They may be called
fad diets, but, man, these weight-loss ideas sure stick around
longer than leggings and platform wedges. The Cookie Diet may have
earned some street cred when Jennifer Hudson was associated with
trying it, but the plan got its start in the ’70s. And that Master
Cleanse Beyoncé reportedly used to slim down? It’s probably older
than your mom. Read on for more ways women have fought fat for the
past century. Note: Some are really bizarre and
unhealthy.
1930s-’40s diet trends: Smoking and the Master
Cleanse Models and celebrities must have gotten the idea
that smoking keeps you thin from somewhere, right? It turns out a
1920s-’30s ad campaign is to blame. Cigarette brand Lucky Strike
used the line “Reach for a Lucky Instead of a Sweet.” Ugh! Do we
even need to remind you of all the reasons—infertility, heart
disease, lung cancer—smoking is one of the unhealthiest habits for
you? Women looking for a quicker fix opted for the lemonade diet,
or Master Cleanse. Developed by Stanley Burroughs, the diet allowed
only lemon juice, cayenne pepper and maple syrup. Nearly 70 years
later, Beyoncé reportedly used the same program to shed pounds for
her role in 2006’s Dreamgirls. Talk about staying
power!
Don't try these other scary celeb diet tricks!
1950s diet trend: Prayer
Want to drop pounds? Pray for weight loss. The idea may sound nutty
to some, but in the 1950s, the Christian dieting industry exploded.
After losing 100 pounds, Reverend Charlie Shedd wrote the book
Pray Your Weight Away, which was published in 1957. The
best-seller set the trend for future titles such as I Prayed
Myself Slim (1960), Help Lord, The Devil Wants Me
Fat! (1978) and The Weigh Down Diet (1997), which
advised readers not to confuse physical hunger for what was really
spiritual hunger. Think this trend has died? Think again. In 2002,
Don Colbert, M.D., published What Would Jesus Eat? and
The What Would Jesus Eat Cookbook.
1960s diet trend: Support groups and cabbage
soup
The ’60s were all about sharing the love, and the concept even
applied to dieting. Dieters began forming support organizations.
Early in the decade, a group of compulsive eaters formed Overeaters
Anonymous. And in 1961, Jean Nidetch invited friends into her New
York City home to talk about weight loss. Two years later, after
losing 72 pounds, she launched Weight Watchers. But dieting wasn’t
always so friendly. The Cabbage Soup Diet was published in a book
during this time. It promised dieters they would lose 17 pounds,
but users mentioned the gassy side effects—not exactly conducive to
close encounters, huh?
Need to lose weight fast? Try these healthy "crash"
diets.
1970s diet trend: Diet pills The era touted the
miracle of diet pills. Some claimed to stop the body’s absorption
of carbs. In essence, they promised you could stuff your face with
pizza and bread without consequences. After reports of vomiting and
abdominal pain, however, the FDA pulled the pills in 1983 to
investigate the long-term side effects. This turned out to be a
good thing because researchers found that the undigested starch was
going straight to the colon—yikes! Dexatrim was another pill of the
era. The appetite suppressant contained the drug PPA
(phenylpropanolamine), and in 2000, it too was pulled from the
market. The pill was eventually reincarnated as Dexatrim Natural
Ephedrine-Free, though some critics still aren’t convinced it’s
safe. Our take: Unless they’re prescribed by your doctor, pills are
almost never a good idea.
Reasons why men worship your body just the way you
are.
1980s diet trend: Scarsdale Diet The 1980s swung
away from easy fixes and back to hardcore discipline with the
Scarsdale Diet. It was a two-week high-protein, low-carb and
super-low-calorie diet (1,000 calories or fewer per day!). Author
Herman Tarnower, M.D., claimed that by going on and off the diet
every two weeks, followers could lose up to 20 pounds per week
without any long-term deprivation of any vitamins or minerals. But
the food list was restrictive: no butter, no salad dressing (except
lemon and vinegar) and no alcohol. Your snack choices were either
raw carrots or celery—that’s it. If losing 20 pounds a week sounds
too good to be true, it is. For most people, consuming fewer than
1,200 calories a day is considered a starvation diet.
1990s diet trend: Low-carb Atkins Throughout the ’80s,
people became aware of red meat’s association with heart disease,
so they thought carbohydrates were the answer to a longer life,
says Gabriella Petrick, PhD, a food historian at New York
University. “The medical knowledge at any given time gets reflected
in diets prescribed,” she says. “In the ’80s, the popularity of
lean chicken also exploded. And in the ’90s, the Atkins diet was a
reaction against ideas in the 1980s that said you need a high-carb
diet.” People who had ballooned from all the carbs fell in love
with Dr. Atkins. Although he’d been around before the ’90s, his
popularity soared after the book Dr. Atkins’ New Diet
Revolution was released in 1992.
Extracted from Glamour Magazine
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