Something Shiny

“The Shangri-La Diet: The No Hunger Eat Anything Weight-Loss Plan” by Seth Roberts sounds crazy, but crazy like a fox, or crazy like a cat-lady? Ok… so supposedly by consuming 100-400 calories daily in either sugar water or no-taste oil (extra-light olive oil, canola oil, or safflower oil) you can adjust your body’s weight “set point.” The more you consume (not to exceed 400 calories) the better it works.

Here are the caveats:

1. The oil or sugar water has to be consumed at least an hour before or after eating anything or consuming beverages with flavor.
2. It’s an appetite suppressant technique so if you’re a recreational eater, it may well not help you. It’s supposed to make you hungry less often and fuller faster so you may wind up eating smaller portions though.
3. Because it works through appetite suppression, you still ultimately have to eat responsibly, the program just makes it easier to eat less and think about food less.

As I said, I’m skeptical, but it’s so crazy, I just have to try it. I’m reasonably easily maintaining my current weight, but i could probably lose another 10lbs to get rid if a little extra doughiness. We’ll see, I’ll let you know if it works.

Reviews:
Absurd, ridiculous, and remarkable. It is quite simply one of the most unusual weight loss books ever written. . . . — Diet-Blog.com

Everything on the cover is literally true. You make one, almost subtle, change, and you lose weight. . . . — CalorieLab.com

Seth Roberts… has now hit upon a weight-loss theory that might just benefit a few million people. — Stephen J. Dubner, co-author of Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

The Shangri-La Diet is unlike any diet you ever have come across; it is, in the truest sense, a hack. — Health-Hack.com

The diet to end all diets….You actively feel like not eating. . . . — Joyce Cohen, HuntGrunt blogger and New York Times columnist ["The Hunt"]

The great thing about Roberts’s methods is that you will know whether they work within a day or two. — MarginalRevolution.com –This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

I finally had to give up on Kelly Link‘s Stranger Things Happen. The stories in Pretty Little Monsters were… well, they had something happen. Stranger Things Happen seemed to be more a stream of consciousnesses sorta thing. Like streams were combined into “stories.” Anyway, I gave up two stories from the end of the collection.

So, after reading Tim Dorsey‘s Nuclear Jellyfish I picked up J.B. Stanley’s Fit to Die. I had picked up Chile con Corpses on a whim at the library (I’m a sucker for clever titles and shiny covers). The characters were pretty flat and the plot wasn’t particularly clever, but it wasn’t bad either.

More interesting than the plot was the diet story sub-story. Ok, interesting isn’t quite acurate. Connecting perhaps? Much like fiscal responsibilty, diets aren’t exactly the focus of positive media attention. Aside from NBC‘s The Biggest Loser (which is more social manipulation than useful information), TV, books, movies, don’t ever really touch on the pain in the ass which is weight loss and weight maintenance.

The fact that J.B. Stanley includes some of the actual issues around weight loss/management as a tertiary topic makes the characters a bit more real and is positive reinforcement for my own goals.

Since Chili con Corpses I’ve read Carbs & Cadavers, and am currently in the middle of Fit to Die. Ms. Stanley has one more book in the Supper Club Mystery series, Stiffs and Swine, as well as some other books outside the series.

So, in conclusion, the Supper Club Mystery series is a collection of solid, although not outstanding, mysteries. The real draw here is for those whose weight doesn’t manage itself. You can be the 6th member of the characters’ supper club and get enjoy the benefits of their support structure, even if it is only fictional.

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