From Cigarettes to cabbage, some unusual ways to lose weight

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Andrea Giancoli, tell us what you really think about fad diets. "They keep me employed," says Giancoli, spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, which advocates proper nutrition and a healthy lifestyle. It also reviews popular diets (www.eatright.org). As a debunker of diet myths, Giancoli's workload doesn't figure to poop out anytime soon. "If all these diets worked long term, we wouldn't have an obesity problem," she says. "That magic pill, that magic diet doesn't exist." Ouch, enough reality. Some of the Classics, such as the cigarette diet and the drinking man's diet, pandered to our vices. Others, such as the caveman diet and Sleeping Beauty diet, piqued our curiosity. She acknowledges that most fad diets, such as Atkins, The Zone and South Beach, can help us lose weight in the short term. But, as you probably guessed, we tire of eating the same foods and regress to poor choices, monster portions. Giancoli says the majority of fad diets are based on three staples - fat, protein and carbohydrates. "They're the only nutrients that provide energy, that provide calories. We just keep reincarnating them into diets. There's only so much you can do with them," she says. On the subject of reincarnation, the American Dietetic Association recognized an Atkins-like low-carb diet as early as 1825 and another in 1863. Other versions followed. Two recent diets that irk Giancoli are "Eat Right for Your Type" and the raw foods diet. The first, she says, bases food choices on your blood type and the second theorizes that cooking kills enzymes in food and destroys nutrients. "We don't need enzymes from food; we make our own," says Giancoli. "Science isn't behind the diet. A combination of raw and cooked foods is the better way to go." And the blood-type diet? "First of all, there's More than four blood types. There's no science behind the diet. We just can't be divided up that way." Giancoli believes the message about proper, nutritious eating habits is sinking in, despite the outbreak of obesity. "The lifestyle fix is becoming More popular; they're talking about it now," she says. "It's a slow process. Knowledge is not behavior, but the message is starting to get out." 10 UNUSUAL FAD DIETS Caveman diet: Dine like Fred and Wilma Flintstone. A Paleolithic-inspired menu of nuts, berries, fruits, vegetables and meat are recommended. Sometimes referred to as "early" or "prehistoric" Atkins because of its emphasis on protein and fat. Sleeping Beauty diet: Elvis Presley's idea of dieting: zonk out on sedatives for a few days to lose weight. Can't binge while you're unconscious, right? Cigarette diet: Cigarettes as dieting aids boosted Lucky Strike sales More than 200 percent in the 1920s with the catchy slogan, "Reach for a Lucky Instead of a Sweet." Drinking man's diet: William the Conqueror is credited with popularizing this alcohol-based diet when he tackled his bulk by drinking his meals. A thousand years later, Robert Cameron, described by Forbes magazine as a "jaunty San Francisco bon vivant" updated and popularized the martini-heavy diet. Bottoms up. Hic. Cabbage soup diet: Eat all you want, as long as it's water and cabbage. "Nuff said. Grapefruit diet: First, you need to love grapefruit. Then, you have to stick to the diet for 21 days. Finally, you lose weight and learn to hate grapefruit. Fletcherizing diet: Chew food 32 times but no swallowing. Spit it out, buster. The idea, hatched in 1903 by San Francisco art dealer Horace Fletcher, was to absorb fewer calories while still enjoying the food's flavor. Not many dinner invitations for his followers. The last chance diet: Basically, starving yourself into thinness by drinking the protein concoction Prolinn made from slaughterhouse leftovers that had been ground and flavored. It proved a dangerous diet in the 1970s. Vinegar diet: The poet Lord Byron doused food with vinegar (gasp!) to quell his appetite. He lost More than 60 pounds. Cheater's diet: Diet during the week, pig out on ice cream, burgers and beer on weekends. It has to do with metabolic rate and human nature. And, it sounds much More appetizing than boiled potatoes doused with vinegar. By Dan Vierria -Source: American Dietetic Association