This 1970s Vogue Diet Was So Wild, It Promised 5 Pounds Gone in 3 Days

Of all the bizarre beauty trends the 1970s gave us, few were as outrageous as the infamous Vogue wine and egg diet. Yes, you read that right.

A diet published in the pages of Vogue magazine once promised readers they could lose five pounds in just three days by consuming little more than hard-boiled eggs and white wine.

The 1970s Vogue Diet That Defined “Wild”

The diet appeared in Vogue in the late 1970s and quickly became the stuff of legend. It laid out a strict three-day plan that seemed almost like a parody of dieting culture, except it wasn’t. The routine went something like this:

• Breakfast: One hard-boiled egg and a glass of white wine.
• Lunch: Two more eggs, another glass of wine, and black coffee.
• Dinner: A small steak, the rest of the bottle of wine, and coffee to “keep you alert.”

That’s it. Three eggs, one steak, and an entire bottle of white wine. For every day, for three days. The article claimed it could help shed up to five pounds “almost instantly.”

In the era before calorie-counting apps and nutrition labels, this plan was pitched as the perfect crash diet for the modern, on-the-go woman. It was a “chic” way of starvation.

At the time, dieting and fashion were deeply intertwined. Thinness was equated with elegance, and indulgence was only acceptable if it looked effortless.

White wine, then seen as a fashionable drink among jet-set women, was treated like a meal supplement. The fact that it doubled as a mild sedative made it even more appealing to some, as the alcohol dulled hunger and made the restrictive plan slightly more bearable.

The result was a diet that combined deprivation with decadence, and somehow, that contradiction made it iconic.

What Experts Say Now

Today, nutritionists view the “Vogue diet” as a prime example of how far diet culture once went and how dangerous those fads could be.

“It’s basically starvation with alcohol,” says modern dietitian Dr Elaine Foster. “You’re taking in far too few calories, missing all essential nutrients, and relying on alcohol to function. It’s the opposite of healthy.”

The diet’s extreme caloric deficit would certainly make anyone lose weight quickly, but mostly through dehydration and muscle loss rather than actual fat reduction. Add a bottle of wine a day, and you have the perfect recipe for dizziness, malnutrition, and a killer hangover.

Half a century later, it serves as a strange reminder of how much attitudes toward food, health, and body image have evolved. What once passed as aspirational now feels almost absurd, even darkly comic.

And while today’s wellness culture has its own extremes, at least we have the internet to be aware of the consequences and the chances of a probable eating disorder.

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