| The Shangri-La Diet: The No Hunger Eat Anything Weight Loss Plan | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Seth Roberts |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Subject(s) | Dieting |
| Genre(s) | Non-fiction |
| Publisher | Perigee Books |
| Publication date | April 2006 |
| Pages | 203 pp |
| ISBN | 9780399533167 |
| OCLC Number | 123498697 |
| Dewey Decimal | 613.2/5 22 |
| LC Classification | RM222.2 .R5597 2007 |
The Shangri-La Diet is both the name of a book by psychologist Seth Roberts, a professor at Tsinghua University and professor emeritus at UC Berkeley, and the name of the diet that the book advocates. The book discusses consuming 100–400 calories per day in a flavorless food such as extra light olive oil one hour outside of mealtimes as a method of appetite suppression leading to weight loss.
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As a graduate student, Roberts studied animal cognition, specifically rat psychology.[1] As a psychology professor, Roberts read a report by Israel Ramirez that studied the stimulation and growth in rats due to saccharin.[2] Based on this research, he developed a new theory of weight control – eating foods with a low glycemic index and eating sushi – on which he lost forty pounds.[3]
In 2000, Roberts traveled to Paris. He claims he noticed a loss of appetite, and connected this with drinking flavors of soft drinks that were not available to him in the US.[4]
The book features short anecdotes from followers of the diet who had heard of it through Roberts' blog or The New York Times.[5] Roberts' diet is based on the fundamental principle of a set point – the weight which, according to Roberts, a person's brain strives to maintain. When actual weight is below the set point, appetite increases; when actual weight is above the set point, appetite decreases. Furthermore, eating certain foods can raise or lower the set point. Foods that have a strong flavor-calorie relationship (such as fast food or donuts) raise the set point, whereas bland foods which are slowly digested (like extra light olive oil or fructose mixed with water) lower the set point. Roberts states that the diet is based upon connecting two unconnected fields: weight control and associative learning. Because of this, the research behind the diet is from multiple fields, ranging from Pavlovian psychology to physiology to rat psychology.[2][6][7][8]
The diet itself consists of taking 100–400 calories in the form of either extra-light (not extra-virgin) olive oil or sugar water per day, either all at once or spanned throughout the day. [5] This must be consumed in a flavorless window, which is at least one hour after flavors have been consumed, and at least one hour before flavors will be consumed.[5] The consumption of these flavorless calories supposedly lowers the set point, and therefore, lowers weight.
Through word of mouth, the book became a New York Times bestseller. It was featured on Good Morning America, on which journalist Diane Sawyer tried a tablespoon of olive oil.[9][10] It received additional coverage by The Times, ABC News, The New York Times, and The Washington Post.[11][12][13][14]
It was heavily criticized by UCLA medical professor Dr. John Ford.[15] In an interview on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's Sunday Night program, nutritionist David Jenkins criticized the lack of scientific research validating the diet.[16] In the same program, Roberts responded, saying that the results are there for all to see and that "there was no need for a big study to demonstrate the obvious".[16] Jenkins admitted that the diet can only be benign, saying, "It is both cheap and safe."[16]
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