BAD tips

I was shocked and appalled to see people recommending these tips on their websites! Some people even sent them to me in emails and asked me why I didn't have them up. Feast or Famine used to have these, but since most people have lost the link to their site, I'll put them up again.

BAD: Tie a piece of string or dental floss to a Lifesaver and swallow it. Then pull the Lifesaver back out and you should throw up!
THE TRUTH: Do I even have to say it? First of all, the floss can very easily cause cuts in your throat and esophagus, which may be serious enough to be fatal. Also, what if you can't pull it out? You will choke to death. It may seem easy enough when you read it, but once you have that string down your throat, you'll realize that you're in deep trouble.

BAD: Swallow cotton. It fills you up and contains lots of fiber.
THE TRUTH: You should never, EVER swallow anything that isn't food. Don't eat cotton. It will not digest in your stomach, so for a while you will just have a large lump of cotton expanding inside you. That's why you feel full. When it finally does pass through your system, the process is long and painful. It's very possible that the fibers will come unraveled and wrap themselves around your intestines, slicing and severing them, or causing millions of cuts on the intestinal walls. That means internal bleeding. Trust me, you do not want internal bleeding.

BAD: Punching yourself in the stomach will make you throw up (or reduce hunger pains).
THE TRUTH: First of all, it won't work. Your abdominal muscles instinctively tighten up, so you're not punching your actual stomach but the muscles in front of it. So you won't puke. At the least, you'll get a bruise and a sore abdomen. At the worst, you can die. You can't punch acurately enough to make sure you're not hitting anything vital. Miss your stomach by an inch and you can break a rib, which has the potential of puncturing a lung. Miss by more than an inch and you can hit/ break your sternum and/or give yourself a heart attack.

BAD: Take diet pills, laxatives, diuretics, or Ipecac to help you lose weight.
THE TRUTH: Each of those has the potential to kill you. For more info, visit these sections:

Diet pills
Laxatives
Diuretics
Ipecac