The Shangri-La Diet > Progress/Updates

Third day, on vacation no less. Observations.

(1/1)

wildnight:
I had Amazon overnight Seth's book to me last Thursday (hat tip - Instapundit), and left for my 8-day beach vacation Saturday morning. By which time I had finished reading TSLD. Started ELOO (canola) Saturday morning.

It has been interesting so far. Can't say anything about weight (no scales here), but I did have a few observations that I was curious to see if others had noticed.

First, and most notable (for me) was what happened this morning while I was making breakfast. I woke up hungry, and so wondered if I have been doing SLD correctly. I decided to make pancakes and bacon for everyone (I was up early). I did so, and after cooking (without tasting along the way) sat down for a single pancake. Ate half a piece of bacon and didn't feel like any more.  I should note that I'm 5'10", 195, and the rest of the gang here ate at least three pancakes and lots of bacon. So what's interesting is that even though my initial appetite didn't magically evaporate, the amount I seem to be eating before satiation is much, much less than it was even three days ago.

Starbucks. As a law student, I have a 2-Starbucks a day habit back in the real world. But there aren't any here where I'm staying -- and I haven't even noticed missing them until I sat down to write this post. That's not good news for Starbucks corp.  :lol:   I decided to switch to black coffee, just to see, and have been perfectly content with it. Dunno what it means, but there it is. Fewer calories from coffee, anyway (i.e. no milk/cream).

Beverages/Snacks.  The 2-hour windows have cut down, remarkably so, on my consumption of carbonated beverages and miscellaneous snacks (which are of course ubiquitous while on vacation).  That by itself is no surprise -- four hours of interdiction each day would have that effect. What is noteworthy is that I haven't missed the lost foods / beverages, nor been watching the clock anxiously till the time window expires.

Tastes.  My taste, or desire for, various foods is changing or has changed. I'm not sure I can pin down exactly how (yet) but I don't seem to be drawn to the same foods that I was before I started doing this crazy SLD.  Perhaps in some ways I also have less concern about what I'm going to eat -- for the last three days, whatever is being made for dinner seems fine to me (for example).  Whereas normally on vacation I would be the one pushing to find a new and more interesting restaurant to try.  Perhaps this is a symptom of appetites -- maybe this is symptomatic of what folks mean who say that they are "thinking about food less".

Anyway, I have no ability to comment on the long-term, but I am convinced that there is a material phsyiological element to the SLD beyond any mere psychological effect. When I ordered and read TSLD it was only because I was looking for some light beach reading and was titillated by the links between TSLD and Freakonomics.

DirkVA:
Sounds as though you're doing great, and your observations are fascinating. Keep reporting, please!

raina:
That all sounds about right to me (except for the starbucks bit, and I was never a big snacker).  Hunger isn't all gone, but I'm satisfied sooner and I crave different foods.  Hope you see some good news on the scale when you get home. :)

Navigation

[0] Message Index