Once upon a time, people were willingly buying—and proudly using—some of the most bizarre diet products ever created. Whether it was chewing on cotton balls or strapping on a vibrating belt, society somehow convinced itself that these quick fixes were the path to peak health.
Some of these were sold with celebrity endorsements, while others featured late-night infomercials that promised magical results in few days. Looking back now, it’s wild to think how normalized some of these truly unhinged ideas became.
14. The Grapefruit Diet
At one point, eating half a grapefruit before every meal was sold as the secret to weight loss. It was acidic, restrictive, and didn’t exactly scream “balanced nutrition,” but it had its moment.
13. Diet Candy with Laxatives
Yes, there was a time when people ate candy that doubled as a laxative and thought, “Yup, this is fine.” The packaging was colorful, but the aftermath wasn’t exactly sweet.
12. Vibrating Belt Machines
You’d stand there while a machine jiggled your belly like a bowl of Jell-O and hoped for abs. For some reason, this passive approach to “fitness” seemed like a good idea to many.
11. Cabbage Soup Diet
Nothing says “sustainable lifestyle” like a giant pot of bland cabbage soup. It was essentially a week-long experiment in transforming your kitchen into a smelly science lab.
10. Appetite-Suppressing Gum
Chew this special gum, and you won’t want a meal ever again—or so they claimed. In reality, it just gave you a sore jaw and a mildly minty sense of regret.
9. Cotton Ball Diet
People soaked cotton balls in juice and swallowed them to feel full. The fact that this was a real trend, not an urban legend, is honestly terrifying.
8. Low-Fat Everything
The 90s told us fat was the enemy, so people stocked up on low-fat cookies, ice cream, and snacks. Spoiler alert: most of them were packed with sugar instead.
7. Sauna Suits
Why sweat through a workout when you can wear a plastic suit and roast like a baked potato? People walked around in these heat-trapping nightmares thinking it was weight-loss gold.
6. Diet Cigarettes
Some brands advertised cigarettes as a way to stay slim. Because nothing says health like lighting up instead of eating lunch.
5. Slimming Creams
Just rub this magic cream on your thighs and boom—cellulite gone. It was a moisturizer with a dream attached.
4. Tapeworm Pills
Yes, people swallowed pills that contained live tapeworms to lose weight. It’s stomach-turning, risky, and somehow was once considered an actual strategy.
3. Baby Food Diet
Adults were encouraged to replace meals with tiny jars of mushy peas and bananas. It was portion control to the extreme—and incredibly joyless.
Read More: 10 Reasons to Try the Mediterranean Diet
2. Diet Spray
This miracle product promised that one little spritz on your tongue would kill cravings. In reality, it just made your mouth taste like sadness.
Read More: 10 Extreme Diets You Should Stay Away From
1. Snackwell’s Everything
These low-fat, high-sugar cookies and treats were marketed like they were actual health food. People devoured boxes thinking they were making “smart choices,” and the diet industry laughed all the way to the bank.
