Extreme weight loss diets have always existed. Perhaps they are an expression of man’s constant search for shortcuts and quick fixes.

New dieting methods emerge and become popular for a while, and are then abandoned when people realize there is nothing magical about them. However, some weight loss diets are more extreme than others and can cause serious health problems. Here we will go through some of the most extreme weight loss diets of all time.

1.The Baby Food Diet

This diet became popular in the 2010s and is said to have been started by a known Hollywood celebrity Personal Trainer. It involves eating baby food instead of regular meals to limit calorie intake. One version of the diet calls for eating 14 jars of baby food during the day (each jars contain about 20 to 100 kcal) which is very little energy for an adult person and will surely lead to weight loss. Whether the diet works because of the tiny portion sizes, or the disgusting taste is baby food, which makes you skip eating altogether, is unclear.

2. The Tapeworm Diet

 This diet involves ingesting a tapeworm, a parasitic worm that lives in a person’s intestines consuming all nutrients a causing weight-loss in their host.

This is a dangerous practice and could lead to serious health issues. In addition to the fact that a tapeworm can grow up to 25 feet long in the intestine, tapeworms can cause seizures, meningitis, or dementia. We do not recommend you to try this practice.

3. THE WEREWOLF DIET

Despite what one might think due to the name this diet doesn’t involve cannibalizing on other humans. Instead it involves following the phases of the moon.

There are two versions of the diet, the basic werewolf diet, and the extended version. The basic version involves 2 hours of fasting, in which you only drink water and juice, during the full moon. The extended version starts with fasting at the full moon and then follows with specific eating patterns for each of the phases of the moon. Keep in mind that if you follow this diet, you could rightfully be called a lunatic.

4. THE SLEEPING BEAUTY DIET

This diet became popular in the 1960s and one of its most famous followers was Elvis Presley. It is an extreme dieting method that involves taking sedatives to sleep for several days straight since you will avoid eating while sleeping and thereby lose weight. It is probably a great strategy for those that are too lazy to exercise and are totally lacking willpower. Obviously, this practice is very dangerous and not recommended.

5. THE CABBAGE SOUP DIET

This diet is a radical weight loss diet that first gained popularity in the 1980s. The diet involves eating a low-calorie cabbage soup for seven days straight. No other foods are allowed. Advocates claim that one can lose 10 pounds (4.5 kg) of weight in a week.

What one has to keep in mind is that the most of the weight lost will simply be water, and not fat mass. The lost weight keep will quickly come back once the seven days are over.

6. THE CIGARETTE DIET

This diet became popular in the 1920s when several cigarette companies started promoting appetite-suppressing qualities of their products. Lucky Strike even went on and launched a campaign called “Reach for a Lucky Instead of a Sweet”, and believe it or not the campaign became a huge success.

7. THE COTTON BALL DIET

The diet gained popularity among models in the 1990s and has been around since then.

It involves dipping cotton balls in orange juice (or some other flavoring liquid) and then eating them. The rationale behind the diet is that the cotton balls should fill the stomach and thus satisfy hunger.

While cotton balls can be said to be “calorie free” they nowadays made of synthetic fibers and chemicals that are not very healthy and could cause problems in your GI tract.

                      

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