The Ramen Diet, The Cotton Ball Diet, And 6 Other Extreme Eating Habits Slideshow
Banana Island Diet
Do you really love a perfectly ripe banana? I know I do. How about eating only bananas every day for two weeks? Not so much fun anymore. Island diets, or diets where only one food is eaten (also known as mono-ing), are those in which one eats only one type of fruit or vegetable for days or weeks in order to lose weight. One woman even reached internet fame when she consumed 51 bananas in one day.
Cabbage Soup Diet
People will try anything to lose weight, so it should come as no surprise that a cabbage soup diet is trending. For seven days, participants eat cabbage soup for a majority of their meals. Doctors believe this dieting approach is ineffective because it restricts the intake of complex carbohydrates and protein, which may leave the dieter fatigued and hungry.
Candy Diet
Almost 10 years ago, playwright and humorist Paul Rudnick published his book, I Shudder, which was a compilation of short pieces outlining his experience living almost entirely on food products made of sugar. Rudnick revealed in an interview that a typical day's diet could include a bagel, Yodels, a small can of peanuts, some Hershey's Kisses, and some sugary breakfast cereal, which he ate dry right out of the box. Amazingly, Rudnick, who says he hasn't touched a vegetable in half a century, weighs only 150 pounds.
To find out which countries consume the most sugar, click here.
Cookie Diet
And you thought Cookie Crisp was the only way to have cookies for breakfast. Well, good news: There's a group of people participating in something called the Cookie Diet, an eating regimen that involves snacking on fortified cookies throughout the day and then having some form of protein, like salmon or fish, for dinner. Jersey Shore reality TV star Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi is one of the advocates of the diet; she said she consumed about six cookies a day. Apparently the weight loss regimen was a success; Snooki reported that she lost 10 pounds in three weeks.
Cotton Ball Diet
Fad diets can be silly, stylish, or downright stupid, but the cotton ball diet may actually be deadly. This utterly insane weight-loss strategy involves dipping five cotton balls into liquids like citrus juices or smoothies and eating them prior to a meal. This supposedly helps dieters feel full while only ingesting a miniscule amount of calories. Meanwhile, medical experts condemn this as a dangerous diet hoax. Cotton balls comprise bleached polyester fibers and consuming too many of them could lead to a life-threatening blockage in the intestinal tract.
Pizza Diet
Pizza fans, rejoice! New York City chef Pasquale Cozzolino managed to lose 94 pounds on what is now being called the Pizza Diet. Cozzolino was dangerously overweight, but turned it all around after he started eating only an entire Margherita pizza for lunch every day. As a chef, Cozzolino was able to make the pizza himself, which he sprinkled with a light layer of mozzarella and sauce. His special, Neapolitan-style dough ferments for 36 hours — a process that reduces the dough's natural sugars and leaves only the heartier complex carbs.
Ramen Diet
Instant ramen noodle packets have helped many college students escape dorm-room hunger, but some people literally can't get enough of the sodium bombs. UK resident Georgi Readman lives solely on ramen noodle packets, and, as of 2013, the 18 year-old had been eating only noodles for 13 years, saying that the thought of other foods disgusted her. Readman is underweight and her doctors say she is severely malnourished. This diet, though cost-effective and tasty as a midnight snack, is not recommended.
Twinkie Diet
This classic Hostess snack rose to fame (or infamy) for its rumored infinite shelf life. This theory has since been disproven, but now Twinkies are in vogue for another reason: as a diet tool. The Twinkie Diet utilizes the perfectly golden confections as a relatively low-calorie snack. One Twinkie is only 150 calories, meaning that you could eat 10 a day and still lose weight. Besides depriving your body of essential nutrients, though, after following this diet for a week or so, you'll never want to see a Twinkie again.
Click here to see how many Twinkies were consumed by the winner of the World Twinkie Eating Contest.