5: Tapeworm Diet, early 1900s

I’m sure many people have already heard of this one. The Tapeworm diet entails swallowing a tapeworm egg, waiting for it to mature, and then eat food regularly. The tapeworm will take all of the “extra” calories while you eat happily. Do I really need to explain what is wrong with this diet? Tapeworms are bad. They can induce vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea, weakness, and even convulsions. Not only that, but you can’t control how much the tapeworm eats, so you can’t control how much of the food you actually absorb. Malnutrition is inevitable. This is essentially involuntary calorie counting.