1. The Fructose Water and the Impact on Blood Sugar
A day in the life of the Shangri-la Diet includes glasses of fructose-sweetened water between meals and a few tablespoons of extra-light olive oil. Sound tempting? Supposedly, the fructose water and olive oil contain essentially flavorless calories that should help lower our body fat set point. The problem for diabetics is that drinking calorie-containing, sweetened beverages will cause a rapid rise in blood sugar followed by an equally rapid fall. Large swings in your blood sugar leads to poor diabetes control and may have short-term and long-term negative health implications.
2. Carbohydrate Imbalance
Seth Roberts, the creator of the Shangri-la Diet, advocates eating one large meal or two smaller meals each day. The balance of your calories should come from the fructose water or the olive oil. This can create the same unhealthy blood sugar "roller coaster" as consuming large amounts of fructose water. If you have diabetes, you should have your first meal within 90 minutes of waking up to counteract low blood sugar that may occur as you sleep overnight. You should follow this with a substantial, balanced meal or snack every 3 to 5 hours to keep blood sugar levels steady.
3. The Problem with Portions
Another no-no for diabetics is unlimited portion sizes, especially with carbohydrate-containing foods. Shangri-la doesn't always provide clear guidelines for how much "regular" food to eat at each meal. There just seems to be an understanding that most people on the diet won't exceed 1,200 calories per day. To control diabetes, you should consume a certain amount of carbohydrates every day, depending on your calorie needs. These carbohydrates should be spread evenly throughout the day to help maintain blood sugar balance.
4. Exercising with Shangri-la
Research has shown that it's nearly impossible to maintain significant weight loss without incorporating some type of physical activity. An added bonus for diabetics is that exercise can lower blood sugar, both immediately after an activity and as an overall benefit. You can choose to exercise while following Shangri-la, but the book doesn't provide any specific physical activity recommendations or guidelines.
5. Low-GI Choices
If you're a diabetic, there is one positive recommendation that you can draw from this diet. Roberts recommends that your "regular" food choices should come from unprocessed sources with a low-glycemic index (GI). A food's GI measures how large an impact it has on our blood sugar. Sticking with low-GI choices means lots of whole grains, lean meats and fresh vegetables. Definitely one piece of advice that everyone should follow.
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