Americans have not always had the soundest ideas
about how to lose weight and stay fit. Actually many other cultures don’t
either. Japan has their own weird banana diet thing going on right now, but
that is for another blog. Here are just some of my favorite diet trends many of
you may remember circulating around in American magazines or whispered in
beauty parlors over the years. Warning,
many of these trends will leave the nutritionally minded among us scratching
their heads and wondering who even came up with these ideas?
1. Pray
that weight away. Yes, in the 1950s, there were actually whole swaths of women
across the US who were praying the weight away. Let’s not even get into the
lack of scientific proof, but instead focus on just how ridiculous the concept
is. The diet was based on the idea that God wanted women to be slim, and that
if participants only prayed hard enough, divine intervention would prevent them
from overindulging and snacking. No matter what you believe, you’ve got to
admit that this is more than a little silly.
2. Smoke
it off. Anyone who has ever struggled with an addiction to tobacco already
knows that it suppresses your diet. In the 1930s, tobacco companies were
actually marketing smoking as a good way to lose weight and keep it off. Many
women glommed onto this trend and it still persists today. Sure, smoking curbs
your appetite, but it also pumps your lungs full of tar and the thousands of
other nasty chemicals present in cigarettes.
3. Chew
it up. Also known as “Fletcherism,” this was one of the first true fad diets in
history. Essentially, adherents would chew their food 100 times per minute,
liquefying it and then spitting out any solid remains. Horace Fletcher, the man
who came up with this ridiculous idea, even said that liquid needed to be
chewed. Any nutritionist (or sensible person) will tell you that you need to
chew your food and even that chewing slower and more is good for you, but
they’ll also tell you that spitting that food out or chewing liquid are silly
and even harmful ideas, plus they may not be the best person to invite to a
dinner party…
4. Swallow
a tapeworm. It sounds like a great deal: all you have to do is swallow a
tapeworm and you don’t even have to alter your eating habits to lose weight! To
be clear: tapeworms do far more harm than good, resulting in seizures,
dementia, and even meningitis. Sure, you lose weight, but you also grow a
parasite in your intestinal track. This is not just ridiculous, it’s also
dangerous.
5. The Last Chance Diet: Yup it's as bad as it sounds. In the 1970s, there was an extreme routine called “The Last Chance Diet”. It
was concocted and prescribed by Robert Linn, M.D., and he promised weight loss
to people who ate nothing but a liquid protein elixir called Prolinn at
scheduled intervals throughout the day. This smoothie was created from
pre-digested animal hides, tendons and slaughterhouse byproducts combined with
sweeteners and artificial flavors to make it more palatable. Thankfully the FDA
made it illegal after a few of the Last Chance dieters died.
6. Ear Stapling: Ok, so this one is especially bizarre to me. It reminds me of a cross between stomach stapling and having your jaw wired shut. So stomach stapling or "gastric
banding", makes sense for treating extreme cases of obesity, but a "ear stapling" is being promoted as new and less invasive diet method than gastric banding. Astonishingly, it is even gaining popularity. The ear
stapling diet involves a practitioner inserting a staple into the inner
cartilage of the ear to target a pressure point, which is said to suppress
appetite.Then you leave this staple in your ear for about two months. People claim this procedure takes away feeling of hunger and cravings for sugar. Not surprisingly, I could find no research supporting scientific evidence of ear stapling being effective for weight loss, I did find that it caused ear infections, and there was a report from Texas, that 4 people experienced jaw pain following the procedure, likely leading to the inability to eat...and then weight loss!!! Yay!
7. Sleeping
Beauty Diet: “if you aren't awake, you aren't eating”.
Obviously it works, but it requires users to take heavy sedation and sleep for
days at a time in order to lose weight, a kin to being in a coma. Clearly
insane and unhealthy to slip into a self induced coma to lose weight.
8. Breatharianism Diet
(eating sunlight): The Breatharian Diet is based on the inedia
principle, which claims that food and water are not necessary to sustain life and that the human body can very well
subsist on air, sunlight and Prana (life force) alone. Most Breatharians preach
that food and water are not needed to stay alive. Yeah ok, sure. I am guessing
that is why in the 90s, a few European disciples actually died of starvation
and dehydration when trying to abide by the diet. My favorite example actually
comes to us from the founder of the Breatharianism Institute of America, Wiley
Brooks. He insists that he subsists solely on “air and sunlight”. However like
most Breatharians he refuses to be examined by a doctor to prove that he has
consumed no solid foods and is occasionally seen eating a McDonald's burger and
a Diet Coke. Umm, what? When questioned about it, he explains that junk food
provides a “specific energetic balance needed to contrasts the clean state he
maintains the rest of the time.” The Breatharian
Diet. Sounds like a bunch of hog wash to me.
So why would anyone ever consider any of these seemingly
insane weight loss schemes? Well, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control, Americans spend billions of dollars on weight loss products, books,
and programs every year. “The CDC reports that women are twice as likely to
diet as men, and that on any given day 45% of women are dieting. women
experience much more social pressure to be in shape, and often use events such
as weddings or class reunions as deadlines. That makes them more apt to try
quick fixes.” World's
Weirdest Diets. Again most of fad
diets are not sustainable in the long run at best, and at worst they can be nutritionally
unsound, or even unsafe. Keep to the tired and true, execise, healthful food choices, and watch your portion
control!
No comments:
Post a Comment