The 10 Worst Fad Diets Celebrities Believed Were Effective

Diets have been a major topic in popular culture long before the Golden Age of Hollywood. Some trendy diets, such as the Atkins diet or the Master Cleanse, have become staples over the years. Others, like the bizarre myth of Jackie Kennedy consuming just one baked potato filled with caviar daily, remain questionable. Some diets have sparked huge conversations and, at times, shaped entire eras. Let’s dive into the ten most notorious fad diets that celebrities swore by.

Trigger warning: This piece includes a discussion about restrictive dieting without proper medical oversight. Always consult with your healthcare provider before beginning any weight loss regimen.

10. The Juice Cleanse – Salma Hayek

The juice cleanse remains one of the most talked-about fad diets among celebrities, often mentioned as the ultimate solution for shedding pounds fast before big events. While it’s possible that some people may lose weight through a juice cleanse (essentially starving oneself by only drinking juice for days), the extreme medical claims often attached to this diet are highly questionable.

Despite the lack of scientific evidence supporting these claims, many enthusiastic juicers will argue that juice cleanses help 'detox' the body, prevent cancer, strengthen the immune system, and aid digestion.

Salma Hayek, a celebrity so passionate about juice cleanses that she founded her own juicing company, is quoted saying, 'After completing a juice cleanse, I feel inspired to make healthier choices and avoid emotional eating. It’s like meditation for me.'

9. The Coachella Diet – Beyoncé

In the 2019 Netflix documentary, Homecoming, which chronicles Beyoncé and her team’s preparation for her iconic Coachella performance, she reveals the strict diet she followed leading up to the event. Within just a few months, Beyoncé managed to lose the weight she had gained during her twin pregnancy.

While preparing for her performance involved daily dance rehearsals and intense physical training, Beyoncé followed a 44-day diet that eliminated carbs, meat, fish, alcohol, and dairy. She later admitted that her diet and exercise regimen during that period was too extreme and that she would never do it again; yet, the Coachella diet became widely popular on social media.

8. The ‘Fruitarian’ Lifestyle – DaVinci, Gandhi, Jobs, & Kutcher

Though this diet dates back quite a ways, with figures such as Leonardo DaVinci and Mahatma Gandhi following it, it gained widespread recognition in pop culture after the death of Steve Jobs, a renowned fruitarian. To embody the spirit of Jobs for his role in the 2013 film *Jobs*, Ashton Kutcher chose to follow a fruitarian diet for 30 days as part of his preparation.

Mila Kunis, Kutcher's wife, revealed during her appearance on *Hot Ones* that Kutcher ended up in the hospital twice due to pancreatitis while filming the movie. She explained that his strict diet was the cause. The Cleveland Clinic highlights the health risks of a fruitarian diet, including tooth decay, diabetes, and malnutrition.

7. The ‘Friends Diet’ – Aniston, Cox, & Kudrow

The ‘Friends Diet’ refers to a range of restrictive eating habits that actresses Jennifer Aniston, Courtney Cox, and Lisa Kudrow adhered to over the course of filming *Friends* (1994-2004). All three reportedly followed strict dietary regimens, each consuming no more than 1,200 calories daily throughout the decade-long series, with the ‘Jen Salad’ being a key and infamous staple of their meals.

‘The Jen Salad’ Ingredients:

• 1 cup of bulgur
• 2 diced cucumbers
• 1 can of chickpeas
• 1/4 cup of minced red onion
• 2 tablespoons of chopped parsley
• 1 tablespoon of mint
• 1/2 a cup of pistachios
• 1/2 a cup of feta

While this salad doesn’t seem too bad, the trio of famous actresses ate it every day for a decade, with one notable drawback—there was no dressing, which would be hard for me to manage. And Aniston? She also had the Jen Salad for dinner!

6. The Carnivore Diet – Jordan B. Peterson

In 2018, during his appearance on the *Joe Rogan Podcast*, internet personality and psychologist Jordan B. Peterson introduced his new dietary choice: a strict regimen of only beef, salt, and water. Despite lacking scientific support for its claims of enhanced mental health and physical wellness, the popularity of both Peterson and the *Joe Rogan Podcast* helped this diet gain a following.

An article from *The Cleveland Clinic* highlights that the Carnivore diet can lead to severe constipation and an elevated risk of heart disease.

Other well-known individuals who have experimented with the carnivore diet include Joe Rogan, who reported experiencing two weeks of 'explosive diarrhea' when he first began, Mikhaila Peterson (daughter of Jordan B. Peterson), and the social media duo, 'The Buff Dudes.'

5. The Daniel Diet – Chris Pratt

The Daniel Diet, often referred to as the 'Daniel Fast,' is based on a meal plan inspired by The Book of Daniel. This extremely restrictive plant-based diet eliminates animal products, processed foods, alcohol, added sugars, caffeinated drinks, dairy, yeast, fats, and nearly everything except for beans, lentils, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.

While the Daniel Fast traditionally lasts for 21 days, Chris Pratt mentioned in an interview with Stephen Colbert that he followed the Daniel Diet for 30 days as a type of fast akin to the Catholic Lent. Dietitian *Katey Davidson* emphasizes that while this diet is not essential for maintaining good health, it is a matter of personal religious choice and not an advisable weight loss strategy.

4. The Paper Cup Diet – Nine Muses

The Paper Cup Diet, popularized by the K-pop girl group Nine Muses, requires that each of the three daily meals fit into three paper cups. One cup is filled with brown or mixed grain rice, another with fruit, and the third with side dishes. The diet also advises avoiding greasy, high-fat foods. The idea behind the diet is to move the focus from counting calories to practicing portion control.

This diet allegedly gained popularity in pro-anorexia online communities and has become notorious within the K-pop world. A search for 'the paper cup diet' on YouTube reveals multiple videos made by teenage girls and women in their early 20s trying the diet, with many of these videos amassing hundreds of thousands of views.

3. The Sleeping Beauty Diet – Elvis Presley?

Despite its seemingly attractive name, the Sleeping Beauty Diet is one of the least appealing diets on this list. The basic idea is that if you are asleep, you’re not eating. To avoid eating, individuals extend their sleep hours, sometimes taking sleeping pills to sleep longer than usual, stretching their sleep from 8-10 hours to 18-24 hours.

Elvis Presley, known for his hearty appetite and notable weight fluctuations, is said to have been placed into a medically induced coma by a doctor in an effort to help him shed some pounds.

2. The Alkaline Diet – Beckham, Paltrow, Ripa, & Aniston

The Alkaline Diet, praised for years by celebrities such as Victoria Beckham, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kelly Ripa, and Jennifer Aniston, emphasizes consuming alkaline foods while cutting back on acidic ones like meat. When followed correctly, the diet isn’t unhealthy as long as the person consumes enough calories. The main goal of the Alkaline Diet is to prevent diseases, especially cancer.

Robert O. Young, the creator of the Alkaline Diet, is currently facing legal consequences for practicing medicine without a license. He claims the diet prevents cancer, and even attempted to treat a woman’s cancer by infusing baking soda.

1. The 8-Day Goat Milk Cleanse – Gwyneth Paltrow

Gwyneth Paltrow, the queen of cleanses, is the face behind this ‘cleanse’ that promotes drinking only goat milk. The idea is that consuming goat milk will detoxify your stomach and intestines by ridding you of any potential parasites, although there's no scientific proof supporting this method. There’s also no guidance suggesting you should first consult a doctor to diagnose a parasite, leaving it up to you—or a naturopath—to determine if you have one.

GOOP even published an article titled 'You Probably Have a Parasite—Here’s What to Do About It,' where the naturopath advocating this cleanse, Linda Lancaster, offers medical advice despite lacking a medical degree or scientifically-backed answers. To top it off, this cleanse encourages drinking raw, unpasteurized goat milk if it’s available to you.

According to the CDC, 'Raw milk can carry harmful bacteria and other germs that can make you very sick or kill you. While foodborne illnesses can come from various sources, raw milk remains one of the riskiest.' So, it seems this fad diet is one we should avoid—no offense, Gwyneth.