Vintage Weight Loss: Sanitized Tapeworms

Hah, I'll stick to the healthy diet and exercise thanks!

What's sad is that this product could be reintroduced into the market today, and as long as it was fast, effortless weight loss, people would line up to buy it.

Brian

"Fat the enemy that is shortening your life". I wonder if that pun was intended, cos it's funny:)
However, the whole thing is nasty, ick!

so, wait, i'm confused... why wouldn't you have to bathe?

I think that the baths referred by the ad are steam baths.

Hey! We could start that idea again!

staci said:
so, wait, i'm confused... why wouldn't you have to bathe?[...]

I think they mean you don't have to sit in a bath full of [insert early "detox" component]. You see, just like now we have people drinking only maple syrup for days thinking it will help get rid of "toxins" that are making them fat, back then they'd sit in a bath full of herbs and whatnot to get rid of the "toxins" making them fat.

We have Xenical, they had tapeworms, as Jim said. We have maple syrup fasts, they had baths. As the French say, "the more it changes, the more it stays the same".

I like where it says "no ill effects!"

Did you know that the tapeworm's nervous system is advanced enough that they can learn? Admittedly, it's learning not to smash into things that hurt them, but still!

I'm pretty sure I know people who'd buy this product today...
:(

What I like the best is they are *sanitized* tapeworms. Cause god forbid you put a dirty tapeworm in your gut, no siree. You wanna make sure that tapeworm is clean.

"Invite some new friends home for dinner tonight."

...This is too appropriate for me to not share it:
http://www.ifilm.com/video/2852621/channel/comedy

Yes, sorry. Had to. ^^;

Ewwwwwww! I have grossed out by tapeworms ever since my high school biology teacher explained how they used to get rid of them back in the day (they would starve the person for a few days and then hold food up to the mouth until the tapeworm came to get it and then they would pull it out-it still makes me queasy just thinking of her description, which was much more graphic-I'll spare you the gory details!) What I'm wondering is, how did people who bought this lovely parasite get it into their systems...did you just swallow it while it was small? I saw a tapeworm on Oprah the other day, and they can grow up to 30 feet long. I repeat ewwwwwwwwwwww!!

psychsarah said:
Ewwwwwww! I have grossed out by tapeworms ever since my high school biology teacher explained how they used to get rid of them back in the day (they would starve the person for a few days and then hold food up to the mouth until the tapeworm came to get it and then they would pull it out-it still makes me queasy just thinking of her description, wh[...]

And you believed that?
http://www.snopes.com/horrors/vanities/tapeworm.asp

Kailash said:
And you believed that?
http://www.snopes.com/horrors/vanities/tapeworm.asp[...]

Actually, I have seen a tapeworm removed by holding a glass of warm milk at the mouth after a day of fasting so it's not all rumour. While that is probably not the correct medical procedure I know that it does work.

Lose Weight With Me said:
What's sad is that this product could be reintroduced into the market today, and as long as it was fast, effortless weight loss, people would line up to buy it.[...]

so true.

Robyn said:
Actually, I have seen a tapeworm removed by holding a glass of warm milk at the mouth after a day of fasting so it's not all rumour. While that is probably not the correct medical procedure I know that it does work. [...]

We do it like that here in the developing world, but we get it out "from the other end". When we suspect a child has a tapeworm, we boil a bottle of milk, pour it in a bedpan, and make the child sit over it for a while. The tapeworm will come out enticed by the warm milk, no need to starve the child or anything.

Oh my goodness. This whole discussion is so gross I had to read every comment.

But you folks are right--I bet people would buy them now if they were still for sale. And who knows, if the choice was a tapeworm or a gastric bypass, which would be the more intrusive way to lose weight?

Crabby McSlacker said:
But you folks are right--I bet people would buy them now if they were still for sale. And who knows, if the choice was a tapeworm or a gastric bypass, which would be the more intrusive way to lose weight?

Hell, I would take the tapeworm. It's effective and fully reversible! I would give it a name and everything...

I agree with Chicken girl. Both of them deprive your body of nutrients, but at least you can get rid of the worm. People don't realize that when you have one of these things, they have segments that break off and crawl out of the nearest opening. Guess where that is. I've seen it with my cats before treatment. YUK!

Hi chicken girl!

Quite a feat: that's both cute and disgusting at the same time!

So... what would you name it?

Hermie the Wormie?

But as Teresa points out, you might need to have a few extra names picked out for the, um, offspring.

Eww gross! I was diagnosed with parsites about six weeks ago it's not good! I've been taking some herbal remideis for it and checking in with my doctor. Seems to be pretty much cleared.
Trust me, not the way to go!

Yeah, people would totally still buy those, unfortunately...just like they buy liquid juice fasts, flavor spray diets, etc. Anything to lose weight, I suppose. They don't mention the bloated appearance your stomach gets from having parasites in it though. At least, that's what I often saw in El Salvador when I went there to visit isolated villages to help provide medical care.

Teresa said:
I agree with Chicken girl. Both of them deprive your body of nutrients, but at least you can get rid of the worm. People don't realize that when you have one of these things, they have segments that break off and crawl out of the nearest opening. Guess where that is. I've seen it with my cats before treatment. YUK![...]

That only happens when you grow it so long it has no more room in the intestines. But usually, you can notice the child has one cause it will eat non-stop and lose weight, and also sleep poorly (obviously, as he/she has a worm wiggling about in your gut ), so you get rid of it before sections break off.

Spectra, other worms give more of a bloated appearance than tapeworm, tapeworm just makes you look run down.

I take a multi-purpose deworming pill every 6 months just in case, I don't even bother being tested for parasites anymore.

One of the theories as to why there's more allergies, asthma and other immune problems is that we don't have *enough* parasites. Humans throughout the ages have lived with all sorts of parasites. They can make people sick, but it's possible that not having any can make people sick, too, since the immune system doesn't have enough to do. I think a lot of people would be willing to live with tapeworms if it made them less allergic as well as thinner. It's probably better than some of the drugs :)

My world history teacher talked about this. He said to get rid of it, they would boil cabbage and the worms would crawl out the nose. I don't care how they come out, it's disgusting. Yeeech!

In the book Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand, jockies that were desparate to lose weight (or maintain an emaciated state), ate tapeworms. They would also sweat the pounds off by sitting neck-deep in horse manure. Maybe that's why we have an obesity epedimic! Nobody wants to do what they need to do to lose weight.

Goober McOuchy said:
Maybe that's why we have an obesity epedimic! Nobody wants to do what they need to do to lose weight.

O.o

I'm pretty sure any wacky quick-weight-loss effort taken due to desperation is doomed to either damage you or just not work. Or both.

What people need to do to lose weight is basically go against everything society has programmed them to do and everything everyone else is doing. I think that's why most people can't manage it.

Crabby McSlacker said:
Quite a feat: that's both cute and disgusting at the same time!

So... what would you name it?

Hermie the Wormie?

Hermie is in ur intestines, eatin ur food! (I think I see a new lolcat meme...)

Didn't they use dead tapeworms? Doesn't that defeat the purpose?

EW EW EW this whole thread is giving me the heebie-jeebies! The whole idea of worms creeps me out beyond belief. That said, I too know people who would go for it as a weight-loss option!

I think that only desperate people will have the guts to try this kind of people. Any decent person will surely disagree with this diet. Not only that it will be disgusting but also embarrassing for your friends and family to know.

I think a lot of people are desperate for something to help, and probably because of much more complicated matters than willpower. and hey, not one person can say that they would not want to be effortlessly thin while still be able to eat what they want. it's living the dream. and who the hell cares? it's just a worm, that we can see. we have tons of microscopic lifeforms all over our skin, and just because you can't see them, it doesn't gross you out? the worm doesn't cause harm, if you're competent. it only causes harm if you're unaware it's in you, and it progresses to an undesirable point. in fact, everyone here, right after they bashed the idea, probably went to ebay and sought a bottle of these.

I'm pretty sure that if you were to market it out today plenty of Americans would try it (:

Easy to swallow? EURGH

ruthling said:
One of the theories as to why there's more allergies, asthma and other immune problems is that we don't have *enough* parasites. Humans throughout the ages have lived with all sorts of parasites. They can make people sick, but it's possible that not having any can make people sick, too, since the immune system doesn't have enough to do. I think [...]

My friend is a nurse and I remember him telling me his doctor's personal observation on the impoverished habitants of the Filipino slums. According to the doctor, the poor people have a stronger immunity systems as compared with the middle class and the rich people. However, they have a shorter life span.

God is always fair. You chose to be poor, you'll be stronger despite the misgivings.And you will not last long. You chose to be rich, you'll be weak despite the luxery you lavish. And you will live long.

Sorry... I mispelled inhabitants... :P

Pmel said:
God is always fair. You chose to be poor, you'll be stronger despite the misgivings.And you will not last long. You chose to be rich, you'll be weak despite the luxery you lavish. And you will live long.

Except nobody chooses to be poor.

tape worm endorsement:

Since modern medicine is using leeches, and maguts in treatments now, why not use the tape worm. It is far more natural and makes way more sense to me. If one of my loved ones would be obese I would certainly be happy to go with the tape worm than gastric by pass surgery. That would really upset the weight loss companies who would loose their billion dollar business to this treatment. When the worm has done its job in conjunction with learning better eating habits. It is simple enough to get rid of; with a parsite treatment. My little japanese chin had them and I got rid of them. When I seen how thin she was getting I checked her poo. That is why it has been burning in my mind to share this with people. But lo and behold I found it being disgussed on the internet. I am a true beleiver in alternative medicine and I think this one is great!!!!!!!!!!!

Women used to douche with LYSOL in the 1920's too!
The FDA and Surgion General couldn't let these products back on the market. To find out more about Lysol search Lysol for feminine hygiene, there are a ton of sites on it...... really weird!

Pmel said:
God is always fair. You chose to be poor, you'll be stronger despite the misgivings.And you will not last long. You chose to be rich, you'll be weak despite the luxery you lavish. And you will live long.[...]

What an incredibly ignorant thing to say. Nobody chooses to live in such extreme poverty. If that's you're God's sick, twisted brand of "fairness", I shudder to think what kind of person YOU are to put such reverence in something to cruel.