The Shangri-la diet in its present form requires the
dieter to take either a small quantity of sugar water or
a bland oil (extra-light olive oil, canola oil, or highly
refined walnut oil) twice or three times a day, at least
an hour before or an hour after consuming anything
with flavor (including toothpaste or mouthwash).
Roberts recommends 1 to 2 tablespoons of oil per
day, which comes to 120 to 240 calories. The sugar
mixture that Roberts used while losing weight was
about 6 tablespoons of fructose (about 275 calories)
diluted in a quart of water. According to Roberts, the
oil or sugar water gives the dieter some calories in a
nutrient-dense substance without flavor, thus breaking
the learned association between flavor and calories.
In effect, breaking this learned association tricks
the body into lowering its set point, suppressing appetite,
and leading to weight loss without hunger cravings.
Roberts suggests taking the doses of oil or sugar
water first thing in the morning and just before bedtime,
but says that dieters should feel free to experiment
and take their doses at other times that may work
better for them.
The dieter need not make any other changes in the
types of food they prefer. Roberts does, however,
suggest ways in which people using the Shangri-la
diet can lower their set point even further:
-Avoid food commercials, cooking shows on television,
and other visual stimuli related to feed. Seeing
images of food is thought to increase the appetite.
-Choose foods with a low glycemic index (GI). The
glycemic index is a measurement system that evaluates
the carbohydrates in specific foods for their
effect on the body’s blood sugar level within two
hours after a meal. Foods with a low GI index are
thought to satisfy hunger longer because they do not
increase blood sugar levels as rapidly as foods with a
high GI index.
-Eat very bland foods other than the doses of oil (sushi,
boiled rice, egg whites, etc.) to help break the association
between flavor and calorie intake.
-Practice ‘‘crazy spicing,’’ which is Roberts’s term for
adding 10 to 20 spices chosen at random to one’s
food so that the original flavor is unrecognizable. As
Roberts says, ‘‘No flavor recognition=no set point
increase = lower set point = weight loss.’’
As of 2007, Roberts maintains that he has kept his
weight at about 150 pounds by eating one 900-calorie
meal per day, 150 calories of fruit sugar dissolved in
water, and 2 pieces of fresh fruit (about 75 calories each).
The function of the Shangri-la diet is to induce
and maintain weight loss through an approach
intended to reset the dieter’s set point and improve
control of appetite, rather than by eliminating specific
food categories or restricting portion size.
