to disassociate your taste for food from your body’s natural inclination to metabolize at a set rate. This diet does not involve any restrictions; rather it involves addition of these two ingredients in the hopes of ‘fooling’ your brain. Roberts feels that metabolism as we know it today evolved during a period (the Stone Age) of ‘feast or famine’, when mankind did not have the same access to food that we do today. In his diet, he hopes to reset that ancient metabolic clock. Before you head out to your local restaurant with a bottle of virgin olive oil, read the details of this diet below.
Foods Emphasized: Sugar water, virgin olive oil combined with and any other foods
Foods Discouraged: None
Premise and Guidelines: This weight loss diet incorporates such random measures, coupled with absolutely no other restrictions, that it seems comedic. The dieter is to consume a mixture of sugar & water and / or a spoonful of extra virgin olive oil either right before or an hour following meals. Each day, you will consume 2 tablespoons. of oil and 6 tablespoons of sugar throughout the day. Other than these guidelines, there is no calorie counting or nutrient restrictions. Dr. Roberts claims that your body already has a set point for weight and at any given time it will either increase or decrease your metabolism to maintain this weight. This is based on an older theory of taste-setting that postulates the tastiness of food can control this weight-point. The consummation of bland foods (sugar water and flavorless oil) prior to meals allows a person to break the calorie association with the way a food tastes, and consequently lowers your predetermined weight point.
Dr. Roberts seems to be utilizing his psychology to trick the brain into burning more fat or calories than it might ordinarily. He is known for experimenting on himself, and though this might have worked for him, this diet is odd enough that it really requires further scientific exploration. The explanations provided by Roberts have varied and there is no formal body of work or research that satisfactorily explains how this diet can really work.