11 Ding-Dong Fad Diets That Have Been Rightfully Lost To Time
![11 Ding-Dong Fad Diets That Have Been Rightfully Lost To Time](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/0/6/0/835060_320x180.jpg)
Fad diets come and go, and sometimes it takes a distance of time to realize how ridiculous some dieting trends we got swept up in can be.
While there’s money to be made, the weight loss industry will continue to hate the idea of people (especially women) taking up space. For as long as the beauty standards have dictated people ‘should’ be thin, people have been willing to go to wild lengths to fit within dangerous and, often unhealthy, unrealistic body shapes. Many weight loss trends parade as “health-oriented”, but these historic examples show us that it has always been about the money to be made from being told you need to dislike your body than caring about public health. If it were about health, a doctor would certainly have not recommended six cups of buttermilk a day… or any of these ten other pretty horrifying examples… We beg you not to get any ideas.
The Drinking Man's Diet
![THE DRINKING MAN'S DIET In the 1960s, Robert Cameron self-published the best-selling diet book that, as long as you didn't have carbs, you could drink as much alcohol as you wanted. After all, drinking calories were good calories. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/0/1/1/835011.jpg)
Source: Today
The Buttermilk Diet
![THE BUTTERMILK DIET Dr. Irwin Maxwell Stillman (an actual doctor) wrote a diet book in 1967 called The Doctor's Quick Weight Loss Diet, which included a diet that consisted of only drinking six glasses of buttermilk a day. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/0/1/7/835017.jpg)
Source: Today
The Cigarette Diet
![THE CIGARETTE DIET over-indalgence in things that cause сусся weight and by When Tempted ein . mariam, graceful form Reach for a LUCKY LUCKY STRIKE IT'S TOASTED instead In the 1920s, the cigarette brand Lucky Strike advertised reaching for a Lucky instead of snack. As nicotine is an appetite suppressant, it was based in something...at the risk of lung cancer. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/0/5/3/835053.jpg)
Source: Washington Post
The Tapeworm Diet
![THE TAPEWORM DIET DANGER CURRANTEED the ENEMY that is shortening Your Life HARMLESS BANISHED! PREMIUM HOW? - CHE with adidas SANITIZED CASWELL'S MILK CO ION TAPE MOOREMOND ATIONAL CREST HANY OLIVE OIL СП EE PURITAN CLUFF MUSTARD WORMS onsumar During the Victorian era, advertisements offered a pill containing a tapeworm egg. The idea was that the parasite would eat your food while you still lost weight. Although it's certainly an awful idea, it may have (hopefully) been a fake product. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/0/5/6/835056.jpg)
Source: Atlas Obscura
The Cambridge Diet
![THE CAMBRIDGE DIET go '80 70 100 110 120 50 130 40 30 10 0150 140 The very low-calorie diet offered three liquid meals a day totaling only 330 calories. The FDA attributed 138 illnesses and 6 deaths to the diet. Producers of the diet filed for bankruptcy in 1983. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/0/5/2/835052.jpg)
Source: New York Times
Using Amphetamines
![AMPHETAMINES Amphetamines (aka speed pills) were used in WWII to help keep soliders awake on the battlefield. After the war, a drug company rebranded speed for weight loss. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/0/5/5/835055.jpg)
Source: Washington Post
The Baby Food Diet
![THE BABY FOOD DIET Supposedly started by celebrity trainer celebrity trainer Tracy Anderson in the early 2010s, the goal is to eat 14 baby food jars a day (about 1000 calories) with a small adult chewable dinner. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/0/4/2/835042.jpg)
Source: Food Network
The Grapefruit Diet
![THE GRAPEFRUIT DIET Supposedly starting in the 1930s, the diet encourages you to eat one grapefruit before every low-carb meal. This is based on the (unfounded) belief that grapefruits can burn fat. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/0/5/0/835050.jpg)
Source: Yahoo!
The Ancient Athlete's Diet
![ANCIENT ATHLETES' DIET From 500-400 В.С, ancient athletes and warriors would eat deer livers and lion hearts, hoping it would give them strength and coruage. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/0/3/5/835035.jpg)
Source: The Journal of Nutrition
The Metrecal Diet
![THE METRECAL DIET The Metrecal diet was simple: drink Metrcal, a nutritional supplement in the 1960s. Only drink 900 calories per day, they said. The hunger pangs would subside after a day or two, they said. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/0/2/3/835023.jpg)
Source: New York Times
Cabbage Soup Diet
![CABBAGE SOUP DIET This diet plan revovlved around, you guessed it, cabbage soup. Every day. There was slightly more to it (it warranted a whole book), but I imagine eating like an old timey peasant is certainly a way to lose weight. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/9/9/3/834993.jpg)
Source: The Cabbage Soup Diet