History is filled with strange and fascinating diets that will make today's trends seem pale in comparison. Long before keto or intermittent fasting, people have gone to great lengths for health, beauty, or merely survival. Let's take a deep dive into some of the weirdest historical diets and how they impacted society.
A popular diet in the Victorian era was the 'vinegar and water' diet, launched into fame by Lord Byron. Byron’s aesthetic was characterized by a pale complexion and a lean figure, and his diet was as drastic as his poetry. He would consume water mixed with vinegar and eat only wafer-thin slices of bread. Although it did not provide nutrition, it did alter appearances, leaving behind a legacy of the drastic measures some would take to shift societal standards of beauty.
In ancient Rome, a different kind of diet craze took hold. Rome’s leading citizens indulged in luxurious feasts but would regularly visit a designated room called a vomitorium to purge their meals and make room for more food. While commonly misconstrued, vomitoriums were not designed for vomiting but served as grand entranceways to stadiums; however, the myth captures the opulence and excess of Roman dining habits exquisitely.
During the 1920s, a physician named Lulu Hunt Peters published 'Diet and Health, with the Key to the Calories,' which popularized calorie counting. What made Peters’ approach strange was her guidance to treat calories like money, budgeting daily intake and shaming oneself for overspend just like financial management. This not only marked the beginning of the calorie fixation but also began conflating morality with eating habits.
Moving to medieval times, the monasteries had their own dietary restrictions more for spiritual purification than physical. Monks would often follow the 'Rule of St. Benedict,’ which required fasting, abstinence from meat, and simplistic eating habits. Aside from their ascetic lifestyles, these diets intended to sustain piety, focusing on spiritual over physical nourishment, and created a unique blend of religious observance and dietary control.
The early 20th century saw another bold experiment from Horace Fletcher, who propagated a method of chewing food 32 times without swallowing—known as ‘Fletcherism’. This diet suggested that excessive mastication would lead to better digestion and prevented overeating. Fletcher became an icon in the diet world, appealing not just to laymen but even convincing luminaries like John D. Rockefeller and Upton Sinclair.
Around the same period, the advent of the Hollywood diet set a new precedent for weight loss by focusing on grapefruit consumption. The Grapefruit Diet originated in the 1930s and revolved around eating half a grapefruit before every meal, believing that specific enzymes in the fruit helped burn fat. While this diet is still around in various forms today, its perpetual legacy reflects how deeply American culture has been driven by quick-fix solutions.
In the 1960s, a strange diet called the Ice Cream Diet claimed to enable weight loss while indulging in ice cream. While this appears too good to be true, it played on the idea that consuming ice cream in moderation as part of a controlled calorie intake could satisfy cravings and thus prevent binge eating. Its allure was simple; combining pleasure with discipline yet exposing the irrational lengths people will traverse for health.
In the 19th century, Americans also trialed a meat-based diet, credited to William Banting, originally intended to tackle obesity. Banting’s diet recommended a high-protein low-carb regimen, which seems relatively modern but was groundbreaking at the time. His dietary rules would later inspire the Atkins Diet, revealing how certain dietary modalities have historical grounding and enduring appeal.
One diet originating from the 12th century Japan, practiced by the Samurai, is particularly intriguing. Known as the ‘Natto diet’, it involved consuming foods like fermented soybeans, abundant in nutrients yet light on the stomach. This diet offered longevity and stamina, vital for warriors, exemplifying how nutrition was intricately tied to societal roles and functionality.
In summary, the peculiarities of historical diets underline more than just the search for health and aesthetics; they reflect cultural tendencies, societal norms, and periods' technological limitations. By examining these practices, we not only learn about the biological impact but also what historical societies valued and how they navigated the intricate web of health and identity.
The weirdest historical diets and how they shaped society
