[retired]

One of the morning TV shows (Diane Sawyer?) had a segment about the Shanghi Diet.
Has anyone tried it? It uses sugar or oil in water as an appitite suppressant. Don't know if I could stomach the oil.

[Suzanne 3FC]

The Shangri-La Diet was touted by the man who wrote Freakonomics. The guy said that if he consumed either a few tablespoons of oil or some sugar water (he used fructose) that he was able to trick his body into thinking he'd already eaten something, so he wasn't as hungry at mealtime. Then he ate smaller portions at mealtime, and lost weight.

I agree, I don't think I could handle the oil, either. It doesn't sound dangerous, but I personally wouldn't want to try it. Plus, the same results have been claimed by people that eat a snack of fruit, a bowl of soup, and other calorie controlled snacks. Those choices would taste better, and would also provide additional nutrients which you wont find in oil or sugar.

You mentioned appetite suppressant, though I'm not sure if that's what you were interested in. According to the poll we have on our home page, only 6% of overweight people overeat out of true hunger, so an appetite suppressant isn't always called for. The rest overeat from boredom, stress, and other emotional reasons. We've had over 7,000 people vote so far.

[tqvirgo]

Hi there,
I just wanted to clarify that the guy who wrote freakanomics is the gentleman who was on the morning show, and is not the same guy who did the research. The original paper is 63 pages long and the section on diet is very interesting. His name is Seth Roberts and he is a psychologist at UC Berkeley. His research is posted on the Berkley website.
THe interesting point he looks at that I've never seen anyone deal with before, is Set Point: the weight at which our bodies are most comfortable. What he found was that the fructose and water actually allows the set point to adjust as one loses weight, which is different than any findings he's ever found before, and this is how he expains his ability to keep off his weight, along with the other people who've tried and lossed and kept the weight off.
In his research he looks at Cravings, weight loss maintanance, over eating and set point. It's more thorough than indicated on the morning show piece or in what freakanomics covers. I suggest plugging through the actual research before making a decision about this theory either way.
take care
Tracy