The Shangri-La Diet is the brain-child of Seth Roberts, author of the book by the same name. Seth developed the plan after completing research on various weight loss theories and doing extensive “self-experimentation” to determine of the theories really produced results.

The Shangri-La Diet combines a couple of different weight loss premises, with a focus on the theories of “set point” and satisfaction as the keys to finding and maintaining your ideal weight.

Set Point – Why It’s Hard to Lose Weight

The Shangri-La Diet gives credence to the idea that the body has a “set point”, a weight at which it is comfortable and will try to stay. This can be a validating belief for anyone who’s ever felt like their body conspires to keep them a certain weight, despite their best efforts to the contrary.

In particular, The Shangri-La diet is centered around the belief that, while our body may have a weight at which it’s comfortable, that number can be changed by eating all the “zero set point” foods you want. The theory is that these foods make you eat less of the other things – the things that conspire to keep you at a set point you didn’t choose!

The website doesn’t detail these foods, but The Shangri-La Diet book is available on the site and offers a much more comprehensive look at the set point theory.

Satisfaction and Weight Loss

There’s been a trend in recent years to advocate satisfaction as an important component of both weight loss and long-term weight management, and The Shangri-La Diet is yet another proponent of satisfaction as a weight loss tool.

While there is some mention of “fructose water” as a supplement, The Shangri-La diet website doesn’t go into a whole lot of detail about the recommended manner for insuring you feel satisfied when you eat. A lot of the listed success stories do highlight the effect of eating less, and enjoying it more, as a central theme of The Shangri-La diet.

Science and Success Stories

The Shangri-La Diet is different from most diet sites in that there aren’t any food products to buy or interactive profiles and quizzes. In fact, much the information is centered around the scientific, with a liberal dose of statistics and charts that give one the feeling that this is, in fact, a well-researched theory.

The site offers a few Success Stories, as well as excerpts from the book. There are links to blogs referencing The Shangri-La Diet, and chat forums that allow you to connect with other SLD aficionados. It’s common practice for those on The Shangri-La Diet to post their progress in the forums, and this alone can be really motivating for anyone working the program.

Nuts and Bolts

The Shangri-La Diet site is a basic, nuts-and-bolts site with a few nuts-and-bolts missing! This is by virtue of necessity, since the goal is to get you to purchase The Shangri-La Diet book!

Even so, the science behind the diet and real life results are compelling – and might just make the book a worthwhile purchase.