Fad Diets Gone Crazy

Well I was searching the Internet for fad diet to write about. I found the Amputation Diet. The bases of the diet really is to cut off body parts.

Amputate your arm 10-25 lbs (way too permanent)
Amputate your leg 15-45 lbs (again, not advised)
Donate a kidney 3 pounds.
Breast Reduction Surgery 5-15 pounds typically.

Please never try this. If you even thought about these options please see a mental health professional ASAP.

How Kirstie Alley Lost 20 Lbs. – Organically

Since ballooning back up to 228 lbs. after a successful stint as the Jenny Craig spokesperson, Alley says that over the past few years "my two biggest hurdles in weight loss and maintenance are cravings and too big of an appetite."

So this year Alley, 59, launched Organic Liaison, the country's first USDA-approved organic weight-loss program that specifically targets those two problem areas.

I wish Kirstie the best of luck but I don't think anyone should be trying her supplements without some doctor supervision. It might sound stupid but I think weight loss really comes down to balance diet, reduced intake, and lost of exercise.

Taco Bell's "Drive Thru-Diet": I call bull#@!%

So, with the New Year comes the marketing blitz regarding weight-loss. An individual thinks, "I'm going to shed some weight"...30 seconds later, cue the company that wants you to use their products/foods/systems/etc. to do it.

After the success of Jared and the Subway diet (which involved him WALKING TO SUBWAY, key point) more fast food chains would try to get on the band-wagon. Enter, Taco Bell and the "Drive Thru Diet"--the name itself, where you drive thru to conveniently get your Fresco menu choices, is an indicator that this is a ploy to lure the new dieter to buy into their brand with little actual lifestyle changes. Now I don't know if Christine was approached by Taco Bell or more probably she used Taco Bell's Fresco menu in part (along with exercise and home-cooked nutritious foods) to lose weight and then market herself to Taco Bell to get a promotion deal, if so, well played Christine--it worked for Jared. BUT, this is not a "diet" that will work for most, nor should it.

#1 diets are bad, lifestyle changes are what it fundamentally takes to achieve a weight and other measures of health that you deem best for you.
#2 fast-food culture has been a primary cause of the break-down of a healthy food culture in America (and by fast-food, I also include overly processed food found in grocery stores). So, the solution to our horrible American diet isn't more fast food.
#3 the drive-thru name erases the need for increased movement in our lives, exercise is key to many health measure improvements or sustainability. Drive-thru culture kills.

Now, that all said, being an anti-fast food fundamentalist isn't very realistic in our current world. The fresco menu is a good thing when you are on the road. I haven't tried any Fresco items, any recommendations? My current go-to fast-food when you have to is Wendy's Chili and diet coke. What do you do, dear readers, when there is no alternative to fast food?

Tape Worms: Fat Be-Gone?

Oh, my gosh Tape Worms as Diet Solution is a real thing? I've heard people joke about it (in life and on TV), but I didn't know that intentionally getting Tape Worms as a diet aid was a real thing. Above you'll find a Vintage Ad I got from The Fat Nutrionist. From the looks of the add, its early 20th Century--Edwardian Era, I think. Still, I love how this shows that diet hucksters try to use "science" to sell their dangerous crap. Gee, the worms have been "Sanitized" according to the add--how do you sanitize an organism that can drill its way into your brain and lay eggs? Hmmm??? Yeah, I saw that on House. The other thing I find odd about this add is up at the top, "No Diets, No Baths"--what does bathing have to do with weight-loss? Let alone, the absence of bathing being a desireable thing? Of course, how often you bathed varies from culture and time period, but I don't get why that's a relevant selling point. Then, right next to the lady is all that yummy, new fangled "processed food" that she gets to eat once the worms are absorbing the calories. So, weird, so wrong. Peace.