179 of 183 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Too good to be true, but true nevertheless, May 4, 2006
I was very skeptical of the claims made about this diet. Who wouldn't be? It sounds like the ultimate diet scam, designed to appeal to sedentary fat idiots who long to believe they can lose weight without expending any effort or having to give up their favorite junk food. Then I read the book. It's very clear and well-reasoned, but it was still hard to get past the fact that it goes against practically all the standard weight loss ideas I'd ever heard. Of course in the long run none of the standard ideas ever helped me lose weight and keep it off, so I decided to give this method a try. The great thing about it is, it's exceptionally easy and painless and very inexpensive to try it. Spoiler alert! I hate to give away the ending but for me at least it TOTALLY WORKS! I've noticed that people's reactions to this book, with very few exceptions, fall into two categories: those who think it's crazy and can't possibly work, and those who actually try it and are very surprised to find themselves losing weight. The book itself is kind of quirky and offbeat, but seems to be backed up by solid research. For such a small book it sure has a lot of footnotes. Can I just say something? I'm not hungry!
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154 of 158 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
When it doesn't work..., December 10, 2006
I'm yet another person who is happy with the results from following the guidance in this book. I think that it's clearly true that this "diet" (it is not really a diet per se) is working for a whole lot of people, and also that there are some people for whom it is not working.
It's unlikely that tons and tons of people are all experiencing a similar psychological effect. It's possible, but if that were true, I'd expect that some other fad would have been able to produce a similar widespread effect long ago. And if it is true, then so much the better, and the people who can't reproduce the effect, should move on, and appreciate that it does seem to work for many.
I also think the theory behind why the "diet" works is interesting, but not completely validated. That is, while it seems to work, perhaps the reasons why are wrong (more likely, that the theory isn't totally complete). I think they make intuitive sense, but it may be there's some other factor that differentiates some people, and makes the core idea not work for them.
But I think the most common reason for this not working is probably due to misunderstanding the idea. I've seen the same few mistakes made over and over:
1) Not understanding the diet, and not following it properly. When it passes by word of mouth, for example, many people will try extra-virgin olive oil instead of extra-light olive oil (ELOO).
2) If you're already on a diet, and go off that diet when you start this one (or relax your old diet in any way), you can pretty much guarantee you're going to gain weight, at least in the short term, because your caloric intake is likely to skyrocket, even w/ the appetite control from the ELOO / sugar water. That's what you get when you start eating a lot more junk than you're used to.
3) Shangri-La will make you less hungry, but it is ultimately up to you to eat less. It's clear in the book that you still need to restrict your caloric intake, it's just that the ELOO / sugar water, when used properly, can help on the appetite, making it easy to self-restrict your caloric intake. If you have some psychological need to always eat what's in front of you, even when you're full, then you may not eat any less, and you won't lose any weight.
Personally, I do have a bit of a psychological tie to cleaning my plate, especially since I paid for the food and want to get my money's worth. I'm working on that, but what I've tried to do is make sure that I put less food in front of myself to begin with. For example, there's a pizza place a few blocks from me that sells pizza by the slice. When I first started the diet, I'd get two pieces, and would end up hungry pretty soon after. A week after starting the diet, I went into the pizza place. I decided to eat one slice, and then only get the second slice if I was still hungry. I wasn't, so I left, and didn't get hungry again the rest of the day. If I'd have ordered two slices, as normal, I still would have eaten the second slice, and never would have restricted my caloric intake on the meal.
I'm still working on this. But I have found that within a week, I was able to reduce my calories by half from before starting the diet, without any real hunger discomfort (certainly, when I get hungry I eat). That doesn't mean I always take in half as many calories, mainly because there's still the psychological aspect of cleaning my plate! I've had meals where I really wasn't hungry at all a couple of bites into the meal, but I still kept eating, because I'd paid for the food...
All in all, I'm aware of this issue, and I'm still keeping the calories down, and losing weight, totally without hunger. I think I've got room for improvement, but it is coming down to concious choices. I think I'm appealing to my desire to get the most for my money by trying to order less. For example, I can now generally either eat an appetizer or an entree... I don't need both. I just pick the thing that looks best.
Hope this helps.
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