12.29.06
The Shangri-La Diet!
In his book Lost Horizon, popular British novelist James Hilton describes Shangri-La as a mystical and secluded community in the Himalayas that is full of peace and tranquility. Since the term is now a widely used metaphor for utopia, psychologist Seth Roberts thought it provided the perfect name for his revolutionary new approach to weight loss.
According to Roberts, the food you eat impacts your weight by influencing what is known as the body-weight set point. Though this is a term borrowed from engineering, weight-loss researchers have used it to refer to the weight your body ???wants to be.??
???The set point is the weight your brain wants you to be,?? Roberts says. ???Your brain pushes you towards that weight by making you more or less hungry.??
However, one thing that Roberts has discovered is that eating certain foods can actually cause your set point to increase or decrease. There are high-set-point foods, and there are low-set-point foods.
???Some foods cause your set point to increase or decrease based on flavor,?? Roberts explains. ???Your brain uses flavor as a way of measuring how much food is available in the world. When the flavor-calorie association is strong, you are telling the brain that food is abundant.??
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