The 70s and 80s were a golden age of diet crazes. Everywhere you turned, someone was touting a “miracle” plan to melt away pounds, and we all bought into the hype—no matter how bizarre. Back then, people were chasing quick fixes with everything from cabbage soup to grapefruits, and we genuinely believed these fads were the answer. Let’s take a nostalgic look at 12 of the most absurd fad diets from that era, and laugh at the extremes we went to in the name of fitness.
1. The Ayds Candy Diet
Marketed as appetite-suppressing candy, Ayds was wildly popular until the AIDS crisis hit and its unfortunate name tanked sales. The candy itself wasn’t much better—basically chalky caramels with a whiff of medicinal aftertaste.
2. The Grapefruit Diet
This “magical” diet claimed eating half a grapefruit before every meal would burn fat. The logic? Grapefruits supposedly had enzymes that triggered weight loss. In reality, we were just eating fewer calories because who can stay hungry after that much sour fruit?
3. The Cabbage Soup Diet
This week-long diet involved eating unlimited amounts of cabbage soup, plus a few select foods like bananas and skim milk. The promise? Rapid weight loss. The reality? A week of bland soup and enough gas to clear a room.
4. The Sleeping Beauty Diet
Why eat when you can just sleep through your hunger? This dangerous fad involved taking sedatives to stay asleep for days at a time, with Elvis Presley rumored to be a fan. It wasn’t a diet so much as an extreme nap strategy.
5. The Cookie Diet
Yes, you could lose weight eating cookies—or at least that’s what Dr. Sanford Siegal promised with his low-calorie “diet cookies.” The idea was to eat six of these cookies a day and one real meal. Sounds fun until you realize the cookies were tasteless and tiny.
6. The Scarsdale Diet
This strict, two-week plan limited you to 1,000 calories a day and focused on grapefruit, black coffee, and lean proteins. It promised rapid results but left you dreaming of carbs. It was basically the keto diet’s grumpy older sibling.
7. The Hollywood Diet
This liquid diet involved drinking a “Hollywood Diet” juice blend for two days to shed pounds fast. It worked because you were essentially starving yourself. The bottle may have promised glamour, but you were just cranky and hungry.
8. The Beverly Hills Diet
This diet claimed that specific food combinations controlled weight gain. You’d start with ten days of only fruit, then gradually add other foods. Pineapple was a staple, so you could enjoy constant mouth sores along with your weight loss.
9. The SlimFast Shake Diet
“Shake for breakfast, shake for lunch, and a sensible dinner!” SlimFast shakes promised to simplify weight loss, but most people found they were hungry by mid-afternoon. Plus, they tasted like watery chocolate syrup.
10. The Tapeworm Diet
Yes, people willingly ingested tapeworm pills, believing the parasites would eat their excess calories. This horrifying idea wasn’t just an urban legend—though the FDA thankfully shut it down. Who knew losing weight could be so gross?
11. The Rice Diet
This plan centered on eating plain rice with little to no salt or seasoning, designed to shed pounds and lower blood pressure. While effective for short-term results, it left you craving anything with flavor—like a single grain of pepper.
12. The Cambridge Diet
This super low-calorie diet replaced meals with powdered shakes that tasted like punishment. The severe calorie restriction often left dieters feeling lightheaded, but it was marketed as the key to a slimmer you.
These diets were a product of their time, fueled by the era’s obsession with quick fixes and “miracle” solutions. Looking back, it’s easy to laugh at the absurdity, but let’s be honest—we all knew someone (maybe ourselves) who tried at least one of these! What was your go-to diet fad, and did it actually work?
