These are hilarious
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.
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.