Imagine it: A diet where you can anything you want, without having to count calories, cook special foods, or follow ridiculous rules. And you’re guaranteed to lose 35 pounds in the process.
To most, this sounds like a dream come true–but the late Seth Roberts, Ph.D., a University of California at Berkeley professor emeritus of psychology calls it the Shangri-La Diet.
“My scientific work on this had two parts: I came up with a new theory of weight control; and I used self-experimentation to test my theory (a fancy way of saying self-experimentation led me to believe my theory) and apply it,” said Roberts, who died last week. “Why isn’t this a fad diet? Because it is based on a better understanding of how our weight-control system works than previous popular diets.”
First created in 2006, Roberts initially drew attention because his diet was based on the theory that tastier foods cause people to eat more–whereas blander, less flavorful foods helped people stay lean. In turn, Roberts believed that added between 200 to 500 calories of a flavorless substance, such as oil, to a person’s daily diet broke their desire to eat more, therefore helping them restrict their food intake naturally.
A weird concept? Definitely. But for Roberts, it was sound science.
“After a talk by a young scientist, during the question period, Niels Bohr, the Danish physicist, said to him, “We are all agreed that your theory is crazy. The question that divides us is whether it is crazy enough to have a chance of being correct.”,” said Roberts on his website. “The truth (that is, good science) may appear crazy at first, because it does not fit our accepted views of how things work.”
So how does the Shangri-la Diet work? Here’s a quick primer:
- Consume between 200 to 500 calories of oil per day. Preferably, you want to choose flavorless oil, such as extra-light olive or flaxseed oil, as Roberts claims the lack of flavor acts as a natural appetite suppressant.
- Consume the oil at least an hour before eating any sort of food. This, according to Roberts, helps take the edge off hunger and lessens your desire for more flavorful, tasty food.
- Eat as you normally would. There are no restrictions on what you can eat or how much you can eat–just follow your natural cravings and hunger cues.
- If you haven’t lost weight after a month, have more oil. Roberts recommends consuming one tablespoon more of oil.
From there, all you need to do is keep up the habit–and watch the weight fall off, according to Roberts.
“It’s almost as easy as taking a pill, and a hundred times safer and less expensive,” said Roberts. “Within days after starting it, all sorts of food-related struggles (irresistible cravings, too many food-related thoughts, uncontrollable night eating) usually go away.”
However, despite claims that his diet is backed up my science, there currently exists no research examining the efficacy of his diet. Instead, Roberts put the focus on his own successes with the diet–he reportedly lost up to 35 pounds.
Readers: Would you try this diet? Why or why not?
Sources:
Chapter Excerpt from the Shangri-La Diet – SethRoberts.net
Shangri-La Diet – WebMD.com
The Science Behind the Shangri-La Diet – SethRoberts.net
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