If only this were a world where eating cookies and pizza and staring at the sun all day could work as healthy lifestyle choices. Unfortunately, this is reality, and these fad diets will only leave you hungry for something more.
The Sun-Eating Diet
Last year, women in Hong Kong were gathering to soak up the sunset rays, staring into the sun and believing that they could absorb energy through its rays. “We practice sun-gazing as a substitute for eating. Some of us who have finished the therapy now eat less, and others don’t have to eat at all,” one woman told Oriental Daily, as the Daily Mail reports. But doctors are worried that this practice could lead to serious eye damage and an increased risk of skin cancer.
The Pizza Diet
We so wish this was a legitimate way to live your life. The Pizza Diet was invented by a New York-based chef, according to People, who swore that eating a whole pizza every day helped him lose almost 100 pounds in five months. The trick here is in the type of pizza, and unfortunately, you can’t order a deep-dish takeout pie covered in pepperoni every day and expect to lose weight. This pizza was made from whole wheat and quality ingredients, and not very big — it totaled less than 600 calories.
The Hollywood Cookie Diet
A nutritional biscuit made of fake ingredients does not a cookie make. Especially if you’re relying on them for your meals. Cookie diets were a big fad for a while, but they’re difficult to maintain and just plain unhealthy, mentally and physically. From the Wall Street Journal:
“Instead, you eat prepackaged cookies (infused with things like glycerine and protein powder) throughout the day in place of breakfast and lunch, then eat a ‘sensible dinner’ of lean protein and vegetables for 800 to 1,200 calories per day, which the purveyors promise will make you lose weight.”
The Cabbage Soup Diet
Yep, you get the gist from the name: Eating a ton of cabbage soup, specifically the recipe from the website, is supposed to help you lose weight. Or just be really disgusting.
The Tapeworm Diet
Oh yes, remember this gem? Ordering a capsule or serum that’s got a tapeworm in it, ingest that bad boy, and eat everything you want without gaining weight — or so they claimed. This diet somehow stuck around since the 1900s, and people still buy the things when they’re desperate to lose the extra pounds. Please don’t attempt to infect yourself with a worm in order to lose weight. Try the pizza or cabbage soup, but you don’t need a doctor to tell you tapeworm diets are a terrible idea.
