January is a big dieting month. But once upon a time, “diet” was not a verb. It was simply a noun, one that referred to one’s overall patterns of food consumption—a way of eating, you might say.
So when did diet become something to do rather than something to have? Perhaps it goes hand-in-hand with the mechanization of agriculture, which has made food so abundant to so many people. Whatever the case, there’s an entire industry of publishing and marketing devoted to weight loss via diet programs.
Celebrities and dieting have gone hand-in-hand, probably because appearance is crucial for celebrities, and an adoring public is more apt to take interest in a diet plan if it’s endorsed (directly or indirectly) by a celebrity. In the world of diets, doctors can become celebrities, too: consider Dr. Atkins.
How do we put this tactfully…er, some of these diets are based on good science, and others aren’t. After simply being safe, the most important part of a diet is the conviction of its follower; no matter how hard you try, some of these are just not doable long-term. Which is what makes them perfect fads.
The Graham Diet
Presbyterian minister Sylvester Graham created a high-fiber vegetarian diet around 1830; it emphasized vegetables and whole grains while excluding spices and calling for dairy in moderation. The Graham Diet was in part to solve the nagging problem of sexual urges—Graham espoused that his diet was a cure for lust and alcoholism. Happily horny vegans and vegetarians the world over will gladly dispute the effectiveness of Graham’s diet in those aspects, but Graham’s legacy lives on in the mildly sweet whole wheat crackers he created.
The Hollywood Diet
Popularized in the 1930s and also known as the Grapefruit Diet, the Hollywood Diet consists of eating half a grapefruit at every meal—or, depending on your interpretation, half a grapefruit for ever meal. The gist is that consuming a grapefruit (or grapefruit juice) prior to eating other (low-carb) foods boosts the body with fat-burning enzymes. This claim, however, is bunk science. If there’s any reason to eat grapefruit, it’s because it’s nutritious and very tasty, especially in the winter when it’s in season. To this day, grapefruit had a bad rap as an austere diet food—the Grapefruit Diet had made the rounds for decades, earning its own place in the pop culture lexicon on the way—and in midcentury cookbooks, grapefruit appears often in menus for weight loss.
Deal-A-Meal
First of all, Richard Simmons (heck yes!) Second of all, a deck of cards. I’m sold already! As this 1987 commercial told me hundreds of times when I watched TV as a kid, the food group-themed Deal-A-Meal cards helped the user create a daily balanced diet with a minimum 1,2000 calories. Simmons updated the Deal-A-Meal principles with his current weight loss program, FoodMover. Combine that with a VHS copy of Sweatin’ to the Oldies and you will burn the pounds away, my friend! Unlike many of his weight loss and fitness contemporaries, Richard Simmons had (and has) an inspiring, body image-positive approach…and a usually winning rapport with David Letterman.
Byron’s Vinegar and Water Diet
While a student at Cambridge University, sexual miscreant-poet-scenester Lord Byron followed an extreme diet of biscuits and soda water or potatoes drenched in vinegar. He would then binge on large meals and follow those up with a dose of milk magnesia. (Popular opinion among Victorian intellectuals held that an agile and delicate mind was a result of scant eating). Byron’s inclination for what we might now call disordered eating alarmed some physicians of the day, as Byron was an influential celebrity/cultural figure, particularly among the youth. Byron struggled with his weight his whole life, and at times drank water mixed with apple cider vinegar as a diuretic and hunger suppressant. Nothing wrong with that—it’s probably the cycles of eating extremes that harmed him.
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