The Shangri-La Diet

The book begins like this:

Shangri-La? Odd name for a diet. Name of a spa, maybe. Seth Roberts chose it partly because Shangri-La, James Hilton's fictional Himalayan community, was a place of great peace and tranquility; and this diet puts people at peace with food. Within days after starting it, all sorts of food-related struggles (irresistible cravings, too many food-related thoughts, uncontrollable night eating) usually go away. Another reason for the name was that Shangri-La was meant to be a near-perfect place and — not to boast — this is a diet with many advantages. It is simple, powerful, and does not require deprivation. It's almost as easy as taking a pill, and a hundred times safer and less expensive. Seth also liked the idea of naming a diet after an imaginary place. Imaginary places are often full of novelty and hope — think Alice in Wonderland or Harry Potter. No harm in borrowing some of that.