In the glittering world of celebrity, keeping a svelte figure so you can slip into designer sample sizes is de rigeur. Back in the real world, many of us consider succumbing to the latest diet fad when we want to lose weight fast. We reveal the top five worst diets for your health, from the Cookie Diet to the Master Cleanse, just in case you're tempted to give them a try.
Could the Cookie Diet make you ill? Photo: Corbis
The Cookie Diet
Does a diet where you eat cookies all day and lose weight sound too good to be true? It is. Undesirably endorsed by the scary Snooki from Jersey Shore, the idea is to fill up on special cookies at breakfast and lunch, then eat protein and vegetables for dinner. Apart from putting you off biscuits for life, this diet provides only 800 calories a day. Low calorie diets can cause deficiencies in essential minerals and vitamins, leading to a weakened immune system, poor skin and a lack of energy. You may also turn into the Cookie Monster and start bashing people out of the way in your search for cookie love.
The Caveman Diet
If you're a meat lover, you may get excited at the sound of the Caveman Diet (also called the Paleo Diet). It shares similarities to the more well-known Atkins and Dukan plans and allows dieters to eat large quantities of protein and fat, while restricting carbohydrate intake. Watch out for the attractive double whammy of foul breath (a common side effect of high protein intake) and flatulence.
The Master Cleanse
Reported fans of the Master Cleanse (also known as the Lemonade Diet) include Beyoncé and Demi Moore. The diet involves not eating, and instead drinking huge quantities of lemon juice, mixed with maple syrup, water and cayenne pepper. Some devotees fast for weeks in their quest for the perfect figure, which can lead to muscle damage and can have an adverse effect on organ function. We'll pass on this one, thanks.
The Grapefruit Diet
So you eat grapefruits and lose weight - it must be healthy, right? Think again. This horror show of a diet gets you to eat grapefruits, bacon, butter, mayonnaise, cheese and not much else. While you may lose weight, the resulting indigestion, constipation and nightmares about giant, flesh-eating grapefruits make this a plan to avoid.
The Cabbage Soup Diet
if you're keen to have your home, workplace and handbag reek of rotting cabbages, then the Cabbage Soup Diet is the plan for you. You'll be downing vats of homemade cabbage soup topped up with the occasional banana, pint of milk and slab of broiled beef. Dieters boast about losing 10 pounds in a week on this plan. The down side (apart from the smell and having to eat cabbage all the time) is that as soon as you start eating normally, the weight you've lost on the diet will pile straight back on.
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