Why I Just Bought a Quart of Canola Oil
posted by Protagonist | 8:46 PM 
There's a new "fad diet" coming out called The Shangri-La Diet by Dr. Seth Roberts. Roberts is a psychologist rather than a somatic doctor, and his diet is more a method of cravings-control rather than a nutritional method. A site documenting experiments in the diet is here, and you can order the official book here (set to come out next week)
To sum up the best I can:
--Overeating, in large part, is caused by a mental association between high-caloric intake and euphoric pleasure of taste.
--Overeating can be controlled be disassociating caloric intake from taste."By breaking the close temporal link between the sensation of taste and the delivery of caloric energy, the body will no longer crave more calories just because of a particular taste--in fact, it will crave less food because the delivery of calories came without a connection to taste."
--This disassociation can be done by (1) Consuming calories that have little or no taste, (2) Consuming calories that have an unfamiliar taste and (3) Consuming foods that contain calories that are only detected by the body after a delay (in order to disassociate the initial taste from the later calorie hit).
--The first method of consuming non-taste calories appears to be the most feasible method of disassociation. To perform this, Roberts recommends (a) Drinking a small amount of tasteless oil (such as canola oil or very light olive oil), and (b) Drinking a small amount of sugar diluted in water (such as fructose or sucrose).
I just started trying this out tonight, by getting some canola oil and having a tablespoon of it. I'm foregoing the sugarwater suggestion, since I'm traditionally a low-carb eater who, regardless of weightgain or weightloss, have found that sugar/carb consumption causes mood swings and tiredness. The oils mention have virtually no carbs in the servings suggested, though high calories.
It's too soon to tell, but after my first tablespoon of oil, I can say that I feel noticeably less cravings. I don't know if the oil just grossed me out, or if its psycho-somatic, but I feel like I just had a full meal. Yet the theorized disassociation is suppose to take time, so it's probably just hopeful thinking.
I'll let everybody knows how it goes.
To sum up the best I can:
--Overeating, in large part, is caused by a mental association between high-caloric intake and euphoric pleasure of taste.
--Overeating can be controlled be disassociating caloric intake from taste."By breaking the close temporal link between the sensation of taste and the delivery of caloric energy, the body will no longer crave more calories just because of a particular taste--in fact, it will crave less food because the delivery of calories came without a connection to taste."
--This disassociation can be done by (1) Consuming calories that have little or no taste, (2) Consuming calories that have an unfamiliar taste and (3) Consuming foods that contain calories that are only detected by the body after a delay (in order to disassociate the initial taste from the later calorie hit).
--The first method of consuming non-taste calories appears to be the most feasible method of disassociation. To perform this, Roberts recommends (a) Drinking a small amount of tasteless oil (such as canola oil or very light olive oil), and (b) Drinking a small amount of sugar diluted in water (such as fructose or sucrose).
I just started trying this out tonight, by getting some canola oil and having a tablespoon of it. I'm foregoing the sugarwater suggestion, since I'm traditionally a low-carb eater who, regardless of weightgain or weightloss, have found that sugar/carb consumption causes mood swings and tiredness. The oils mention have virtually no carbs in the servings suggested, though high calories.
It's too soon to tell, but after my first tablespoon of oil, I can say that I feel noticeably less cravings. I don't know if the oil just grossed me out, or if its psycho-somatic, but I feel like I just had a full meal. Yet the theorized disassociation is suppose to take time, so it's probably just hopeful thinking.
I'll let everybody knows how it goes.
4 Comments:
a resonably inexpensive diet, nonetheless. :-)
i'm waiting for the all-beer all-the-time diet. wait - i think it already exists in the form called "early death".
do let us know how it goes. personally, i eat emotionally at times. i do get a good feeling from eating a muffin or any other trashy carb product.
i just can't seem to get myself to that state of mind i had at age 28, when i was exercising daily and eating healthfully consistently. yes, life was simpler then, but had its own complexities.
found a paper by the author at freakonomics.com. seems like the premise of the book.
Protag - I am going to try this. After reading the aforementioned documents, I believe there is some validity to the general argument that one can manipulate one's metabolism. But I wonder about the psychological aspects - i.e., "tricking" oneself into doing anything - the high brain fooling the lower brain. It seems analagous to setting the clock ahead 10 minutes to avoid being late. This never works for me, as, knowing the clock is set ahead, I subtract the time flub factor.
I wonder if being honest with oneself is not the better track, i.e., saying to oneself, high brain to low, "now, this will be somewhat difficult (dieting, losing weight), but it can and must be done."
were ready for the diet update? also, will peak oil effect the outcome?
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