On the Shangri-La Diet forums, Timothy Beneke has posted about a creative method of avoiding compulsive eating.
Tim has been an excellent weight-loss engineer. His discovery, after losing 80 pounds, that he could lose even more by eating taste-free nutritionally-balanced mush is one reason I believe the theory behind the Shangri-La Diet. The theory predicts this will work, yet the mush is quite different nutritionally than flavorless oil or sugar water.
Seth, Do you recall your podcast interview with Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit? I heard it and have since become interested in your ideas about appetite and weight. One of the things Glenn mentioned was that he’d heard commercials from the Sugar Growers of America that stated something to the effect of “a spoonful of sugar a day lowers the appetostat”. You said that was consistent with your theory… I was wondering if you’d followed up on that, to determine whether they were promoting the same thing you are today.
thanks, Brad.
P.S. I appreciate your defense of Michael Bailey. He’s a colleague and a great guy.
Nice to hear from you, Brad. No, I haven’t followed it up. Animal experiments with sugar water added to the cage generally show that the sugar water causes weight gain; this may be because the sugar water increases water intake (which causes weight gain in lab rats), or it may be because the sugar water is drunk at the same time as regular food.
But you might be right; maybe I should follow it up.