Over the years, people have tried various methods to achieve their weight and fitness goals.
Some of these diets are healthy and sensible, while others are harmful and outlandish.
Let’s look at some of the most bizarre diets that you won’t believe even exist.
The Ice Diet
This diet advises people to consume four cups (one liter) of ice per day. There are no other diet or lifestyle changes required.
Some dieticians think that people can sometimes lose weight following this diet since they are consuming more water.
The body’s efforts to bring everything from ice cold to body temperature can also contribute to calorie burning.
However, chewing ice can be harmful to your teeth, and this diet is unlikely to help with sustainable fat loss.
The Cotton Ball Diet
An extreme diet that has been slammed as dangerous and harmful by many doctors, the cotton ball diet reportedly started in the modeling industry.
People following this diet will dip cotton balls in juice, soup, and other liquids before eating them.
It is thought to help them eat less food, thereby consuming fewer calories and staying slimmer.
Doctors have repeatedly said that ingesting non-edible items such as cotton balls and paper tissues can cause severe and permanent intestinal issues.
The Air Diet
The Air Diet involves making food, imagining food, drawing food, painting food, or talking about food.
But whatever you do, you’re not going to eat the food.
The name of this diet is self-explanatory – you consume nothing except air.
People trying this out are almost certain to see the number on the scale drop.
But they are also likely to lose muscle rather than fat, damage their metabolism, and gain weight quickly when they resume regular eating habits.
The Baby Food Diet
Baby food is made for babies, but some people believe it has benefits for adults too.
The most extreme versions of the Baby Food Diet call for people to eat one jar of baby food instead of each full meal.
Other versions of this diet recommend fourteen jars of baby food per day, or ten jars of baby food alongside one full adult meal.
The Prayer Diet
The Prayer Diet is popular with those who follow a religion. Praying consistently every morning is the core part of this diet.
People following this diet pray to their god for help with eating less food, losing fat, or building muscle.
Results are normally only seen when prayers are included alongside healthy eating and lifestyle habits.
Ear Stapling
Some studies have suggested that stapling certain areas of the ear can help to promote weight loss.
However, many medical professionals have questioned the difference between this and traditional acupuncture.
Traditional acupuncture by a trained professional can help the body relax and direct positive energy to certain areas of the body.
As part of a healthy and balanced lifestyle, it can promote sustainable fat loss and muscle building.
The Sleep Diet
Some people who advocate for extreme versions of this diet would suggest the most effective diet is to sleep almost 24 hours a day. The rationale for this is to prevent you from eating.
Many medical professionals have denounced such extreme diets.
But getting some extra sleep can go a long way in promoting good health.
In fact, good sleep quality is associated with longer life, a healthier brain and heart, and better overall wellbeing.
Find out how lack of sleep affects your body here.
The Dessert with Breakfast Diet
In a society where we’re often being told desserts are bad for us, this diet just sounds downright bizarre.
As part of this diet, people are encouraged to eat a type of dessert with their breakfast.
This is supposed to help curb sugar cravings for the day. It could be a cake, a cookie, or a tub of ice cream.
However, eating high sugar foods in your first meal of the day can cause your blood sugar levels to rise.
It can also exacerbate anxiety or low mood throughout the day and impact your energy levels.
The Vision Diet
The Vision Diet came about at the turn of the 21st Century. It’s based on the idea that foods seen through a blue lens are less appealing to the human eye.
Wearing glasses with blue lenses is thought to help prevent food cravings and see food in a less attractive way.
Several years later, another version of the Vision Diet was created.
Virtual reality glasses caused the user to see food items as larger than they really were. This made them believe they had eaten more food.
The Cigarette Diet
In the 1920s, a cigarette company began promoting the potential weight loss effects of smoking.
Nicotine in a cigarette can suppress the appetite, causing a person to eat fewer calories.
It was suggested that people smoke a cigarette instead of eating a meal.
But it’s difficult to imagine how this was ever promoted as an effective diet.
Regularly smoking cigarettes brings a higher risk of lung cancer and other types of cancer and illness.
Despite these risks, the Cigarette Diet is still a form of appetite suppression used by people in the modeling industry.
The extremes that some people will go to in achieving their body goals can be unbelievable.
Over the decades, bizarre diets have been promoted by companies and individuals.
Many doctors have strongly advised against following these diets, which have the potential to cause a significant amount of harm.
Which diet do you think is the most shocking of them all?
