9 Ridiculous Diet Fads That Have Thankfully Faded

By Susan Dickson

9 Ridiculous Diet Fads That Have Thankfully Faded thegearhunt.com

When most people thinking of diets, they think of losing weight. What they often don’t think about is just how dangerous, and yes ridiculous, some of these fad diets can be. In reality, fad diets, also rightly known of as crash diets are a way for someone who is trying to lose weight to stop working hard, eating right, and exercising to take off the weight you need to be healthy and fit. Though there are a few fad diets out there that have worked well in the past, there are quite a few ridiculous diet fads that have thankfully faded into obscurity. Some of these are just funny and others are downright dangerous and thankfully are long gone, though some may be lurking in the corners with people still mistakenly thinking they work.

In this blog, we’re going to delve into a few of the dangers you might not have known about following the latest diet fad, then move into the most ridiculous diet fads out there, some that are gone, some that are still around and even why the ones that are gone have faded away.

The fact is that 90 percent of fad diets don’t get the job done and once you’ve lost what amounts to water weight, you are right back at the fridge looking for food. The best way to lose those extra pounds is determination, exercise, and eating right, period.

So, grab your drink of choice, pull up a chair, and join us as we figure out the dangers of diet fads and why some have suddenly faded to black.

Diet Fads that Thankfully Faded to Black

From the scary to the just plain weird, diet fads come and go on a regular basis, causing most of us to shake our heads and wonder just what dieters could be thinking to try them. Luckily, most of these fade away after a short time. Read on below for a few of the fad diets below.

The Baby Food Diet

The name of this one pretty much speaks for itself. It calls for dieters to eat baby food. The thought behind this fad diet was to replace one to two meals a day with a baby food snack that carried from 20 to 100 calories and that would help you lose weight pretty quickly. The only problem with this was that baby food isn’t all that appetizing, even to a baby, and excluding the dutch apple custard dessert, but who can live on that? Face it, there’s no ice cream sundae or chicken flavored baby food, people. The lack of having to chew their food, on top of the limited flavors turned dieters off before this one got going well and it soon faded back to where it had come from.

The Chewing Diet

Okay, so this one is not only strange but a little disgusting as well. The chewing diet came from Horace, “The Great Masticator” Fletcher and was also known as the Fletcherism diet. His thought that was dieters should chew their food until it was nothing but liquid, then split the liquid out. This would cause the people who chewed to eat fewer calories than the people who actually swallowed their food. Not only did it not work at all, but most dieters also didn’t want to spit out their food in a diner or in front of their families, so this one faded quickly thank goodness.

The Cotton Ball Diet

This one’s insanity from the get-go. Soaking cotton balls in juice and then ingesting them is not the way to lose weight. It is, however, a way to end up in the hospital or worse dead. Don’t try this one at home, folks.

The Ear Stapling Diet

Really. This was a thing. Many people believed that you could manipulate your weight by manipulating your body. Out of this thought, came the ear stapling diet. It was believed that stapling the ear would affect a portion of the body that controls your appetite. Didn’t happen, no weight loss, but some people did end up with a nasty infection they had to fight.

The HCG Diet

This diet fad professed that eating nothing over 500 calories a day and having a daily shot of a human hormone that is released in the early part of a woman being pregnant was a surefire way to lose those extra pounds. Not only did this diet not work, but it also was proven to be extremely dangerous. Besides, who would want to give themselves a shot every day, if they didn’t have to?

The Five Bite Diet

The Five Bite Diet is again just what it sounds like. On this brilliant diet, you get to have no breakfast, then get five bites of food at lunch, then five more bites at dinner. You are allowed to drink what you want, as long as the drink was calorie free. This one didn’t have long at all, because there is absolutely no way that 10 bites of food a day, even large bites, can keep you alive.

The Smoke Instead of Eating Sweets Diet

This might be the most ridiculous diet in our entire blog. In their defense, the diet came out in 1929 and was put forth the Lucky Strike company to “help” women lose weight. It was said that reaching for a cigarette instead of an unhealthy treat could help you to shed those pounds. Women believed, the diet worked, but the candy companies got the law involved and the ad was quickly abandoned. The diet was a well, wonder why? Everyone knows the answer to that question now but didn’t then.

The Tapeworm Diet

Okay, another just gross diet is the tapeworm diet. This diet was perfect for those people who wanted to shed the pounds, but not work to do it. You simply swallowed a tapeworm supplement and shared your food with the worm in your belly. The idea of sharing their body with a tapeworm didn’t sit well with most people and removing the tapeworm when the deed was done and the weight gone was a sight none of us want to see. This one faded and with very good reason.

The Sleeping Beauty Diet

Even though it worked for The King, sedating yourself the way that Elvis did to lose weight isn’t the safe or effective way to go. Drugs are bad for you and besides who has the time to sleep for days while your belly shrinks.

These are just a few of the most ridiculous diets out there that have thankfully faded to black. Below we will list a few more that we didn’t go into here. Do your research to determine which ones you think are the grossest, laughable, or downright weird.

Other Diet Fads that Faded or Not?

The Vision diet
The Cookie diet

The Ramen diet, still going on in college today
The Raw Food diet, around sometimes
The Atkins diet, here, but controversial

The TV Dinner diet
The Nothing but Liquid diet
The Dairy Diet

The Chocolate Cake diet, we can get behind this one!
The Wine and Eggs diet
The Blood Type diet

The Drinking Man’s diet
The WW2 Rations diet

Even though most of these have faded, there are a few of them that are still around today or keep coming back as a fad then fading away again. Some of them are funny, some are unbelievable and a few are downright scary and super dangerous. If you are considering following a current fad diet, please do your research well, talk to your doctor, and only start one that is proven to work and right for you.

Next, up is a few of the dangers of fad diets. Ready to find out what they are? Then, let’s get started.

Top Dangers of Fad Diets

While we have taken some of these diet fads lightly, it’s important to note at this point that fad diets can be extremely dangerous. In our next section, we will go into the top dangers of these fads and what you should know about them.

You Could Become Dehydrated

Most of the weight you lose on these fad diets is water weight, and water is something your body needs to survive. Rapid water weight loss can lead to severe and fast dehydrated, something that can kill you if not treated right away. If you are going to follow one of these fad diets, please make sure keep a bottle of water beside you at all times. Water is your friend!

You’ll Become Tired Faster

Most fad diets include depriving yourself of calories, but your body needs some calories to be able to function and have the energy to get through the day. Eating too fast or eating less than what your body requires you to eat can lead to you being constantly fatigued and your energy giving out earlier in the day.

You can Develop Serious Digestive Issues

While this is something you probably would prefer not to hear, losing weight too quickly can lead to bad diarrhea and serious digestive issues. Plus, as with losing the water weight to quickly, diarrhea can lead to dehydration as well, which could cause serious medical issues for you.

It’s Possible to Become Malnourished

Fad diets and the fasting that often goes with them are extremely dangerous. Since they restrict you from eating fats, getting calories and carbs as well, it’s hard to get the vitamins and minerals you need to be healthy, because many of the foods you need have these in them, and you’re not allowed to eat those foods. If your body is denied the nutrients and minerals it needs you will become malnourished, which can be deadly if not treated, and lead to other medical conditions as well.

These are only a few of the possible dangers that come with following the trends and going on fad diets. There are many more, some of which can be deadly. On top of that, most of these diets don’t even work. In our next section, we will discuss a little bit of why they don’t.

Top Reasons Fad Diets Don’t Work

Fad diets are tempting, we get that, but just because it helps you to lose weight quickly, doesn’t mean that the weight will stay off. Read on below for a few of the top reasons that fad diets just don’t work the majority of the time.

They Only Give You Short-Term Results

Most of the fad diets will tell you right up front that they are only good for losing weight in the short term. This means that as soon as you go off the diet, you’re going to start putting back on the pounds. Why not try long-term instead? You can do this by eating right, exercising, and taking care of yourself.

They Don’t Begin to Cure the Problem

Fad diets aren’t a solution or a cure to your weight control problems, they are just a band-aid that you cover it up with short-term. You need to get to the root of the problem, as to why you can’t seem to lose the weight you need to and keep it off. The best way to do that is by making an appointment with your doctor, who will help you get to the root of the problem and then do something about it.

They Don’t Meet Your Nutritional Needs

Fad diets don’t meet the nutritional guidelines for what you need to be healthy, have plenty of energy, and be fit like you want to be. You are better off cutting down on the types of foods you eat than you are going on a fad diet that will fade to black soon enough anyway.

This ends our blog on the most ridiculous diet fads out there that have faded away. Remember, losing weight the healthy way is truly the only way to go!