Weirdest Diets

Japanese Morning-Banana Diet

You have to be early to get a banana these days in Tokyo. Such is the appeal of a new banana diet craze sweeping Japan that importers can no longer satisfy demand for the previously unfashionable staple. Many Japanese have decided the best method is that advocated by Hitoshi Watanabe, 31, a salary man who ballooned after leaving university and entering the rat race - until he discovered the nutritional appeal of the banana. In 2006, his girlfriend Sumiko, a pharmacist with training in Chinese herbal medicine, recommended a simple, stress-free diet that revolved around one straightforward (nutritionists say questionable) premise: a breakfast of raw bananas and room-temperature water can boost the metabolism so much it allows the dieter to eat almost anything for lunch and dinner and still lose weight. Over the next six months he dropped a further 13 kilograms, married Sumiko and posted his story on Mixi, Japan's version of MySpace, to instant acclaim from other desperate dieters.

The story became the first of a series of banana-diet books which have sold more than 600,000 copies - making Hitoshi a publishing sensation. The saturation media coverage has helped drive a huge run on bananas. And since, Tokyo Broadcasting System ran a TV program last month about how the former opera singer Kumiko Mori knocked 7 kilograms off.

The fruit's newfound popularity has been attributed to the simplicity of Hitoshi's weight-loss method. Dieters are expected to dine by 8pm and be in bed by midnight. They should avoid, but not necessarily cut out, alcohol and fatty foods. Best of all: they should feel no obligation to exercise. Although Hitoshi's approach has been endorsed by biomedical expert Dr Noboru Motohashi, who says he lost 12.6 kilograms on a similar fruit diet, it has raised the eyebrows of other nutritionists. "Eating only one kind of food in the long term is not healthy because you cannot get the necessary nutrition."

The Egg diet

The Egg Diet has become increasingly popular due to reports that some well-known people and celebrities have successfully lost weight by eating only eggs. Apparently, Nigella Lawson's husband Charles Saatchi, lost over sixty pounds by eating nine eggs a day for ten months. There is also discussion that Adrian Brody lost 30 pounds in six weeks in preparation for his role in the Pianist by following the Egg Diet. He has since explained that he actually followed a variation of the diet where he ate eggs for breakfast, a small piece of grilled chicken for lunch and a small piece of fish with steamed vegetables for dinner.

There are several versions of the Egg Diet that are circulating on the Internet. The most popular version of the diet does not actually consist of eating only eggs but it does involve getting the majority of your protein from egg.

All 'Man-Juice' Diet

Just when you thought you had heard about every possible way to lose weight - one technique has emerged that could be considered the most original yet! Kim Kelly, a pornographic actress, BBW model, and escort from Santa Monica, California, came up with an all protein formula- that some may find hard to swallow, but extremely effective. In 2002, the plump Kelly publicly attempted to lose weight by an all-semen diet. She lost 15 pounds on her "Man Juice Diet" by spending 30 days on a diet consisting of semen, banana smoothies and brocolli. Via fellatio, Kelly extracted about three to six teaspoons of semen per day. The average ejaculation is roughly 1 teaspoon and contains 15 calories. The semen portion of Kim Kelly's diet therefore only contributed 45 to 90 calories of her daily nutrition, a minor fraction of what is required by a normal adult. It is likely that the only aspect of her semen diet that differentiated it from a banana smoothie diet is the exercise she received while fellating her participants.

Sleeping Beauty Diet

As its name implies, this diet involves sleep – a lot of it. The principle behind this diet is: "if you aren't awake, you aren't eating". Consequently, advocates take heavy sedation and sleep for days at a time in order to lose weight. Obviously the diet works but it is such an unhealthy approach to weight loss that it is insane to try it. Although some researchers have good reason to support this diet. According to them, how much sleep and what quality of sleep we get effects not only our Cortisol levels but also toys with hormones, Leptin and Ghrelin, which trigger our appetite. Both Leptin and Ghrelin influence our appetite and production of these hormones is influenced by how much (or how little) we sleep.

The Cookie Diet

There are so many different diets out there these days that it seems everyone is trying a new one every week. This popular Hollywood cookie diet seems to be a new trendy, and many people claims it actually works. It was designed by Dr. Sanford Siegal, based in a carefully crafted cookie recipe, which works to suppress hunger. You eat only one meal a day and that is supper, and the supper needs to consist of 6 ounces of chicken, turkey or seafood.

The cookies are not for breakfast or lunch, but instead whenever you are hungry. You have to eat at least six of these cookies each day for the diet to work. In total, the six cookies plus one meal of supper, adds up to 800 calories, and this is the point of the diet. You need to make sure that if you are on the cookie diet you not only eat as recommended, but also drink a full 8 glasses of water each day.

The Monkey Chow Diet

Morgan Spurlock ate nothing but McDonald's food. Adam Scott (aka "the last angry young man") is eating nothing but Monkey Chow - a pelletised nutritionally complete food for monkeys. "Maybe I'll lose weight. Maybe I'll gain superhuman monkey strength. Maybe I'll go crazy. Maybe it's too late." Maybe it's the perfect answer for the diet-obsessed. No more worrying about the next meal. No cooking. No stressing out the number of carbohydrates or calories. No worries about shelf-life or shopping.

Of course, this is bound to have a few issues... At Day 5 Adam is reporting trouble in the plumbing department - with a diary entry of "Poop: Problematic". Maybe the maximum 2.5% crude fiber has something to do with it.

Breatharianism Diet (eating sunlight)

The Breatharian Diet is based on the inedia principle, which claims that food and water are not necessary to sustain life and that the human body can very well subsist on air, sunlight and Prana (life force) alone. In the US, the Breatharian Institute of America has been promoting the concept of the Breatharian Diet for the past few years, focusing on the spiritual concept of inedia or fasting, although the practice has not been without controversy. In the 90s, a few European followers died when trying to abide by the diet, mostly of dehydration aggravated by the lack of food.
Most Breatharians claim that no food at all is needed to stay alive.

Many believe that just water or herbal teas, combined with sun exposure, are enough to keep them alive. However, many of the people who claim to live a Breatharian life are either reluctant to be examined by doctors or refuse to submit to tests to prove that they have, in fact, avoided solids altogether. Other Breatharians, such as the infamous Wiley Brooks, founder of the Breatharian Institute of America, who claims he subsists on "air and sunlight" most of the time, but that he breaks the fast once in a while by eating a McDonald's burger and a Diet Coke. He explains the choice by saying that junk food provides a specific energetic balance needed to contrarest the clean state he maintains the rest of the time.

The Shangri la Diet

The Shangri La Diet is quite simply one of the most unusual weight loss books ever written. Author Seth Roberts presents his radical ideas without melodrama or hype, and comes up with a weight loss diet that is both controversial and intriguing. The diet itself consists of taking 100–400 calories in the form of either extra-light (not extra-virgin) olive oil or sugar water per day, either all at once or spanned throughout the day. This must be consumed in a flavorless window, which is at least one hour after flavors have been consumed, and at least one hour before flavors will be consumed.[5] The consumption of these flavorless calories supposedly lowers the set point, and therefore, lowers weight. That's it. No calorie counting, no recipes, no forbidden or restricted foods, no meal plans, and no deprivation.

The Shangri-La Diet was turned into a famous book by its inventor, Seth Roberts, a professor at Tsinghua University and professor emeritus of psychology at UC Berkeley, and became a New York Times bestseller.

The Bible Diet

The Bible Diet (also known as the Maker's Diet) is a diet promoted on radio and in books by writer and motivational speaker Jordan S. Rubin, who says it is based on teachings from the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy and other books of the bible, that certain foods are either forbidden ("unclean") or acceptable ("clean") to God. The foods incorporated in this diet are organic vegetables, fruits and legumes. The diet also encourages the removal of unclean and unacceptable foods from the individual's diet. This natural, organic approach to eating suggests that one should only eat things created by God in the way they were intended. That means no processed foods or those produced with contact to hormones, pesticides or fertilizers. Rubin claims that his recommendations will enable dieters to concentrate better, and will enhance their moods. He also says that his diet can reduce arthritis pain and inflammation, and can reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease. He also says that it can reverse the "accelerated aging" caused by the way people eat and live today.

The Lip Gloss Diet

As every dieter knows, a moment on the lips could spell a lifetime on the hips. But now the adage has been turned on its head, with the creation of a lip gloss that claims to help women lose weight. Sold under the slogan "Always on the lips. Never on the hips", Fuze Slenderize gloss is said to be oozing with ingredients that curb the appetite. If that weren't enough, the "guilt-free lip gloss" also claims to speed up the metabolism, while boosting energy levels. One of the key ingredients is SuperCitrimax, a plant extract said to keep hunger pangs at bay and stop the body turning carbohydrates into fat.