In today’s world, the pressure to be thin is unnerving. It’s too easy to exercise and eat healthy. Scratch that, it’s too HARD to exercise and eat healthy. But why is that? Is it because we’re all lazy human beings or is it because we’re too impatient to see results? The main reason is the latter. Fad diets come and go. We’ve all heard of the low-carb Atkins Diet, which works for some, but leaves the body exhausted. And then the ever-popular South Beach Diet comes about which promises to get you back on track. However, with all of the rules and restrictions between what you can and can’t eat in Phase 1 or Phase 2.  Well, it just leaves the mind confused.

Losing weight and keeping it off requires determination. But people will do anything for quick and easy results. Here are nine of the craziest, if not extremely dangerous, diets that have come and go.

1. Master Cleanse
The Master Cleanse (aka the Lemon Cleanse and the Maple Syrup Diet) is a ten-day program that was developed by Stanley Burroughs in 1941. The whole idea is to detoxify. With this strict regimen, it is believed that the body should be rid of harmful toxins in the body, as well as losing weight and curing disease. In the period of these ten days, nothing is consumed except for lemon juice, maple syrup and cayenne pepper. It has been stated that some people have stayed on the diet for as long as 45 days. Crazy.

However, there are definite risks involved. The diet lacks many of the important vitamins and nutrients that are necessary for the body. You do lose weight for certain, but in return you are rewarded by massive headaches and constipation, due to the lack of food passing through the body.

2. Sleeping Beauty Diet
It was believed that the King himself, meaning Elvis Presley, was an advocate of the Sleeping Beauty Diet back in the 1970’s. Basically, in a nutshell, this diet is described as sleeping off unwanted pounds. So, you can sedate yourself for several days and lose weight at the same time. Nothing like multitasking.

3. Grapefruit Diet
Otherwise known as the “Hollywood Diet,” this fad diet basically involves eating half a grapefruit or drinking grapefruit juice with each meal. However, daily caloric intake must be below 800 calories. So the diet is strict, but weight loss is promised because of the supposed fat-burning enzymes found in grapefruit. Unfortunately, experts state that there is no medical evidence of this being true. Going further, the monotony of the diet is a prescription for future boredom that may result right back to bad eating habits.

4. Tapeworm Diet Pills
Regardless of how disgusting it sounds, some people desperate to lose weight have actually been interested in trying this weight loss option. You can get tapeworms by eating raw meat. The other option is in the form of a pill, which as many people know, is an urban legend.

The idea behind this diet option is that these parasites secrete protein in our intestinal tracts that make our digestive processes less efficient. Since the tapeworms are already doing the work of digesting for you, you can actually lose pounds by this method because in essence, you can eat whatever you want. The tapeworm is already breaking down the food for you for its own growth. Disgusting.

Fortunately, the FDA has banned this diet “option”. It is both dangerous and downright gross.

5. Vision-Dieter Glasses
Okay, so this option isn’t really dangerous. It’s more along the lines of stupid. These glasses were designed so that when you wore them, the food you saw looked unappealing. So with the blue tint of the lenses, food might look less desirable, but at the same time, so will you. Shame.

6. Cotton Ball Diet
Cotton. It’s the fabric of our lives. But can eating cotton balls help you lose weight? According to some, it was believed that eating cotton balls could suppress your appetite, since apparently they are low in calories, but high in fiber. The side effect? They could clog your digestive system, since cotton balls, you know, absorb things. And they’re kinda fluffy, so imagine what it could produce. Ew.

7. Diet Fork
This is just as silly as the vision-dieter glasses. If the size of your fork is smaller, that means your food portions should be smaller too, right? What a concept. Next.

8. Ear Stapling
Sure, there is such a thing as ear piercing. But ear stapling? This diet involves stapling your ear cartilage because it supposedly suppresses your appetite. However, this method is illegal in Florida and can cause infections, nerve damage, and extreme pain. Duh.

9. Diet Patches
These are designed for the lazy. Nicotine patches help smokers avoid the craving, and they are also FDA approved. However, diet patches are not. So while these patches seem too good to be true, it’s best off to save your money and lose weight the right way. The effect of these diet patches will most likely not help you at all.