Early Fad Diets: Belly Laughs
Ever heard of Slimming Soap? The Cigarette Diet? or the Hay Diet? All of these fads are consigned to history, but they sure provide some laughs.
1925: The Cigarette Diet
In the age before tobacco advertising restrictions, several cigarette companies hailed the appetite-suppressing qualities of their products. One ad for Lucky Strikes urged smokers to "Reach for a Lucky instead of a sweet."
Early 1930s: Slimming Soap
Just in case you thought late-night TV gave birth to the craziest diet products, slimming soaps were the rage in the 1930s, with products like "Fatoff" and "La Mar Reducing Soap" that were nothing more than hand soap laden with potassium chloride and other impurities.
Early 1930s: The Hay Diet
Unfortunately, the Hay Diet, a Depression Era rage, didn't allow followers to eat like a horse without gaining weight. Dr. William Hay — who developed his diet philosophy to cope with his own high blood pressure — was the first to promote the virtues of separating your food, arguing that the human body couldn't adequately cope with combinations of proteins and starches at the same time, and warned of "digestive explosion."
Several miracle diets in the decades to come bore similarities to Hay's oft-debated theory of "harmonized food selection," including Judy Mazel's "New Beverly Hills Diet."
What's astonishing is that the "New Beverly Hills Diet" (1996) continues to sell, and has even spawned it's own follow-on recipe book.
I've also heard about marketing tapeworms as a way to lose weight back in the day. I doubt that's legal today, but I'm sure people would pay money for a parasite that eats your food for you (and, consequently, gives you a bloated belly and severe nutrient deficiencies).
ReplyI have a Home medical Journal from the forties that lays out exactly what you are supposed to eat and what you are supposed to feed your child here is a sample diet:
ReplyCalorie intake for a man 154lbs:
Sedentary: 2500
Moderately active:3000
Active: 4500
Woman 123lb
2100
2500
3000
That is on a daily baisis.
There is a complete section on how humans were actually created vegetarian and I quote " The creator appointed His human creatures food in seed, which is upon the face of all the earth. And the tree that bears the seed it is to be considered for you to be meat "
Lets talk about crazy ideas. I guess this was before people realized that the world was actually billions of years old and we had CANINES created specifically designed for eating meat. Funny really when you look back at all the "science" of the years
The cigarette diet is still around, I'm afraid...countless models, actors/actresses, and celebrities smoke to stay thin. Not the healthiest thing in the world to be doing :P
ReplyIt's not too much of a stretch from the current fad diets that are promoted nowaday--Atkins? Ketosis? What?!
Reply