• 1820 Vinegar and water diet made popular by Lord Byron
• 1825 Low carbohydrate diet first appeared in "The Physiology of Taste" by Jean Brillat-Savarin
• 1830 Graham’s diet ( The Reverend Sylvester Graham  [July 5, 1794 – September 11, 1851]) was an American Presbyterian minister and dietary reformer known for his emphasis on vegetarianism, the temperance movement, and eating whole-grain bread)
• 1863 Banting’s low carbohydrate diet. “Banting” becomes a popular term for dieting ( William Banting [c. December 1796 – 16 March 1878]) was a notable English undertaker. Formerly obese, he is also known for being the first to popularise a weight loss diet based on limiting the intake of carbohydrates)
• 1903 Horace Fletcher promotes “Fletcherizing” (chew food 32 times)
• 1917 Calorie counting introduced by Lulu Hunt Peters in her book "Diet and Health, With Key to the Calories"
• 1920's Keto diet.  To mimic the metabolism of fasting, the ketogenic diet (KD) was introduced by modern physicians as a treatment for epilepsy in the 1920s. For two decades this therapy was widely used, but with the modern era of antiepileptic drug treatment its use declined dramatically (Epilepsia. 2008 Nov;49 Suppl 8:3-5. doi: 10.1111/j.1528-1167.2008.01821.x.) 
• 1925 Cigarette diet “Reach for a Lucky instead of a sweet”
• 1928 Inuit meat-and-fat diet; caribou, raw fish and whale blubber
• 1930 Hay diet; carbohydrates and proteins not allowed at the same meal
• 1930 Dr. Stoll’s diet aid;  first of the liquid diet drinks.  One of the first liquid protein diet drinks.  These meal replacements were marketed towards women and made available at beauty parlors.  In the years that followed, the safety of very-low-calorie diets without medical supervision would be investigated and banned. 
• 1934 Bananas and skim milk diet backed by the United Fruit Company
• 1950 Cabbage soup diet. Flatulence is listed as a main side effect
• 1950 Grapefruit diet; also known as the Hollywood diet or 18-day diet
• 1960 Zen macrobiotic diet created by Japanese philosopher George Ohsawa
• 1961 "Calories don’t count diet" by Herman Taller. The FDA filed charges regarding diet’s claims
• 1964 "Drinking man’s diet" by Robert Cameron. The Harvard School of Public Health declared this diet unhealthful
• 1970 Sleeping beauty diet. Encourages the use of sedatives to sleep instead of eat
• 1970's Liquid protein diets. Liquid protein drinks were low in vitamins and minerals
• 1981 Beverly Hills diet. Only fruit for first 10 days but in unlimited amounts
• 1985 Fit for life diet. Avoid combining protein and carbohydrate foods
• 1985 Paleolithic diet, Paleo diet, caveman diet, or stone-age diet.  Foods from the Paleolithic Era
• 1986 "The Rotation diet" by Martin Katahn. Rotating number of calories taken in from week to week
• 1987 Scarsdale diet.  The Scarsdale diet is a high-protein low-carbohydrate diet designed for weight loss created in the 1970's by Herman Tarnower. Scarsdale is the town in New York where he practiced cardiology 
• 1990 Cabbage soup diet. A diet from the 1950's resurfaces again
• 1994 High protein, low carb diet. Dr. Atkin’s version
• 1995 Sugar busters diet. Cut sugar to trim fat eliminating refined carbohydrates
• 1996 Eat right for your blood type diet. Based on blood type
• 1999 Juice, fasting and detoxification. Perennial dieting favorites reappear in combination
• 2000 Raw foods diet focuses on uncooked, unprocessed organic foods
• 2001 High protein, low carb diet. An updated 1994 diet 
• 2004 Coconut diet. Fats replaced with coconut oil
• 2005 Cheater’s diet. Cheating on the weekend is required
• 2006 Maple syrup diet aka Master Cleanse diet features a special syrup-lemon drink
• 2007 Juice fasts and master cleanses. Premise is a "detox" ... supposedly eliminating toxins
• 2009 Dr. Siegel's cookie diet meal replacement cookies packed with fiber

The bottom line about fad diets: there is no shortcut to healthy sustained weight loss. The only proven way is a sensible reduction in caloric intake combined with regular exercise. There are no safe and effective pills. There are pills that are safe but not effective, and there are pills that are effective but not safe. Period.  When it comes to nutrition and fitness advice, a barrage of information comes at you every day. It's easy to be fooled by the quick-fix promise of a fad diet. Fad diets, as their name implies, are short-term quick fixes that actually set many dieters up for weight-loss failure. Look at the list above and you will note that fad diets often lack variety, omit essential nutrients needed for health and label certain foods as bad or foods to avoid. And then, some fad diets attribute almost magical qualities to certain foods. Fad diets have been around for centuries and will always be around. Very often the diet just gets recycled in future years, decades, generations and even centuries. Don't be fooled by the unfulfilled promises of fad diets.