Skipping off to Shangri-La

So, it's working.

I'm drinking 3 tablespoons of canola oil first thing in the morning. And, believe it or not, it's not as gross as it sounds. I've done wierder, grosser things in the name of weight loss. Canola oil seems to have a teeny tiny taste, more of an aftertaste, and the olive oil I had at my parents' house seems to be truly flavorless. I'm going to switch to olive oil as soon as I can get some. My market down the street only carries tiny bottles of gourmet extra virgin, while I need a giant jug of the flavorless extra light.

I first noticed a change in appetite on day 3 of the SLD. For the first two days, I ate whatever I wanted. I pigged out of all my sugary favorites. I had this whole plan about how I was going to track my own hunger and food and blog it all for you, but babies pooped and preschoolers shrieked and nothing got remembered long enough to be written down. Sorry about that.

So, it's been a week now. I am getting used to oil in the morning, and the, um, digestive side effects of drinking oil have subsided. I don't get hungry until early afternoon, and when I do, it's mildly hungry, not ravenously-eat-the-whole-house  kind of hungry. I think because I'm lactating I'm going to be hungrier than the average Shagri-la dieter. I think I'm losing weight, just judging from the way my clothes fit. 

From the comments:

"It sounds nuts. And yes I think I'm going to try it. The fact that it's called the Shangri-La diet kinda cracked me up...because if you've ever read Voltaire's "Candide", Shangri-La is the place everyone is dying to go but no one can ever quite get there. My suspicion is that, like all diet books, it'll work great for some people, work not at all for others, and for everybody else it'll work for a little while and then they'll give up."

Exactly. And thanks for the literary reference for Shangri-La. I was smart enough to know there was one, but not smart enough to remember what the significance was.

Hang around the low-carbers long enough, and you'll probably hear about your golden shot. The first time you do low carb is your best chance to lose the wieght, because subsequent tries won't yeild the same dramatic initial weight loss. Nobody could ever explain that, metabolically it should be the same each time you cut out sugars. Now it makes sense: the first time you go on the Atkins diet, you are eating so many new foods, learning new recipes, trying new flavorings, tasting things differently sans sugar. But then it doesn't work so well, if at all, the tenth time you start the "steak and diet coke plan" as my mom once called it.

Our bodies are smart when it comes to keeping us fat. Fat is stability, fat is insurance to our legacy bodies. This is a great little trick, that's for sure, but I find it hard to believe that my fat-loving body is going to stay outwitted for very long.

Another surprising element has surfaced for me in doing this diet: I'm afraid of being thin. Being a little overweight is a good place to hide. Fat people, much like middle aged women, are invisible to many. Being looked at again might take some getting used to. Fortunately the mom thing is a good invisibility device, although not as good as being fat.

I also wanted to write about emotional eating, but y'all are just going to have to wait, because I've already lost this post twice and now the baby's up. Damn.

Comments

[Marsha]

I lost a good deal of weight once and, after a (to me) large amount of attention is rushed to gain it all back and more. I've been trying to make peace with my desire to hide myself so that I can also have a healthier body. These wants aren't always easy to reconcile, so I appreciate you're mentioning the connection.

I bought a bottle of canola oil. It's sitting on the counter, waiting for me to get ready.

[Andi]

I'm scared of the oil! It just *sounds* so nasty. And yet on paper it makes so much sense.... :)

[petitegourmand]

sounds pretty awful.
I hope it works for you.
I am noticing a bit of a theme going around the blogsphere re: shedding lbs.
I'm also on the weight-loss quest.
haven't quite done the olive oil thing though.
I think I'll just stick to my morning smoothies!

[Lilian]

I think this diet is fascinating, I was actually thinking about it the other day and wondering whether you were doing it or not. Thanks for the update!!

[Elizabeth]

So it's just 3 tbsp of oil once daily? That's it, that's the diet? I can do that.
I think I will. Do I really need to buy the book?

[Bethany]

I'm intrigued...

[Stacy]

Wow... I think I'll follow along in your adventures before trying it myself. Emotional eating... man, THERE'S a topic!

[Jo]

Oooooh fascinating. I'd do that.

Between you and Doctor Mama's Running Boot Camp, I am inspired.

[Jo]

Update: I am now doing it. And swallowing a tablespoonful of oil is enough to kill my appetite for several hours. Gah.

Oh, you know what occurred to me? If you don't want table sugar, light agave nectar tastes pretty much like nothing, and has a much lower glycemic index.

Also: your voice mail is full.

[Crystal]

I'm fascinated by this premise because it seems to be the answer to what so many seriously overweight people truly have problems with - fighting off the hunger. Many of us have no problem eating healthy, but when you're a hundred pounds overweight, one 300 calorie lean cuisine meal at lunch and a few carrots just ain't going to do it. Two hours later, your body thinks it's starving and off you go. Anything that would curb the appetite enough to *allow* you to eat less would be a godsend. Even drugs aren't helpful as most (if not all) appetite suppressant drugs out there have very nasty side effects.

Please keep blogging about this. I just requested the book from the library and should have it in a couple of days.

[Stephen M (Ethesis)]

Another surprising element has surfaced for me in doing this diet: I'm afraid of being thin.

Yep, the emotions that surface on this diet are different from anything else. No other diet I've tried pushed emotions to the surface like this has.

It is amazing stuff. Wish you well, and keep blogging about it.

[Dixie_Amazon]

It is working for me and I am a binge eater. The weight has been coming off at a reasonable rate (i.e. 1 to 2 pounds a week). Your mileage may vary.

[SZ]

hey cool, I just got Blogged again!
That was my comment you commented upon there, Kateri. But I must issue a mea culpa: The place they all try to go in "Candide" is *Eldorado*, not Shangri-La. I was wrong. But, I still think that Shangri-La carries that same sense, in some other book.

In any case I'll be chugging canola cocktails soon enough and we'll see what happens. I gotta do something, I ate another whole bag of mini milanos the other day...

[swimmer]

I just stumbled onto your blog and it seems like my kind of place. :-) This diet reminds me of when I used to gag down a tablespoon or two of flax seed oil for the essential fatty acids (EFAs) when I was pregnant. Something about drinking oil just feels very very weird.

Speaking of flax seed oil, it's probably a lot better for you (to drink -- maybe not for cooking) than canola oil. Flax seed oil has a much higher proportion of omega-3 ('good') fatty acids, and most of us need more of that than we get.

I guess now I'll have to bookmark you and check back to see how things go!

[Nate]

I'm trying this, only using sunflower seed oil. I tried canola and found it nasty, but probably because mine is old. Sunflower has a very very mild sunflowery taste which is actually quite pleasant, and is very thin to boot. I think this diet works because you're preparing your body's enzymatic machinery to digest lipids, so it can transition smoothly from the oil to bodyfat, rather than from carbs to lipids. It really works well to control hunger, which I hear is a big problem with the atkins diet.

Good luck!