"No Hunger, Eat Anything": The Shangri-La Diet

The Shangri-La Diet is a nonconventional diet because its main idea is that you can lose weight without having to starve yourself. Author Seth Roberts, PhD, came up with this principle because he has seen that many people struggle to lose weight using the traditional formula “eat less, exercise more” and the results are unsatisfying.

Roberts believes that it’s all up to you to teach your body to want less food. This can be achieved by regulating your body’s set point. Taste association is one of the diet’s premises. Roberts explains that eating familiar foods stimulates hunger and causes weight gain. His solution is to eat more unfamiliar foods which will cause weight loss, by lowering the set point. ''Change the flavor of a food using different spices, or making a tiny alteration so that there is an unfamiliar association with the food, and that will lower the set point,'' says Roberts.

"The better food tastes, the more fattening it is,'' explains Roberts. Even if the author advertises his diet using the line “eat anything”, it’s not entirely true. Yes, you can eat everything your heart desires but Roberts gives a few advices. Processed foods, foods with high-fructose corn syrup, and refined grains should be avoided and replaced with vegetables, fruits, whole grains.

''People who are on the diet are less hungry, have fewer cravings, and their food choices change, with a preference for healthier foods,'' says Roberts. Another tip Roberts gives is to have between meals 1-3 tablespoon of fructose water or 1-2 tablespoons of extra-light olive oil.