I stopped in the local bookstore the other day with the idea of picking up a diet book to review. I came out empty-handed. My goodness, where do you start? I was faced with shelf upon shelf of diet books, everything from "A" (The Abs Diet) to "Z" - The Zone Diet.

Now here's anther approach to dieting. It's called the Shangri-la Diet. According to Newsday.com:

The Shangri-La Diet is based on the idea that the human body has a natural "set point" -- an ideal weight that your body tends toward. Seth Roberts, Ph.D., the diet's author argues that this set point can be manipulated, like a thermostat.

How do you adjust your set point? Newsday tells us:

The way you do this is by drinking 2-4 tablespoons of oil per day -- I chose extra light olive oil -- inside a two-hour window in which you do not consume anything else. The rest of the day, you can eat whatever you're hungry for, as your set point is readjusted down and your body will respond accordingly.

Diet Blog has this to say about the Shangri la Diet:

The Shangri La Diet is absurd, ridiculous, and remarkable. It is quite simply one of the most unusual weight loss books ever written. Author Seth Roberts presents his radical ideas without melodrama or hype, and comes up with a weight loss diet that is both controversial and intriguing.

If it appeals, you might want to give it a try. Just the thought of drinking oil is enough to put me off my food for a while.