1 00:00:00,960 --> 00:00:03,560 Speaker 1: Okay, if you're like the vast majority of us, you've 2 00:00:03,560 --> 00:00:06,040 Speaker 1: been on a diet or at least plan to go 3 00:00:06,120 --> 00:00:07,920 Speaker 1: on one. That's kind of the story for a lot 4 00:00:07,920 --> 00:00:09,640 Speaker 1: of us. I mean, who doesn't want to look and 5 00:00:09,680 --> 00:00:13,240 Speaker 1: feel good about this body we've been given. We're obsessed 6 00:00:13,240 --> 00:00:16,840 Speaker 1: with effortless weight loss these days, especially with the advent 7 00:00:16,920 --> 00:00:20,480 Speaker 1: of several prescription injections that promise will lose as much 8 00:00:20,520 --> 00:00:23,040 Speaker 1: as twenty one percent of our body weight. But here's 9 00:00:23,079 --> 00:00:27,000 Speaker 1: the thing, this hunger to not be hungry has gone 10 00:00:27,040 --> 00:00:31,000 Speaker 1: on for thousands of years. I'm Patty Steele, from arsenic 11 00:00:31,040 --> 00:00:34,839 Speaker 1: to tapeworms to rubber underwear, just for the perfect body. 12 00:00:35,200 --> 00:00:43,840 Speaker 1: That's next on the backstory. The backstory is back. Okay, 13 00:00:43,920 --> 00:00:47,519 Speaker 1: I'm not pointing any fingers here except it myself. We 14 00:00:47,560 --> 00:00:49,760 Speaker 1: all want to have the best body we can achieve, 15 00:00:49,840 --> 00:00:52,760 Speaker 1: and most of us find it to be an exhausting 16 00:00:53,400 --> 00:00:57,840 Speaker 1: and often disappointing quest. Look studies show fifty five percent 17 00:00:57,840 --> 00:01:01,320 Speaker 1: of Americans want to lose weight, thirty three percent say 18 00:01:01,400 --> 00:01:04,120 Speaker 1: they're pretty happy with where they are on the scale. 19 00:01:05,080 --> 00:01:08,720 Speaker 1: Over the course of history, there have been diets using tapeworms, 20 00:01:08,920 --> 00:01:13,800 Speaker 1: arsenic cigarettes, and less frighteningly grapefruit chew and spit vinegar 21 00:01:13,959 --> 00:01:18,640 Speaker 1: and rubber underwear. But now we have these new injections available, 22 00:01:18,840 --> 00:01:21,880 Speaker 1: of course for a ridiculous price. The promise we can 23 00:01:21,959 --> 00:01:25,200 Speaker 1: lose as much as twenty one percent of our body weight. Okay, 24 00:01:25,200 --> 00:01:28,319 Speaker 1: that sounds cool. If you weigh one sixty, this stuff 25 00:01:28,360 --> 00:01:31,000 Speaker 1: could get you to one twenty five. It's the magic 26 00:01:31,080 --> 00:01:35,480 Speaker 1: pill or needle specifically. But as I said, this desire 27 00:01:35,520 --> 00:01:38,800 Speaker 1: to get skinny is nothing new. You have any idea 28 00:01:39,080 --> 00:01:42,280 Speaker 1: how long fad diets have been around. First of all, 29 00:01:42,319 --> 00:01:45,640 Speaker 1: going way back, obesity was a sign of wealth. Only 30 00:01:45,800 --> 00:01:48,560 Speaker 1: rich folks could eat to excess, so it was a 31 00:01:48,840 --> 00:01:52,560 Speaker 1: show of status to be chubby. Problem is, they soon 32 00:01:52,680 --> 00:01:56,280 Speaker 1: realized how it impacted their health, and so began our 33 00:01:56,400 --> 00:02:01,040 Speaker 1: long battle between our bodies and great food. Five thousand 34 00:02:01,080 --> 00:02:04,400 Speaker 1: years ago, in China, the fad was drinking lots of 35 00:02:04,440 --> 00:02:07,680 Speaker 1: green tea to lose weight. And guess what, that's still 36 00:02:07,680 --> 00:02:10,600 Speaker 1: a thing for a lot of dieters. In Greece, the 37 00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:14,840 Speaker 1: Spartans became the world's most powerful warriors following a diet 38 00:02:14,840 --> 00:02:19,120 Speaker 1: of lean protein fruits, veggies, and whole grains. Voi la 39 00:02:19,160 --> 00:02:21,960 Speaker 1: here we are three thousand years later, and it still works. 40 00:02:22,600 --> 00:02:25,600 Speaker 1: About a thousand years after that, though still in Greece, 41 00:02:25,919 --> 00:02:30,440 Speaker 1: a popular diet involved adding cheese, lots of mustard, and 42 00:02:30,560 --> 00:02:33,680 Speaker 1: ground up rocks to your dinner plate. Wow, that didn't 43 00:02:33,720 --> 00:02:37,919 Speaker 1: make you feel full. But the Victorians were really the 44 00:02:37,960 --> 00:02:41,280 Speaker 1: most amazing when it came to going after fad diets 45 00:02:41,480 --> 00:02:45,200 Speaker 1: for purely aesthetic reasons. For women, it was the desire 46 00:02:45,240 --> 00:02:49,519 Speaker 1: to reach the goal. Get this of a sixteen inch waiste. Yes, 47 00:02:49,680 --> 00:02:53,000 Speaker 1: I said sixteen inches, you'd have tiny that is that's insane. 48 00:02:53,240 --> 00:02:57,720 Speaker 1: They tried everything. Diet pills and potions were big business 49 00:02:57,760 --> 00:03:02,320 Speaker 1: in the nineteenth century. Of them had some dangerous ingredients 50 00:03:02,360 --> 00:03:05,799 Speaker 1: like arsenic and strychnine, but it wasn't illegal. They were 51 00:03:05,800 --> 00:03:08,239 Speaker 1: told in ads that it would speed up your metabolism 52 00:03:08,360 --> 00:03:12,480 Speaker 1: like emphetamines. Problem is, a number of dieters would take 53 00:03:12,600 --> 00:03:15,760 Speaker 1: more than the recommended dosage, thinking they were going to 54 00:03:15,800 --> 00:03:19,000 Speaker 1: lose more weight that way, and you know the outcome there. 55 00:03:19,880 --> 00:03:23,880 Speaker 1: In the mid eighteen hundreds, Charles Goodyear developed the rubber industry, 56 00:03:24,320 --> 00:03:27,800 Speaker 1: and the use of it went way beyond those early tires. 57 00:03:28,360 --> 00:03:32,799 Speaker 1: They made rubber underwear and corsets. The idea was rubber 58 00:03:32,919 --> 00:03:36,240 Speaker 1: not only held in fat, but it also made you sweat, 59 00:03:36,400 --> 00:03:39,920 Speaker 1: leading to weight loss at least waterweight. Right. Men and 60 00:03:39,960 --> 00:03:43,000 Speaker 1: women wore this stuff, but it sometimes led to skin 61 00:03:43,040 --> 00:03:46,680 Speaker 1: infections due to all that hot moisture. The use of 62 00:03:46,760 --> 00:03:50,240 Speaker 1: rubber undies only ended when World War One broke out. 63 00:03:50,280 --> 00:03:54,080 Speaker 1: We're talking in the nineteen teens, because all that rubber 64 00:03:54,240 --> 00:03:57,040 Speaker 1: was needed for the war effort. Now, if you've ever 65 00:03:57,080 --> 00:03:59,760 Speaker 1: been a smoker, you know that nicotine is a pretty 66 00:03:59,760 --> 00:04:04,200 Speaker 1: effective appetites appressant, although at what cost. But back in 67 00:04:04,240 --> 00:04:07,560 Speaker 1: the day, probably won't surprise you to learn that cigarette 68 00:04:07,600 --> 00:04:10,880 Speaker 1: company saw a big opportunity to push their product for 69 00:04:10,920 --> 00:04:14,760 Speaker 1: weight loss. In the nineteen twenties, Lucky Strike wanted to 70 00:04:14,760 --> 00:04:18,320 Speaker 1: get more women hooked on tobacco, so they had an 71 00:04:18,400 --> 00:04:22,000 Speaker 1: ad campaign with the slogan reach for a Lucky instead 72 00:04:22,040 --> 00:04:25,800 Speaker 1: of a suite. They said, when tempted to overindulge, reach 73 00:04:25,880 --> 00:04:30,600 Speaker 1: for a Lucky Strike instead. Now, eventually the FTC told 74 00:04:30,600 --> 00:04:33,119 Speaker 1: them to knock it off and Lucky had to stop 75 00:04:33,160 --> 00:04:36,880 Speaker 1: promoting cigarettes as weight loss aids. But of course, by 76 00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:40,400 Speaker 1: that time the marketing campaign had worked so well they 77 00:04:40,400 --> 00:04:44,440 Speaker 1: had increased their market share by more than two hundred percent. 78 00:04:45,400 --> 00:04:49,520 Speaker 1: These days were all influenced by influencers, but that's nothing 79 00:04:49,560 --> 00:04:54,760 Speaker 1: new either. Celebrity dieters included the wildly popular poet Lord Byron. 80 00:04:55,200 --> 00:04:58,200 Speaker 1: Turns out he was one of the first diet icons, 81 00:04:58,600 --> 00:05:02,240 Speaker 1: igniting the public's ofbs session with how celebrities lose weight. 82 00:05:02,920 --> 00:05:05,800 Speaker 1: The growing world of media turned people on to the 83 00:05:05,839 --> 00:05:09,039 Speaker 1: desire to look like celebrities of their time and like 84 00:05:09,120 --> 00:05:13,440 Speaker 1: today's stars. Byron was anxious to maintain his figure. It 85 00:05:13,480 --> 00:05:16,400 Speaker 1: was the early eighteen hundreds, and he got people cranked 86 00:05:16,480 --> 00:05:19,000 Speaker 1: up about a diet with a whole lot of vinegar. 87 00:05:19,640 --> 00:05:22,560 Speaker 1: In order to purge. He would drink vinegar every day 88 00:05:22,800 --> 00:05:26,279 Speaker 1: and eat potatoes soaked in it. Of course, side effects 89 00:05:26,279 --> 00:05:30,880 Speaker 1: included vomiting and other nasty stuff. Because Byron was such 90 00:05:30,920 --> 00:05:34,839 Speaker 1: a huge cultural influence, older folks worried about his impact 91 00:05:34,960 --> 00:05:39,119 Speaker 1: on kids. Sound familiar. The kids were eating only rice 92 00:05:39,200 --> 00:05:42,680 Speaker 1: soaked in vinegar because they all wanted Byron's ultra thin, 93 00:05:42,800 --> 00:05:47,000 Speaker 1: pale look. When naysayer said, our young ladies live all 94 00:05:47,040 --> 00:05:51,760 Speaker 1: their growing girlhood in semi starvation. But the vinegar diet 95 00:05:51,880 --> 00:05:55,160 Speaker 1: was like child's play compared to this next one. It 96 00:05:55,240 --> 00:05:58,039 Speaker 1: was the tapeworm diet, and it was a huge fad. 97 00:05:58,440 --> 00:06:00,200 Speaker 1: You can even see ads for it in all old 98 00:06:00,240 --> 00:06:05,520 Speaker 1: newspapers and magazines selling pills that supposedly contained tapeworm larvae, 99 00:06:05,920 --> 00:06:08,720 Speaker 1: and it was popular for a long time. In fact, 100 00:06:08,760 --> 00:06:12,120 Speaker 1: the legendary opera star Maria Kallis is said to have 101 00:06:12,200 --> 00:06:15,480 Speaker 1: used a tapeworm to lose eighty pounds in the early 102 00:06:15,600 --> 00:06:19,680 Speaker 1: nineteen fifties, but it may also have ruined her singing voice. 103 00:06:19,960 --> 00:06:22,520 Speaker 1: She never actually admitted to using it. By the way, 104 00:06:23,040 --> 00:06:26,000 Speaker 1: how did it work? Well, Folks looking to lose weight 105 00:06:26,279 --> 00:06:29,880 Speaker 1: would swallow beef tapeworm pills and when the larvae in 106 00:06:29,960 --> 00:06:33,000 Speaker 1: them hatched, the worm would absorb most of the food 107 00:06:33,040 --> 00:06:36,120 Speaker 1: you were eating. Along with weight loss, there was plenty 108 00:06:36,120 --> 00:06:40,280 Speaker 1: of vomiting and again those less attractive issues to deal with. 109 00:06:40,839 --> 00:06:43,520 Speaker 1: Worst of all, once you hit your goal weight, you 110 00:06:43,560 --> 00:06:46,120 Speaker 1: had to get rid of this thing. You'd take an 111 00:06:46,200 --> 00:06:51,200 Speaker 1: anti parasitic pill and then excrete the tapeworm, which could 112 00:06:51,240 --> 00:06:54,520 Speaker 1: not have been a pleasant experience, seeing as they can 113 00:06:54,560 --> 00:06:57,600 Speaker 1: grow to as long as forty feet. Along with that, 114 00:06:57,800 --> 00:07:03,120 Speaker 1: folks developed headaches, eye problem, meningitis, epilepsy, and dementia. Now 115 00:07:03,279 --> 00:07:07,200 Speaker 1: that's a diet and this is scary. Apparently some people 116 00:07:07,360 --> 00:07:10,840 Speaker 1: still illegally sell these pills. You know, at the end 117 00:07:10,920 --> 00:07:13,760 Speaker 1: of the day, we pretty much want exactly what folks 118 00:07:13,800 --> 00:07:17,120 Speaker 1: in the past wanted to feel good about ourselves, and 119 00:07:17,360 --> 00:07:20,360 Speaker 1: like us, they wanted an easy fix that did not 120 00:07:20,600 --> 00:07:24,280 Speaker 1: involve too much introspection when it comes to why we 121 00:07:24,400 --> 00:07:28,080 Speaker 1: do or don't love ourselves. I hope you're enjoying The 122 00:07:28,120 --> 00:07:31,840 Speaker 1: Backstory with Patty Steele. Please leave a review and follow 123 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:35,920 Speaker 1: or subscribe for free to get new episodes delivered automatically, 124 00:07:36,400 --> 00:07:38,240 Speaker 1: and feel free to dm me if you have a 125 00:07:38,240 --> 00:07:40,960 Speaker 1: story you'd like me to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty 126 00:07:41,040 --> 00:07:48,200 Speaker 1: Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. 127 00:07:48,480 --> 00:07:52,760 Speaker 1: The Backstories a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis 128 00:07:52,800 --> 00:07:57,000 Speaker 1: Duran Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser. 129 00:07:57,200 --> 00:08:00,880 Speaker 1: Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday 130 00:08:00,880 --> 00:08:03,400 Speaker 1: and Friday. Feel free to reach out to me with 131 00:08:03,520 --> 00:08:07,440 Speaker 1: comments and even story suggestions on Instagram at Real Patty 132 00:08:07,520 --> 00:08:10,960 Speaker 1: Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening 133 00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:14,239 Speaker 1: to the Backstory with Patty Steele. The Pieces of History 134 00:08:14,440 --> 00:08:16,120 Speaker 1: you didn't know, you needed to know.