Whether it ’s low - carb , low - calorie , or a lemon juice and cayenne pepper pepper mixture , the diet of the productive and famous often influence our own feeding habit — and it ’s been that way for centuries .
It ’s famously been said that 19th - 100 poet George Gordon Byron , best know as Lord Byron , was “ excited , sorry , and dangerous to know . ” The latter was particularly unfeigned — because of his popularity , Byron ’s harmful diets and unusual relationship with food rubbed off on everyone around him .
Byron was terrified of becoming rich , believingthat it would ensue in inanition and stupidity . So much so , some historians argue that he battle anorexia nervosa . When he want to keep his weight down as a scholar at Cambridge University , Byrondinedalmost entirely on biscuits and soda piss , though he also occasionally “ enjoyed ” spud drenched in vinegar . The poettoldfriends he would rather " not exist " than be large , and wore up to six coats while exercising in an attempt to sweat out excess water .
In 1816 , Byronmade itthrough the 24-hour interval on a slice of staff of life and a cup of tea leaf for breakfast , then vegetable and seltzer water mixed with a number of wine for dinner party . He smoked cigars to curb his appetency . Just two years later , however , Byron ’s worst nightmare had apparently come true . In 1818 , a visiting friendwrotethat the poet had become “ pale , bloated , and sallow . He had grown very juicy , his shoulders broad and round , and the knuckles of his hands were lost in avoirdupois . ” In response , Byron restricted himself to a bill of fare of red cabbage and cyder ; his apple cyder acetum and weewee concoction became apopular wayto drop pounds in 1820 .
alas , Byron did n’t just levy these restrictive feeling on himself — he was of the opinion that women who regularly ate material food were awful uncouth . In a letter to former lover Caroline Lamb , hecomplainedabout how much his Modern wife feed : “ I only wish she did not swallow so much supper — chicken wings , sweetbreads , custards , peaches and port wine-coloured ; a woman should never be seen eating or drinking , unless it be lobster salad and champagne , the only truly feminine and becoming viands . ”
Some historians think the constant ups and down may have select atollon his health , prematurely wear his body out . In 1824 , Byron devolve ill with a fever , possiblydue to a relapse of malaria , and died . He was just 36 .
