Fad diets have been around longer than you may think. To fulfill the desire for the perfect body, some people have gone to great extremes to lose weight. Here are ten of the most bizarre diets in history.
1. The Vinegar Diet. In 1820, British poet Lord Byron popularized this craze. After drenching his food in vinegar and downing vinegar and water by the glassful, Byron lost 60 pounds and began publicizing his cure all. Side effects of this diet included vomiting and diarrhea. Lord Byron was known to suffer from anorexia and bulimia. Variations of this diet are still followed today.
2. The Cigarette Diet. Long before Surgeon General Warnings came into existence, cigarettes were used to promote good health. Many popular cigarette manufacturers touted cigarettes as a great appetite reducer. In the early 1920s, doctors routinely prescribed several cigarettes a day to women as a viable appetite suppressant.
3. Graham’s Cracker Diet.Sylvester Graham, a Presbyterian minister, developed this trend in 1830. During well attended health retreats, Graham touted a meat-free diet consisting of bland foods, including crackers and wheat breads. Yes, that’s the same man responsible for the still popular Graham cracker.
4. Slimming Soaps. The 1930s brought with it the Great Depression, World War II and slimming soaps. Products like “FatOff” and “La Mar Reducing Soap,” which were made from hand soap and potassium chloride, were a hit with women across the United States who intended to wash their fat away. Slimming Soaps are still advertised and sold in China today.
5. The Tapeworm Diet. In 1954, people began ingesting cysts (baby tapeworms) in an effort to shed extra weight. Since tapeworms are parasitic and are known to live off intestinal tissue, the logic followed that body fat could simply be eaten away. Never mind that the common tapeworm can grow to 25 feet long and cause severe illness, infection and even death!
6. Calories Don’t Count. Dr. Herman Taller, a well respected obstetrician, came up with a diet in 1961 that allowed users to eat as much red, fatty meat and high protein foods as desired if the meal was followed by 3 ounces safflower oil. The diet was upgraded in the mid 1960s when Dr. Taller began selling polyunsaturated vegetable oil in pill form. Dr. Taller’s book, “Calories Don’t Count” sold more than 2 million copies. Dr. Herman Taller was eventually convicted of mail fraud in the peddling of his mystery pills, which were proven to be ineffective.
7. The Drinking Man’s Diet operated on the premise that you could eat whatever and however many high fat foods you desired as long as you washed it down with low carbohydrate booze. Gardner Jameson’s book sold millions of copies in the 1960s, and his low carbohydrate approach became the basis for many other low carb diet fads still around today. This diet craze became so popular that Time Magazine ran a special feature article pointing out the inconsistencies and health risks in the plan.
8. The Sleeping Beauty Diet also came out of the 1960s and promoted good health and weight loss through the use of heavy sedation. Users would gorge themselves on food before drugging themselves into a sleep induced state that could last upwards of 3 days.
9. The Great Masticator Diet was started in 1903 by art dealer Horace Fletcher, who claimed to have lost 40 pounds by thoroughly chewing his food, but never swallowing it. Food was to be chewed 32 times, once for each tooth, and then spit out. The course of logic was that nutrients would be absorbed through the act of chewing, but not the calories.
10. The Ear Stapling Diet came into being in the early 2000s, and involved the stapling of the cartilage of the inner ear to suppress appetite. The program is loosely based on the principles of acupuncture. Adherents would leave staples in place for up to three months, which often led to serious infection and disfiguration, and yet, the curious still flock to this fad.
