May 04, 2006

The Next Big Thing

Seth Roberts' book, The Shangri-La Diet, is #3 on Amazon. If his crazy theory (eat ~300 calories a day of flavorless oil or sugar water-->lower body's "set point"-->feel less hunger-->eat less-->lose weight) actually works for a significant number of people, this book is going to be huge.

My favorite passage, from pages 136-137:
"Food connoisseurs avoid ditto foods -- exactly the foods my theory says you should avoid. They search out, purchase, eat, and even glorify foods with unusual and subtle flavors -- exactly the foods my theory says you should eat. Inevitably these foods are made in small batches and cannot become very familiar. A culture of food connoisseurship may be the very reason the French are less obese than Americans."
I learned about Roberts over a year ago on Marginal Revolution, but haven't yet had the courage to try his method. The science behind his diet seems sound, but with a sample size of pretty much Seth Roberts, some of his friends, and a few dozen people in the blogosphere, it's fair to say that the theory is as of yet unproven.

But on the off-chance it does work, I'm thinking of buying some stock in Filippo Berio.

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