A Ridiculous History of "Fad Diets"

Summary

Ridiculous History: A Ridiculous History of "Fad Diets" Released on July 10, 2025 by iHeartPodcasts

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Introduction

In this episode of Ridiculous History, hosts Ben Bullen and Noel Brown delve into the intriguing and often bizarre world of fad diets throughout human civilization. Joined by their super producer Dylan "the Chainsaw" Fagan, the trio explores the evolution of dieting—from its holistic origins in ancient Greece to the dangerous and downright ridiculous methods employed in the Victorian era and beyond.

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Origins of the Term "Diet"

Noel Brown opens the discussion by tracing the etymology of the word "diet," revealing that it originates from the Greek word diatia (03:00). According to Louise Foxcroft from BBC Magazine, "dieting back then was about all-around mental and physical health," emphasizing a balanced lifestyle rather than mere weight loss (03:20). This holistic approach encompassed not just food intake but also mental wellness and community connection, contrasting sharply with today's often superficial interpretations of dieting.

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Victorian-Era Dieting and William Bant (06:32)

Ben Bullen introduces William Bant, a pivotal figure in the history of dieting. In his 1863 book, Letter on Corpulence, Bant outlines a diet plan that gained immense popularity. Remarkably, the term "bant" became synonymous with dieting, as in, "I'm banting right now," which the Oxford English Dictionary notes was used from the late 1800s until 1963 (07:29).

Bant, standing at 5 feet 5 inches and weighing 202 pounds, experienced joint pain and other health issues. His doctor, William Harvey, suggested eliminating foods high in carbohydrates and fats, recommending a diet rich in animal proteins, fruits, and non-starchy vegetables. This regimen not only helped Bant lose weight at a rate of one pound per week but also alleviated his joint pain and sogar improved his hearing, a claim that astonishes both hosts (11:28).

Notable Quote:

Noel Brown reflects, "We're not medical advice. These folks shouldn't attempt these diets." (12:58)

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Dangerous and Bizarre Diet Practices

The conversation takes a darker turn as Ben Bullen discusses the macabre trend of ingesting parasites as a weight loss method in the Victorian era (16:20). Swallowing tapeworm eggs was promoted with the promise that these parasites would absorb calories, allowing individuals to eat freely without gaining weight. However, this practice was fraught with peril. In cases where tapeworms survived stomach acid and matured in the intestines, they could grow up to 30 feet long, causing severe health issues such as diarrhea, brain swelling, dementia, and more (17:27).

Notable Quote:

Ben warns, "Don't ingest parasites on purpose. These folks. Don't do it." (20:14)

This absurdity is humorously paralleled with a fictional pharmaceutical ad scenario, highlighting the ridiculousness of such dangerous diet fads (19:22).

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Horace Fletcher and Extreme Masticating (25:52)

The hosts explore the extreme practices of Horace Fletcher, known as the "Great Masticator" (25:52). Fletcher believed that thoroughly chewing food—up to 722 chews for a green onion—was essential for proper digestion and preventing obesity. His obsessive chewing habits became a hallmark of his dietary philosophy, even to the point of showcasing his efficient digestion at social gatherings (27:27).

Notable Quote:

Noel Brown humorously notes, "A mouthful of bread might take a few dozen chews to liquefy, but with a green onion, it took Fletcher 722 chews before he let himself swallow." (26:41)

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Early Weight Loss Devices and Methods

Ben Bullen and Noel Brown discuss the advent of rubber undergarments in the Victorian era, initially marketed as a diet craze rather than for fashion or subcultural purposes (23:20). These garments were designed to make wearers sweat excessively, leading to temporary water weight loss. While innovative, these methods were uncomfortable and ineffective for long-term weight management.

Notable Quote:

Ben quips, "Can you imagine the smell of those sweated rubber garments?" (24:11)

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Evolution of Diet Supplements and Medications

Transitioning to the 20th century, the conversation covers the rise and fall of various diet medications. Amphetamines, initially marketed as nasal decongestants, were repurposed as appetite suppressants. Despite their effectiveness in weight loss, they came with severe side effects, including paranoia, cognitive impairments, and even addiction (36:11).

Notable Quote:

Noel Brown emphasizes caution, "It's a personal choice. I'm not saying anyone should do that. But we can tell you what you should not do." (35:39)

The hosts also touch upon modern advancements like GLP-1s (e.g., Ozempic), which have revolutionized weight management but still require careful consideration regarding their long-term effects (30:17).

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Modern Diet Trends and Historical Comparisons

Ben and Noel compare historical fad diets to contemporary trends, such as Keto, South Beach, and Weight Watchers. They highlight that while the methods have evolved, the underlying quest for quick fixes remains consistent. The discussion underscores the importance of sustainable lifestyle changes over temporary solutions.

Notable Quote:

Noel Brown advises, "Cutting out sugar, like not putting sugar in my coffee and cutting out alcohol or drinking a whole lot less alcohol, it is that alone game-changing." (44:20)

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Concluding Insights

The episode wraps up with reflections on the cyclical nature of diet trends and the perpetual human desire for easy weight loss solutions. The hosts advocate for informed, sustainable approaches to health and caution against the allure of fads that promise miraculous results without considering long-term consequences.

Notable Quote:

Ben Bullen concludes, "The answer is almost always going to be, as you said, lifestyle. I would add, calorie deficit." (43:41)

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Final Thoughts

Ridiculous History provides a comprehensive and entertaining exploration of the lengths humans have gone to in their pursuit of weight loss. From ingesting parasites to extreme chewing and technological contraptions, the episode highlights both the ingenuity and the folly inherent in fad diets. By understanding the past, listeners are better equipped to navigate the ever-evolving landscape of diet trends today.

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Key Takeaways:

• The concept of dieting has evolved from a holistic lifestyle to often superficial and risky practices.
• Historical fad diets, though sometimes bizarre, offer valuable lessons on the importance of sustainable health practices.
• Modern diet solutions, while more scientifically grounded, still require careful consideration and should be paired with overall lifestyle changes.

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Don't Miss: For more intriguing episodes, including deep dives into topics like Big Sugar and the history of AI's impact on culture, be sure to subscribe to Ridiculous History on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or your preferred podcast platform.

Transcript

[Noel Brown]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Ben Bullen]

Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartradio. Welcome back to the show, fellow ridiculous historians. Thank you as always, so much for tuning in. Let's hear it for our guest, super producer, Dylan the Chainsaw Fagan. Dylan? Yeah. You like?

[Noel Brown]

That's intense. Dylan is anybody. He's the most gentle chainsaw I ever did know.

[Ben Bullen]

He's a velvet chainsaw chainsaw for the people.

[Noel Brown]

Oh, dear. I missed a story. Dylan just held up his injured hand. Is that chainsaw related? It is, dear. Sorry, buddy. Hope you're okay.

[Ben Bullen]

Dylan, do you want to hop on Mike and talk about that? It's okay. If not.

[Dylan Fagan]

Yeah, I was trying to cut down a tree on the 4th of July.

[Noel Brown]

And cut into my hand, but I'm gonna be okay. You didn't lose any fingies, right?

[Ben Bullen]

No.

[Noel Brown]

And no feeling. And, you know, I was headed to the emergency room yelling, am I gonna.

[Ben Bullen]

Be able to play guitar anymore?

[Noel Brown]

Oh, Jesus, this is so stressful. Oh, my God, I'm so glad you're okay. That is. Yeah. As a fellow guitarist, not nearly as good as you. I understand the terr there, and I'm.

[Ben Bullen]

Bringing this up here because we are an audio podcast. So everyone playing along at home, please note, imagine, if you will, a guy who looks like he absolutely can mop up in a fight. Dylan's got this really cool bandage brace around Street Fighter, just so that's Noel Brown. They call me Ben Bullen. Today we are exploring something that is controversial for a lot of reasons. For a lot of people, it's something called the FAD diet.

[Noel Brown]

Yeah, for sure. If anyone is. I swear, when I was reading through this incredible research brief brought to us by research associate extraordinaire Wren Fest Jones. The best, by the way. We love her work so much. I couldn't help but think of the movie A Cure for Wellness. Do you remember this film with Mia Goth?

[Ben Bullen]

I do. Sort of a very Lovecraftian.

[Noel Brown]

Very Lovecraftian play on the. The works of John Harvey Kellogg. And another film reminds me of. Wait, what was it? Something Wellsville. Two Tickets to Wellsville is about, like, yogurt enemas and stuff, but obviously sanitarium.

[Ben Bullen]

Like health, health, health camps, essentially. Not all the time consensual and oftentimes not based on what we would consider real science.

[Noel Brown]

No, not at all. And like, you know, certainly we had controversial versions of this well into the 90s and pejoratively often called fat camps. You know, as a. As a, you know, a bigger bone fellow, I personally take issue with that. But yeah, we are talking about fad diets today and it goes back a lot farther than you might think, or maybe exactly as far as you might think, depending. The word diet is actually derived from the Greek word diatia, which according to Louise Foxcroft from BBC magazine described a whole way of life. Dieting back then was about all around mental and physical health. I like that. That's a very progressive form of the, the idea of a balanced diet, you know, referring to a lifestyle choice.

[Ben Bullen]

It's holistic, it's gestaltic. Right. It encounters things like not just ingestion and expenditure of calorie, but also mental wellness, also community connection. This. Think of it more like a regimen at this point, a well lived life and how to define and pursue such. The original of what we would loosely call diet in the days of the Greeks was getting a hold of a greater good for your body as an, as a huge organism and your function in a larger society. But now the word diet is used everywhere. Diet Coke right there. I swear, I distinctly remember, this may be the mandala effect, but I distinctly remember seeing something called diet bacon and thinking, nah, I don't know about that.

[Noel Brown]

Maybe faking bacon, there's certainly that like the, the vegan bacon and all that. But even a lot of those meatless substitutes are super carby and not necessarily like 100% better for you, calorically speaking. But I guess if you're going for the non meat thing, they definitely fit the bill. I was just thinking about the Greeks and the wellness thing and then the films that I was talking about and I think I just tried Googling Greek enemas and I got a who bunch of results for Greek animals. So I don't know Greek animals was as much of a thing as I might.

[Ben Bullen]

You got to put the quotation marks around enemas.

[Noel Brown]

I might have misspelled it. I spelled it like, maybe a little more like anima, like the tool album enema, I think with an e. All.

[Ben Bullen]

Right, yeah, but I mean, so we're asking a real good question here. No, the question is when did this switch? When did the use of the word diet or diatas, which, when did it transform into what we use the word for in the modern day? As Reddin points out, we can put a lot of the switch here on the Victorians, the Victorian era, they didn't have Instagram to, you know, hold influencers peddling diet teas or laxatives. Louis Armstrong, by the way, big fan of laxatives for weight loss. But they did have a phenomenal breakthrough in technology, the steam powered printing press, which meant that a lot more people had the opportunity to read. Also, they did not have maybe the necessary critical thinking skills to evaluate the malarkey from the trutharchy, the malarkey from the proarchy.

[Noel Brown]

Well, certainly this technology helped to aid some folks in disseminating their quack diets, you know, in the form of pamphlets or booklets. So why don't we jump right in? There is a fellow before Atkins became kind of synonymous with dieting or Jenny Craig, if people, you know, of a certain age remember that. Low carb tortillas, things like that. Diet everything, which does seem, by the way I was going to point out, seems to be being leaned away from a bit. We've got your Coke Zeros now. And the word diet, certainly there's the legacy Diet Coke. They're never going to get rid of that. But they, they don't promote it. Right. It just sort of exists. Diet Mountain Dew, not always available, but like Coke Zero they actually promote. We've got a guy by the name of William Bant, who in his 1863 book, Letter on Corpulence. You're gonna have to help me out with corpulence, Ben, because I always think of like a corpse. But what corpuscles, what is corpulence?

[Ben Bullen]

Obesity.

[Noel Brown]

Oh, okay. Oh, okay. Obesity, Got it. He lays out a diet plan that really worked for him anyway to the point where he felt like he wanted to spread the word. He was so popular that the word bant or that his name shortened to bant, became a verb for dieting. You know, to bant was to diet.

[Ben Bullen]

Yeah. And this occurs in Oxford English Dictionary. It stays there from the late 1800s all the way to 1963. You might say, for example, someone gives you a good tiramisu or crazy 1800s dessert, and you say, ah, thanks, but you know, I appreciate it. I'm banting right now. And that would be the way you would, that would be deployed the same way you would say, I'm on a diet right now. Like, no sugar for me. It's 1862. And Bant is, he's about 5ft 5 inches tall. He weighs 202 pounds, which is a pretty noticeable metric for his part of the world at this time in history.

[Noel Brown]

His height.

[Ben Bullen]

Yeah, sure, yeah. And his height.

[Noel Brown]

Right.

[Ben Bullen]

So the metrics combined. Ed, he is experiencing joint pain. He's not having a great time at field days or at sport. And he says he has that what, what we would call It Dylan, I would call it in East Tennessee a Come to Jesus.

[Noel Brown]

I love a Come to Jesus. I use that all the time.

[Ben Bullen]

Yeah, you may have the same statements in Augusta. He says, look, I've got to make a difference. Let me see how I can improve myself. And he looks at the current improvement propositions or regimens of the day, things like going to a Turkish bath house, going to a sweaty spa, doing a lot of jumping jacks, rigorous calisthenics. And he says, look, this is just making me hungrier. I want to consume more calories. Add to this, the poor guy has some other health problems. He's losing his hearing and eventually his doctor tells him something crazy. The guy he pays to look at his ears says, you know what, man? There's a correlation between your weight and your problems with his hearing. This is where we meet the ear doctor himself, William Harvey.

[Noel Brown]

Harvey suggested to Bant that he cut out certain foods, carby stuff, fatty stuff, lactose stuff, bread, butter, milk, sugar, beer and potatoes, and recommended that he live on animal proteins, fruits and non starchy vegetables. Funny thing, this is definitely still a popular choice for certain types of diets today. I mean, it definitely works whether or not you're anti meat, animal protein or not. This is something that is in many ways in certain schools of thought, still suggested and can be very effective. Although Bant was allowed no beer, but he could have up to six glasses of red wine or sherry a day on this diet. And Ren points out that this well exceeds the center for Disease Control's current metrics for heavy drinking. Champagne and beer, of course, were off limits because of how sugary they are. And red wine and I believe tequila are still something that are allowable in things like the keto diet. This was really working for Ban. He lost a pound a week on this diet and his joint pain started to subside. And miraculous, miraculously surprising, I think, to even us in the modern day here his hearing came back interesting.

[Ben Bullen]

And let's step back here for a second because the correlation, the inspiration from the ear doctor William Harvey comes from not just him picking up vibes or improvising. Instead, Doc Harvey here had been experimenting on sugar intake in canines. And he did so because he believed there was a link to, between glycogen that comes from your liver and hearing loss and diabetes, or as Mac and South park like to say, diabetics. So as you're, as you're saying, no, this guy is not just losing a pound a week on cutting out sugar. Essentially, he is also getting his Hearing back, it's a whole new world. He wants to communicate this success. He publishes the first two versions of his book, weirdly called Letters on Corpulence. He distributes them to the public. He's not charging anyone. It's not about the money, it's about the message. He starts to make a little bit of profit on the third edition of this work. And it is only in that third edition that he gives his ear doctor, Dr. Harvey, credit for his contribution. With that being said. Oh, we should have put this at the front. None of this is medical advice. No, absolutely none of this. You're going to hear a lot of terrible ideas, as a matter of fact, for sure.

[Noel Brown]

Yeah. And I think we set that up pretty well at the top. Speaking of terrible ideas, how about ingesting parasites? You know, for funsies. This is some cure for wellness type stuff. I believe there were leeches in that. There is another film that takes place during the Victorian era that's very recent called the Ugly Ugly Stepsister. And it is apparently like a really macabre fractured fairy tale version of. I want to say Cinderella that I believe that's the one with the evil stepsisters. But it has a plot point that involves ingesting a tapeworm.

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[Ben Bullen]

Tapeworms an old enemy of the humans and other living organisms. So let's say you're in the Victorian era. You don't quite have the wherewithal to control sugar intake. You may not have the privilege of choosing what you want to eat, but you can swallow the egg of a tapeworm derived from a cow in pill form. And the hope here is that most of the tapeworms are going to die in your stomach acid. That's just the nature of attrition. But what if one of these tapeworms makes it through your bubbling guts of your stomach acid and reaches your intestines, reaches maturity and then it starts to absorb some percentage of the food nutrients and calories you ingest. This means that you get that theoretically. This is their pitch. This means that you can eat whatever you want and you will not gain weight. But there's a big problem.

[Noel Brown]

Is there ever a catch?

[Ben Bullen]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay so first catch, most cases, the eggs in those little Victorian era pills. First, they're hard to swallow. Pill technology is not what it is today. But also they're dead eggs, right?

[Noel Brown]

Yeah, they're dead eggs. So it would be like a placebo effect situation and. Or just a nasty tummy ache.

[Ben Bullen]

Yeah, and that's still not the worst catch. The worst catch is if it works. If a tapeworm egg is alive, does survive stomach acid and the ingestion process makes it to the human intestine, it can live for decades and decades. Unlike some other parasites, this is not a short lived parasitic cycle. They can also grow to be up to 30ft long. They can get this, folks, reproduce without a partner. So the one egg that makes it through to your human intestines can build its own Brady Bunch inside you. This can lead to, of course, massive, hilarious diarrhea, brain swelling, dementia. You're gonna be throwing up, you're gonna have.

[Noel Brown]

Can you imagine the pharmaceutical TV commercial for tapeworms? Like in all of the side effects that are rattled off at the end. You kind of started the list just now, man. Not to get off track here, but someone pointed out to me we're talking a lot on our other show stuff that I want you to know about the advent of AI and machine learning and all of that and how it affects culture, et cetera. Somebody pointed out that the first kind of company that is just strictly going to generate purely AI commercials will be pharmaceuticals. Because those commercials, for all intents and purposes already look vaguely AI and or stock footage driven. You know what I mean? They're just so bland.

[Ben Bullen]

Yeah. And they're illegal in all countries except for New Zealand and the United States.

[Noel Brown]

What's up, New Zealand? I mean, the United States, I get it, but I thought New Zealand was better than that.

[Ben Bullen]

We thought, yeah, we're not angry, you guys. We're confused and a little disappointed. Also, shout out to one of the best shows on television ever in the West. Always Sunny in Philadelphia, there is an episode wherein the character of Frank Reynolds does ingest a tapeworm through fecal transplant in order to. In an attempt to lose weight. This is based on reality because you can still buy tapeworm diet approaches on the dark web today.

[Noel Brown]

Crazy.

[Ben Bullen]

We can't.

[Noel Brown]

Crazy.

[Ben Bullen]

This, this next statement, we can consider medical advice. Hear us. Don't do it. These folks. Don't do it.

[Noel Brown]

Just.

[Ben Bullen]

We can't. We can't advocate for stuff. But I feel like we can tell you what you should not do. Right.

[Noel Brown]

I think we can suggest very strongly that you not ingest parasites on purpose. I think we're safe and well within our expertise as human people to offer that bit of advice. Yes.

[Ben Bullen]

Yeah. But what if you just sweat it out?

[Noel Brown]

Well, that's horse, too. I mean, that's just losing water weight. Right? Like, I mean, it's.

[Ben Bullen]

Right.

[Noel Brown]

Well, sure, a Schmitz or whatever, as they call it in the Sopranos culture, can be a nice way to relax after a heavy workout. Can be a nice way to loosen the muscles and relax the joints and things like that. But even people that do it for weight loss purposes usually like to make weight, you know, if you're a boxer or a wrestler or something like that. But it is not long term. And as someone who's been dieting and doing a lot of exercise and stuff lately, my weight fluctuates sometimes three pounds day to day, depending on what time I weigh myself and depending on how much water I've retained. And that is absolutely a thing.

[Ben Bullen]

Yeah. And even being a night walker myself, in these punishing, perishing Georgia summers, I will lose weight at night. Exactly. Worrisome degree. And it's, as we said, it's water weight. Around the time of the Victorian era, our buddy Charles Goodyear, who later would associate a tire. Right. Yes. Well done.

[Noel Brown]

If anyone remembers, we did an episode that research associate Jeff prepared for us about the history of the Goodyear tire company, the Goodyear blimp, and their weird stay puft marshmallow tire man mascot, Bibendum.

[Ben Bullen]

Who was, for some reason originally an unhinged alcohol.

[Noel Brown]

Totally. Yeah. I think. Is he smoking in some of those? Maybe. I'm mixing some things up.

[Ben Bullen]

No, you're on base. You're on base. But he's got to.

[Noel Brown]

He's Bibendum. Because he's Babendi.

[Ben Bullen]

Yeah, he's Babendi. This is because Charles Goodyear is the guy credited with discovering the process of vulcanization, which makes rubber more elastic and pliable. Yeah, yeah. Babendi. If you treat it with heat and sulfur, and this means that now you can mold rubber into a variety of shapes, it makes it more ductile. Right. It means it won't snap when you be bend it, especially in cold temperatures. And so immediately, people attempt to capitalize on this and they say, why don't we make rubber underwear? Why don't we make rubber corsets? Now, we know the Internet is crazy. That's still Absolutely.

[Noel Brown]

In certain circles, they're often referred to as kinky parties. I'm not. Whatever. Not kink shaming at all. It is very much, much a subculture, bdsm, whatever you want to call it, these types of. And also club culture. And it's very much a fashion choice. But not many people necessarily wearing them for health reasons anymore.

[Ben Bullen]

Right, right, right. Yeah. And of course, we're not going to Yucca Yum. We are going to tell you that the first rubber undergarments were not for any sort of amative or romantic pursuit. They were a diet craze, because the thought was, okay, they were kind of like Spanx. They would smooth out your excess body silhouette, but they would also. And this was seen as a big. Like a big plus, a value add. This would make you sweat your keister off. And the idea was that you sweat just like you're walking around in Atlanta's heat. You would lose water weight. As we said, the. The pickle of it is water weight is temporary.

[Noel Brown]

Yeah. Can you imagine the smell of those sweated rubber garments?

[Ben Bullen]

Oh, my gosh. Who washed?

[Noel Brown]

Not good, right? You know what it makes me think of immediately when I think of sweaty rubber garments is the original Batman movie when he's walking through all those flames in that clearly very rubber suit. I mean, he must have had what Ren describes here. Full body swamp ass.

[Ben Bullen]

Yeah. And the thing that. Look, let's take some time. As fans of film. We're ciles alike, folks. We hope you are, too. The biggest plot hole in the Keaton Batman franchise is that he cannot turn his head.

[Noel Brown]

He had to turn his whole rubber.

[Ben Bullen]

Yeah.

[Noel Brown]

He had torso pivot. Yeah. And did you know that he was wearing, like, Nikes? That those are special custom Nikes. And if you look at the screen used version of the suit, they're like kind of, you know, bespoke Nikes, much like the auto lacing shoes and back to the future to.

[Ben Bullen]

Mm.

[Noel Brown]

Mm.

[Ben Bullen]

Nailed it. Well, let's. Let's say this, right? So we've explored the idea of eliminating sugar, which actually does have some sand to it. We've explored the Faustian dangerous bargain of outsourcing weight loss to parasites. We've talked about getting some gear on you. But let's talk about this. What if you take a cue from the health reformer Horace Fletcher, and you say abc? We're not quoting Glengarry Glen Ross here. Not always be closing. Always be chewy.

[Noel Brown]

Yeah, I love this nickname. This guy should have been a king of France or something. Known as the Great Masticator, which means the great chewer. Masticating. It's a great word. Horace Fletcher. Like you said, he was all about Chewing. He thought that swallowing food before it had been completely liquefied into some sort of, like, slurry could result in poor health consequences, including obesity, according to a fabulous podcast from Science History Institute. I'm just gonna go ahead and quote what Wren pulled out of this episode, but do check out their podcast. A mouthful of bread might take a few dozen shoes to liquefy, but with a green onion, it took Fletcher 722 chews before he let himself swallow. How many licks does it take to get to the tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Roll pop?

[Ben Bullen]

It depends on how you want your poop.

[Noel Brown]

Also true, Ben. They should have used that for the ad campaign. One chew per second, which is 12 straight minutes of chewing or masticating.

[Ben Bullen]

Here's one for everybody with misophonia.

[Noel Brown]

Yeah. No, no.

[Ben Bullen]

Yeah. We're not going to do all 12. We're not going to do 17. Actually, I got in a healthy conversation on a plane about someone who refused to chew like a person. Anyway, obviously Fletcher bit myopic. He was obsessed, right? Yeah. Bit pro chew. And he is very high fluting, very dignified and proud about the results of his ingestion process.

[Noel Brown]

He's a poop guy. He said he shows it off. Yeah, Parties.

[Ben Bullen]

Yeah, he shows it off at parties. That is a true story, folks. He also says, look, where's the poop? My. My poop is the best evidence that my diet is super efficient. I'm getting all the nutrients out of it. And he mailed again, a true tale. He mailed a physiologist at Yale a box of his own poop in hopes of proving his diet was a success. Now, if. If we have a physiologist in the audience tonight. I know we have several. You guys know why this didn't work, right? We know you shouldn't just mail your.

[Noel Brown]

No, you shouldn't.

[Ben Bullen]

You need to be asked before you.

[Noel Brown]

Mail that sounds like something Jared Leto would do, like, as a method acting, you know, technique. Ben, are you familiar with this German design feature known as the flaspler?

[Ben Bullen]

Yes. Yeah, the poop shelf.

[Noel Brown]

It's apparently a little bit of an antiquated design, but it can still be found in a lot of German bathrooms. The function of the flash spoiler, which translates roughly to shallow flusher, is to prevent splashage, but also to give a perfect little spot that might give the excretor the opportunity to examine their stool. I think that our boy here would have been a big fan of the.

[Ben Bullen]

Flash spooler of Course, yeah. I remember the first few times I saw it, I was mystified, but I thought it was a win in Rome situation. And what am I going to call the front desk and tell them to change their culture, change their commotion?

[Noel Brown]

I think we've both expressed our pro bidet stance. And one thing, when we were traveling in Middle East, I noticed that is not the case in any other country that I've ever been to, including Europe, where you'd think it'd be a thing. Bidets in every public toilet. But like handheld ones that are like attached to the wall like a little, little sprayer. Sprayer.

[Ben Bullen]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. 100%. This is part of the, the great conversation, right, about cleanliness, about fat diets, about efficiency of the human body. If we fast forward to today's society, we'll see that there is a proliferation of what we'll call over the counter or OTC weight loss medications. Not all created equally. Some have dubious claims, some are older, some are basically amphetamines, and some are new, newly rolled out things like what we call GLP1s. The most famous of which would be Ozempic.

[Noel Brown]

Yeah, for sure. I mean, it's a medication that has kind of been repurposed to great effects and success for a lot of folks. So no judgment there at all. I think it's kind of a little bit odd the way culture is sort of like poo, pooing it when it's very much something that helps people, myself included. I've absolutely taken these in the past and it helped me kind of get rid of some of that food noise, which is the thing people talk about that I've always struggled with. So, you know, super positive about people using it correctly. The thing about it is though, it's not a miracle drug. You. While some people do, and I don't think this is the right move, you really shouldn't just rely on it and it alone. You really should pair it with like a change in your diet, a change in your exercise regimens, that whole lifestyle thing that we talked about in order to make sure that the weight stays off and to help promote kind of healthy habits.

[Ben Bullen]

Yeah. And it's. It's not uncommon for one medication or substance to be initially deployed for one condition and then to be monetized for different conditions.

[Noel Brown]

Yeah, off label.

[Ben Bullen]

Sometimes call that off label. Yeah. Just so I'm thinking, for instance, about the discovery of Viagra, Right. Which is now most popularly known as an erectile dysfunction medication.

[Noel Brown]

What was it originally? I don't think I know about this, Ben?

[Ben Bullen]

Yeah, I believe originally it was meant to address things like, like hypertension.

[Noel Brown]

Got it.

[Ben Bullen]

So circulatory issues and then we must imagine we're just ridiculous history cinematic here. We must imagine that moment in a study where all these heart patients were like, no, I'm great.

[Noel Brown]

How's your father? Yeah, exactly.

[Ben Bullen]

What are you doing later?

[Noel Brown]

What is it? Was it a priapism?

[Ben Bullen]

Yes, yes, the. The tumescence that continues too long.

[Noel Brown]

That's right, yeah. Well, in this case it's a desired effect, but absolutely true.

[Ben Bullen]

Ben.

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[Noel Brown]

This was also the case with a lot of other kinds of drugs like you said, Ben, including some that were extremely addictive like methamphetamine, some that were toxic, and in some cases is some that would outright kill you. This is in the 30s and through the 60s, by the way.

[Ben Bullen]

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So GLP1s originally were supposed to treat obesity and diabetes. Now they've entered their second act back in the earlier days. Oh gosh. We had a discussion about this on our sister show. Stuff they don't want you to know how the Russians would give heat pills to people that would keep you awake, but if you took too many for too long, they would literally cook you anyway. Yeah. Denitrophenol, amphetamine, rainbow pills. These things were. They were finding their true north of use and abuse. Denitrophenol in specific was used to make explosives during World War II and in 1990 after World War II, it was sold as a weight loss drug. Even pharmacologists at Stanford approved this. And all this stuff did, when you consumed it was to kick your metabolism into overdrive Sort of like if you're listening to a podcast played at regular speed and then you hit that 2x button, that's what it did to people's metabolisms. And there were aggressive side effects, excessive sweating. That makes sense, right? Increased body temperature. Sure. But there were other things like cataracts.

[Noel Brown]

Can I also just double back really quickly on the GLP1 discussion? It does feel that there's some similarities in the way that's been so broadly rolled out and like so widely used, and perhaps not enough attention paid on any potential long term knock on consequences. I just want to point that out. It is absolutely a personal choice. I'm not saying anyone should do that. And there are, are perhaps things to weigh, because as we know, you know, money rules everything. And the moment people figured out they could make a load of money, you know, selling that for weight loss, that's exactly what happened. I do feel like there might come a time where some research says, ooh, maybe that wasn't the best thing for you. So just throwing that out there.

[Ben Bullen]

Smart point and well made. Well put. Because there aren't really longitudinal studies available yet. We've got to wait a few decades. It reminds me of the shoe stores. This might be a little old for a lot of us, but I remember when the shoe stores would have X ray novelty devices to help you figure out your shoe size. Oh, yeah, A lot of people got cancer.

[Noel Brown]

No way. Sorry. I'm not laughing. I didn't know that was a thing. And that is. That is. Man, that's messed up, I'll tell you.

[Ben Bullen]

Here's another one that I think we, we both, I don't want to call it schadenfreude, but I think it fascinates both of us that amphetamines were originally marketed as nasal decongestants. That's how they came out. Not as an energy thing, just if you got a snuffy nose. What's that word you taught me in English? Insulfate.

[Noel Brown]

Yeah, insulfate, I believe is the word for consuming things nasally. But also, if I'm not mistaken, the active ingredient and methamphetamine. And the reason they're kept behind glass now and you have to show an ID to get it, are certain cold medicines. So obviously that was an active ingredient, you know, in the first place. I'm just conjecturing there. I'm pretty sure that must be the case.

[Ben Bullen]

Right. Like not non ephedrine, I think it's.

[Noel Brown]

Called, or something like that.

[Ben Bullen]

Yeah. So first it comes out as a Thing where people are saying, are you tired of these snuffy noses? Do you feel snotty?

[Noel Brown]

Colgate hour. Yeah, exactly.

[Ben Bullen]

Chainsaw Fagans custom methamphetamines.

[Noel Brown]

A cleaner nose for a cleaner world. Also with cocaine.

[Ben Bullen]

Also with cocaine all over the counter.

[Noel Brown]

100%. Yeah. I mean that's true. Cocaine was over the counter and as we know earliest recipes. This is not a myth, if I'm not mistaken, of Coca Cola did contain small amounts of cocaine.

[Ben Bullen]

Dylan says a lot of these sound dangerous. I think I'll stick to good old laudanum.

[Noel Brown]

There you go.

[Ben Bullen]

Are your children talking back? Are your children awake at all hours? Chainsaw Fagan's Laudanum.

[Noel Brown]

I'm more of an ether guy myself. Prefer to just huff it from a rag, you know.

[Ben Bullen]

Yeah, like a real American.

[Noel Brown]

Exactly.

[Ben Bullen]

Anyway, this amphetamine thing, obviously similar to these other stories, it the market finds other uses for it. It is distributed to troops, multiple sides of World War II. And the idea is we can keep the fighting forces running longer, consuming fewer food resources. And after the war people discover this also provably suppresses appetite. So it becomes something like Rolling Stones, Mother's little helper. It's a popular weight loss drug, particularly among the housewives in the west who many of whom have. Have met a kind of agency being allowed into the workplace for the first time. And now they're being forced back into these domestic roles.

[Noel Brown]

Yep, popping bennies, Benzedrines, Dexedrines, little blues and reds or whatever they used to call them. And these continue to be popular. What's the word I'm looking for? Recreational pharmaceuticals into the like, you know, counterculture scene. The hippie kind of scene. Amphetamines however, are really, really bad for you.

[Ben Bullen]

Yeah, it turns out. Yeah, it turns out there's.

[Noel Brown]

Something is important and it causes lack of. It alone causes bad things to happen in the brain and the body.

[Ben Bullen]

It's also nice to not have compulsive behaviors, paranoia and it's sort of like not to flex. But it's cool to have as many of your teeth as you can.

[Noel Brown]

It really is.

[Ben Bullen]

It kind of is. So there are side effects like you described, Noel, especially after long term or prevalent use. These sorts of substances can induce hallucinations, chronic nausea, constipation, vomiting, manic, real dangerous cognitive behavior. But doctors didn't know that because they didn't have those longitudinal studies just yet. So this is the rise of what we loosely could call rainbow pills. Everything you described.

[Noel Brown]

Just add a little vitamins in there. It'll be fine. Some supplements? No, we're talking amphetamines, mainly. Sedatives, diuretics, which I believe. Doesn't that make you poop or make you pee? Sorry? It makes you pee. Diuretics. Yeah. And thyroid hormones. In addition to taking other pills and supplements. Right?

[Ben Bullen]

Yeah. And it wasn't until 1968 that the pendulum began to swing back. Journalists, medical professionals started noticing there were troubling things at play. One investigative reporter noted in history.com went to 10 obesity clinics and was posing as a patient. They were given more than 1500 things that would qualify as rainbow pills. This leads to 1970, a guy named Richard Nixon, who is famous for being kind of a pill himself, but also. Yeah, yeah, a bit of a tricky one. He passed the Controlled Substances Act, a very imperfect act, part of a very imperfect thing called the War on drugs.

[Noel Brown]

Kicked it right on off, didn't he?

[Ben Bullen]

He sure did. Man. This reclassified everybody's favorite little helpers as Schedule 2 controlled substances, which made it much more difficult for doctors to prescribe them willingly.

[Noel Brown]

One could argue this is maybe a positive part of this is like one.

[Ben Bullen]

Of the positive parts. Yeah, I think that's true.

[Noel Brown]

But you did still have these boutique clinics, these like, I don't know, kind of what you might call today these med spas. Right. But you. Yeah, you had back then these, you know, weight loss clinics where you would maybe have a specialty. A specialized doctor who was able to kind of loophole his way into prescribing you the, you know, the. The go go pills in addition to other supplements, perhaps regiments of exercise. A lot of these quack kind of like machines like that would like. Like rub the chub off of you. You know what I'm talking about? Yeah. Belts or whatever.

[Ben Bullen]

I'm thinking of the belt, too, on your abdomen that just goes back and forth. And combine that with the electroshock vest that would just sort of shock your muscles into contracting, if you've ever heard about those anyway.

[Noel Brown]

Yeah, yeah, for sure. So we'd have things like that Ren also points out, and it has an excellent picture of these kind of rolling pin machines that would, like, squeeze your body just. I don't.

[Ben Bullen]

I don't think that was just roll around.

[Noel Brown]

It would probably not the way. This is not the way.

[Ben Bullen]

It's. It's not the way for efficacious medical results. But the synesthesia me says it would feel nice along your back or body if the. Depending on the pressure. Right. The psi. But, yeah, this is. This is just Another case, we have so much more to get to master. Cleanses. We haven't even gotten to that.

[Noel Brown]

Juice cleanses.

[Ben Bullen]

Juice cleanses.

[Noel Brown]

The idea of detoxing, which I think is still a bit. People look askance at this idea of. Because the thing about this is a lot of these holistic type remedies, they are positive and they are sort of a way to just encourage more full body nutrition and thinking about making better choices, eating less processed food, foods, etc. But once it's really easy though, for it to kind of spiral into the realm of quackery, even the best of intentions.

[Ben Bullen]

Right, Right. A lot of this stuff. If you take out the sorcery of not fully understood medical substances, the answer is almost always going to be, as you said, lifestyle. I would add, calorie deficit. Right. Maintaining that and finding a place that supports your good choices and reinforces them. I think we've got to hit so many more fad diets, as our pal Ren Fest points out. Beverly Hills Diet, military diet, we mentioned Keto and ketosis is an interesting.

[Noel Brown]

South beach was a big popular one.

[Ben Bullen]

South beach nutrisystem. All the hits. We'll get to them soon.

[Noel Brown]

Weight Watchers is still very much a thing. Very much a God bless mother. It's old school. My godmother attends a Weight Watchers in New York City. And I will just say too like, if you're looking to make a tiny change, you know, diet and exercise, I swear, cutting out sugar, like not putting sugar in my coffee and cutting out alcohol or drinking a whole lot less alcohol, it is that alone game changing.

[Ben Bullen]

It makes a difference. Again, check out the episode on Big Sugar for stuff they don't want you to know.

[Noel Brown]

Yeah, that's great podcast. Talking about Big Sugar, the podcast, which is a incredible expose on the brutal and dangerous sugar.

[Ben Bullen]

Oh, I forgot. I forgot about that when I was thinking about the earlier.

[Noel Brown]

Oh, we did. That's right. We did a full deep dive on it ourselves. But then we also had on the host of an investigative piece podcast series called Big Sugar.

[Ben Bullen]

I was so happy when they confirmed that earlier research. We're onto something. We're gonna follow it up. We hope you enjoyed this episode, folks. Thank you as always so much for tuning in. Thanks to our super producer returning tattooed from some adventures, Mr. Max Williams. Thanks to our guest super producer, Dylan the Chainsaw Fagan. Remember to buy Chainsaw Fagan laudanum wherever it is sold, which, no offense, Dylan, might not be everywhere these days. Kind of like cheer wine. So pick up a bottle where you can. Thanks to AJ Bahamas Jacobs. Thanks to Jorge Chan. Thanks to Jonathan Strickland, AKA the Quister. Who else? Who else?

[Noel Brown]

Oh, man. Did we see. Yeah, you started Agent Bahamas. The. He's the Puzzler.

[Ben Bullen]

Do we have a nickname for Jorge yet?

[Noel Brown]

No, wait, he had one. It was like Riverside or something.

[Ben Bullen]

Oh, that's right. Jorge. Riverside.

[Noel Brown]

It wasn't a very good one. We'll have to. We'll have to workshop that one. But big thanks to Jorge. I'm excited to have him back very soon. And we have another crossover with coming out very soon, if it's not already out on stuff they don't want you to know or. We talk a lot about some of the same things we talked about in Ridiculous History, but a lot deeper and weirder stuff. In terms of Ben, what were some of your favorite topics that we touched on in that conversation?

[Ben Bullen]

Oh, all the outer space stuff.

[Noel Brown]

That's right.

[Ben Bullen]

Yeah.

[Noel Brown]

But beyond Big Bang, we talked a lot about singularity events, a lot about surveillance state kind of stuff.

[Ben Bullen]

Simulation theory.

[Noel Brown]

Simulation theory, all that stuff. So do check that one out. Huge thanks to Christopher Hacios and Eve's Jeff Coes here. In spirit, of course. And thanks again to Ren Fest Jones for this incredible research on fad diets. And thanks to you, Ben. This was a lot of fun.

[Ben Bullen]

Oh, yeah, and thanks to Alex Williams, who composed this track. Everybody, tune in next week. Have a great one. We'll have a classic on Saturday, and we'll be back on Tuesday with more ridiculous hit history.

[Noel Brown]

We'll see you next time, folks. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. This is an iHeart podcast.