Today I have started a new diet. I like to call it the absurd diet.

http://www.calorielab.com/news/2005/09/21/seth-roberts-shangri-la-diet-in-detail/

http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2006/05/the_strangest_e.html

I'll check back with the results in a few weeks.

Isn't kind of boring?

>Roberts has also concocted a behavioral psychology explanation for why the diet works, which we’ll skip — we suspect he cooked it up as an afterthought to justify his development of a weight loss program while being employed as a psychology professor.

That's rich. Or bland. Or something.

I'd counter that his three principles are dead wrong...

1) That's boring. I don't about others, I have a taste quota. Eating bland things all day is depressing, which is counter productive to a long-term diet.

2) Unfamilar foods don't provide comfort. One will just desire to follow them with foods that do provide comfort. Only in a completely stress free environment does one never eat for comfort (but losing weight is by definition stressful).

How long can one eat unfamiliar foods before they become familar?

3) The faster during a meal your body detects caloric input the quicker it begins to feel satiated, the faster the hunger subsides and the smaller amount of food one needs to eat during that meal. Frankly, eating a few french fries as an appetizer - high glycemic value, high salt, high fat content can trigger feeling full before one gets to dessert.

> I'd counter that his three principles are dead wrong...

I don't think you can counter it based on princples. You would need experiment.

As the article says, one should self-experiment. These principles (prune-ciples?) are derived from self-experimentation.

That I and this psych professor were able to come up with completely contrasting principles speaks to the variety of dietary experiences. Or that when it comes to food, anything is provable.

Of course, the article then goes on to contradict itself by telling you exactly what to do (ie, not experiment, just follow the rules). Cause there is no book to sell in self-experimenting with values. Even Nietzsche could tell you that.

I think humans are naturally attuned to eat according to social cues. But most of us are content to be followers, to be the scrawny, needy dog who gets table scraps from the masters and creators of diets.