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Ah, memories. When I was about 12 my mother put me on this diet that required I eat nothing but oranges every other day. Needless to say, that didn't last. In the 60's I took diet pills. I didn't lose anyway, but boy could I clean the house -- until I crashed. The Stillman was my first "name" diet and I still have the book. I also drank Metracal and Sego, which had a strong soy taste. I tried the Last Chance diet, the rice diet and protein-sparing fast. I did the fast in the late '70s under a doctor's supervision. I had to eat 4 ozs of meat 3 times a day. When I just couldn't face a hunk of meat first thing in the morning, I switched to the liquid protein which was a red gel kind of thing with a disgusting taste. As for contraptions, in addition to the vibrating belt there was the steam box (I think there's an episode of "Lucy" where she gets stuck in one.
I remember the Ayds cuz I used to babysit for a woman who used them and there was always a box in her fridge they did'nt taste bad either but I did'nt realise until now that she probably knew how many was in the box and also knew how many I had "sampled"
Hi - I'm late to the thread, but I've enjoyed the walk down memory lane.
I do remember the injections from pregnant ladie's urine - My older sister wanted to try it, and didn't want to do it alone and paid for me to do it with her. Seems we did it for a couple months, and I got tired of the shots in the butt.
Yes, the Ayds candies. I did that in college for a while. Along with "The Grapefruit diet". I remember Sego, Stillman, and when Atkins first came out my mom did it for 6 months or so. I remember those liquid protein diets of the late 70's. I tried the stuff, but it was revolting. I even remember Jack Le Lane when he was young and on tv with his exercise show. I remember the YWCA had those belt machines, and then they had the roller machines you leaned up against. OUCH.
I remember way back in the early 60's when it was big news that Tab had only 1 calorie per bottle. It was the first diet soda. It came in the old glass bottles with the little asterisk type stars on the bottle.
I remember the thing on the door knob and the little roller - I had both.
Gosh, what a culture, I'm almost embarassed to know so many of the products and diets. What a vast empire of worthless products. What a great multi-million dollar business it's been for so many years.
Jack LaLanne is STILL the bomb at least here in the Bay Area - he's a lifelong San Francisco resident - he just celebrated his 90th birthday a few weeks ago:
Quote:
Jack LaLanne celebrates 90th -- but passes on the cake
- Carolyne Zinko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, October 18, 2004
At his 90th birthday party at John's Grill, Jack LaLanne blows out the candle on his birthday cake, which he eschewed in favor of the mango sorbet. Associated Press photo by Paul Sakuma
Jack LaLanne, who has spread the gospel of nutrition and exercise for more than 70 years, spread it some more on Saturday and did not even have to open his mouth to do it.
Family, friends and other fans, including California's most physically fit governor, did it for him by sharing memories in person -- and in videotaped greetings -- at a birthday party at John's Grill, an iconic setting for a fitness icon born in San Francisco.
LaLanne attained worldwide fame through his TV exercise show, which originated in San Francisco in 1951 and spread across the nation and to Europe decades later. He lived in Hollywood for years but now resides in Morro Bay and sells a juicer on TV infomercials.
Via videotape, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger drew laughs from the crowd when he lauded the much smaller LaLanne for besting him and Franco Columbo years ago in an impromptu exercise contest at Venice Beach. He praised him for inspiring millions of people around the world to get in shape.
"This is unbelievable," Schwarzenegger said. "I never thought, when I met you in 1968 at Venice Beach, that I'd be wishing you 'Happy Birthday' on your 90th birthday and I'd be governor ... You are giving energy to the people, and I want to congratulate you ... and on your 95th, 100th, your 110th, we'll go on and on."
Many attendees were less famous but no less dear -- aging workout buddies who were early clients at his first gym in Oakland in 1936.
There was Norman Marks, 82, a chiropractor who owns the Norman Marks Health Club in Oakland, former Cadillac dealer Joe Corsi, 80, and Royal Langton, 77. Jimmy Payne, 78, a former bodybuilding champ, world champion wrist-wrestler and acrobatic partner of LaLanne's, was there, too.
LaLanne helped Marks build 40 pounds of muscle onto his skinny frame in one year. Marks still works out three hours a day, alternating lifting weights one day with riding his horse the next.
"Before I started with him I was sick all the time. I don't get sick anymore," Marks said, "and my friends are dying from heart attacks, stroke and cancer."
Langton worked out so hard as a 23-year-old with LaLanne that his workout clothes were stiff with sweat when they dried out in his locker. He still hears LaLanne's voice in his head when he lifts his free weights in the garage. "When I feel like I don't want to," Langton said, "I remember how Jack used to push you, and that helps me to push myself."
Lawyer Tom LaLanne of Mill Valley, a nephew, said it was impossible to avoid his uncle's influence, growing up. "The thought of drinking a Coca-Cola is beyond anything I'd ever do,'' he said. "Jack's description of sugar is 'white death.' '' His son, Chris LaLanne, 29, is a trainer at an Oakland gym. "I won't achieve a fraction of what Jack has achieved, but I'm honored to have the name and continue the legacy.''
LaLanne has advised against eating sugar, white flour and meats, and advocated a diet of fruits and vegetables and fish, along with vigorous exercise, ever since the day he saw lecturer Paul C. Bragg, who opened the nation's first health food store, speak at a women's club in Oakland. LaLanne was a sickly teenager then and had temper problems, trying to set the house on fire and kill his brother. But Norman LaLanne, a retired engineer from San Bruno, did not hold it against him. Alive and well at 96, he brought his wife, Pat, to join in the birthday cheer. Also on hand was LaLanne's stepson, Danny Doyle, and his son Jon Allen LaLanne, a surfer and musician in the band Blowgun.
There was no filet for lunch at the steakhouse, but "Jack LaLanne's Favorite Salad," a staple since 1972, when then-proprietor Gus Konstin created the crab, shrimp, tomato and avocado dish for him. It was followed by petrale sole with rice and squash.
After a rousing rendition of "Happy Birthday,'' LaLanne blew out the candle on his birthday cake -- a cheesecake -- and opted for fresh mango sorbet instead. His super-human dedication to nutrition and exercise inspired the party invitation, where he is pictured in a Superman outfit.
"The whole family gene is a very obsessive-compulsive one, and he applies that to health," said Jon Allen LaLanne. "He practices what he preaches and you can't dispute what he says."
Guests watched a film with old footage of LaLanne's exercise shows and fitness stunts -- swimming handcuffed from Alcatraz to Fisherman's Wharf among them. Along with Schwarzenegger's, there were videotaped greetings from Clint Eastwood, Phyllis Diller and Lou Ferrigno, Andy Williams and others.
Elaine LaLanne said he'd been overwhelmed and touched by the attention from national TV morning shows, fan mail and all the parties.
If so, he didn't show it, posing happily for photos, belting out Dolly Parton's "I Believe" at the microphone and quizzing guests about whether they'd been working out.
"What else do you want to know? What do you want to ask? I've never felt better,'' he said. "Come and feel me!"
I remember Ayds! My mom bought those when we were kids. She had to hide them, cause we thought they were candy and we'd sneak and eat them all. They did taste good, but I don't remember anyone losing weight from them.
I did the "woman doctor's diet for teenage girls" when I was in junior high in the 80s. It let you eat junk food, but you had to go through this pyramid of foods first. Like, you wanted to eat a cookie; however before the cookie, you had to eat an assortment of fruits and veggies and water. Then, if you were still hungry, you could have the cookie.
There was a recipe for a carrot cassarole that I made for my parents. It was carrots with water and saltines crumbled on top. It was very sad looking. I think it got tossed to the chickens.
Weight watchers in the 60s had really weird food concoctions.
Location: Down in the dumps..but working my way out!
Posts: 907
Memories!
How about the egg & grapefruit diet? I think I lasted about 3 days on that one? Or the original Weight Watchers-one from column A, one from column B, type diet? I tried Ayds when I was a teen. They didn't work for appetite control, but they tasted good
Believe it or not, they STILL make Tab! They carry it at the local Publix store. I used to think "Tab-Diet Coke; what's the difference?" BIG DIFFERENCE!
I remember the Ayds. My grandmother used to keep a box in her house. She used to give me one or two as a treat if I was good. Those things were really good!
What about the "Tapeworm" gum? I remember hearing about that. Gross!
I remember my mom and Grandmother going on some liquid protein diet in the 70's. It was some kind of red liquid, and if I recall correctly, it was pulled off the market because people were dying.
Talk about a blast from the past, y'all have stirred some memories....
When I was 8yrs old, I starting gaining weight, and I do mean gaining some weight!
My parents took me to a pediatric specialist (1960) and he put me on this new product ....METRACAL...then, it only came in powder form...NASTY!!!
THEN, my Father's company (Lever Brothers...yes, the soap company) was approached to be the ginny pigs for Dr Herman Tallers new diet CALORIES DON'T COUNT which was before ATKINS, but was a low carb diet. My whole family went on the diet, and we lost weight! If we only knew then what we know now!
AS FOR URINE INJECTIONS...no, I didn't do it, but a friend of our family did and he lost weight!
When I went to college, I had done Weight Watcher's (before they became
"all about money") and I had lost 30lbs before getting to school. THere was a new place in Knoxville called ELAINE POWERS...and yes, my Father signed my up!
Does anyone remember SHACKLEE????
I've had every perscription diet pill known to man...of course, they are all off the market now.
DIETS????? You name them, I've been on them.....Good thread...
I just thought of another one today. Here in So. calif, perhaps even more widespread, there was a string of gyms either just before or concurrent with Jack Lalanne, Called Vic Tanney's. I remember the tv ads for them.
I also remember Tab, what horrid stuff, and also Diet Rite Cola, ok for the time. But the original had cyclamates (?) and that was found to be cancer inducing in mice if you fed the poor little things 13 million pounds of the stuff. So it was pulled off the market. I think they replaced the cyclamates with saccharine so the diet rite cola then had an unpleasant aftertaste.
Jan, thinking fondly of Splenda right now.....
Last edited by jansan; 11-21-2004 at 07:33 PM.
Reason: whoops....
There are five girls in my family...so dieting was a natural! We did Weight Watchers, Stillman, Ayds...you name it. I remember being very successful on early Atkins. How I wish I had STAYED on it.... The one I remember we used to do a lot, and it actually worked was the Cottage Cheese diet. You ate cottage cheese three times a day, and fruit. Nothing else. You could lose a pound a day on it.
I often wonder if my metabolic problems now are due to all the fad diets I did as a teen?!
Ayds...ate half a box on the way home from the store. More than once!
Sego and Metrecal...dutch chocolate and mocha flavors....
Stillman -- bad breath city.
I remember being given big pink pills when I was 12. I talked like Speedy Gonzalez and wasn't too interested in food. Then my folks found out that they were low dose barbiturates and I stopped taking them...hey, it was the 60s...who knew?
My mom said that in the 50s the big thing was the "Formula Diet"...it was started by the Karo Syrup people and was a low-calorie version of homemade baby formula...Mom tried it a couple of days and that was it (she always was trying to lose 5 pounds so she could eat pie for breakfast. She was and is still a perfect size six).
She also said that many women took up smoking to keep from eating. EEEK!
How 'bout the Russian Air Force diet? 500 calories a day...or the lecithin and vinegar diet.. Made everyone smell like old socks..
Joined Weight Watchers in 1970 -- it was still the original program. For balance nutrition, it can't be beat. Jean Nidetch got the diet from the Department of Public Health for the city of New York.
Tab! Shasta! Faygo! Fresca! The cute little pillbox with saccharin tablets in it. "Thank you, waitress -- I'll have the diet plate and black coffee."
Remember "the diet plate?" you could get it at any restaurant -- grilled hamburger patty, mound of cottage cheese on lettuce and fresh-sliced tomato. with Melba toast or crackers. Gad, I've eaten hundreds of those things...
Thanks for the trip down memory lane, y'all. It's been fun!!
A local diner here still has one of those diet plates. Sounds like the formula hasn't changed at all. And Jack LaLanne's old show plays on ESPN Classic in the mornings.
I seem to remember the Cabbage Soup Diet being popular when I was a kid. Seems like it made a comeback where I was working about 5 years ago.
I remember the Ayds cuz I used to babysit for a woman who used them and there was always a box in her fridge 
they did'nt taste bad either but I did'nt realise until now that she probably knew how many was in the box and also knew how many I had "sampled" 
Memories!
They carry it at the local Publix store. I used to think "Tab-Diet Coke; what's the difference?" BIG DIFFERENCE! 
