Random Extremely Stupid Dieting Fads From History (14 items)

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  (#14) The "Prolinn Diet" That Was Full Of Animal Hooves And Heart Attacks

  So many diet trends haven't been very healthy, but this one has the added benefit of being actively dangerous and disgusting. In the 1970s, a doctor called Roger Linn started marketing a supplement called Prolinn. Not only was the drink made from basically any and all animal slaughterhouse leftovers (like animal hooves and horns), but it had an unfortunate side effect. Allegedly, 58 people on the Prolinn diet had heart attacks. Not exactly the healthy drink supplement they were marketing. 
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  (#6) The Sherry Diet That Kept Mrs Average Drunk

  Nowadays, booze is purported to be a source of 'empty' calories, but it wasn't always considered a dieter's enemy. In fact, some diets actively recommended it. In a 1955 article in The Telegraph, a diet genius named Barbara Taylor wrote in that she was sure sure she had the perfect "diet for Mrs Average." How to stay slim? Drink a sherry at the end of every meal. Sweet or dry, that was Mrs Average's decision, just as long as she didn't forego her dribble of choice. 
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  (#4) The "I Am Banting" Diet That Was The Original Low-Carb Trend

  An English carpenter named William Banting had trouble with his weight: a lot of trouble. After trying all sorts of exercise and regimes, he finally found a diet that worked for him. Limited to one ounce of toast, lots of protein, and being allowed "the fruit of any pudding" (but not the pastry), it was basically an early, low-carb diet. He published a booklet describing the diet and his success.

  The weird part? It was so successful that his name became a verb synonymous with the diet, with people refusing carbohydrates by saying "No thanks, I'm banting." In fact, "bant" is still used to describe dieting in Sweden. Talk about making a name for yourself. 
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  (#13) The Diet That Advised People To "Reach For A Lucky Instead Of A Sweet"

  In terms of damaging dieting advice, this one may be at the top of the list. Although not necessarily a 'regime' that people followed, in the 1920s, Lucky Cigarettes advertised their cigarettes as a diet tool, building their ad campaign on the idea that if you "reach for a Lucky when you crave something sweet," the cigarettes would keep you trim. Granted, it's something that people still use to curb hunger cravings, but that certainly doesn't make it a good or healthy thing. 
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  (#3) The Great Masticator's Diet That Nearly Destroyed Everyone's Jaws

  How much do you chew your food? Well, Horace Fletcher, AKA the Great Masticator, started suggesting in 1895 that everyone should chew more. A lot more. His belief was that “the most important part of nutrition is the right preparation of food in the mouth for future digestion." This basically meant chewing food up to 100 times a minute, until it was a liquid so gross you no longer actually wanted to swallow it. The practice earned the moniker "Fletcherism," and under this diet regime you could eat anything you wanted as long as you chewed it until it turned fluid. Fletcherism became so popular, in fact, that people would time each other at dinner parties in order to make sure everyone at the gathering was getting enough chews in. Sounds like a lot of tired jaws. 
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  (#7) The Inuit Diet That Helped You Prevent Scurvy With All-You-Can-Eat Whale Blubber

  Take all the misery of a low-carb diet and add a bunch of whale blubber, and you'll have the wonder that is the Inuit diet. The explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson was impressed with the diets he saw on Arctic explorations between 1908 and 1918 and decided to adopt them himself. The diet consisted almost solely of fish and meat, sometimes with nothing else for months at a time. For example, "stinkfish," a particular Inuit favorite, is made of "fish buried in seal bags or cans in the tundra and left to ferment." Amazed at the Inuits' ability to avoid scurvy without eating fruits and vegetables, Stefansson brought the diet back to the United States and demonstrated an American-ized version that involved eating lots of meat, poultry, fish, and organs like brain. Astoundingly, considering how unappetizing it sounds, the diet still has an occasional resurgence in the US. 

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