Weight Lose- Rice Diet

With waistline of the average American increasing day by day, we also come across a number of fad diets on a regular basis. An important name in this ever increasing list of fad diets is the Rice diet. As it is, rice is a cereal, which is enjoyed by a large number of people, particularly among Asians, for whom, rice forms the staple diet.

Rice is a good source of insoluble fiber, which is excellent in keeping away constipation, as well as other bowel disorders. It is also a rich source of carbohydrates, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, as well as Niacin. Along with them, rice also provides you with fat, protein, calcium, phosphorus, sodium and potassium.

The Rice diet came into light in the late 1930’s, when a German physician, Dr. Walter Kempner, came up with his findings on the rice diet. The diet was originally composed of cooked rice, fruit, sugar, and tea. It was originally formulated for patients, with severe kidney disease; and later, was used to treat patients with diabetic retinopathy, heart disease, and high blood pressure.

During this period, Kempner found that the Rice Diet also helped people in losing weight. This theory was based on the study of a number of his patients. The most famous in this list was the case of the wife of Martha Williams, a diabetic who weighed 219 pounds when she came to Dr.Kempner. After about nineteen weeks, she was reported to having lost 80 pounds. Not just that, her blood sugar too dropped to normal levels.

Along with that, there were, a number of other famous cases, where patients were reported to have lost several pounds over a very short period of time. With these revelations, the rice diet became extremely popular, since it was based on a diet, which had ample rice in it and rice is a food, which most people enjoy.

However, it was soon realized that, the main reason for weight loss in a rice diet was the fact, that, it was rather low in sodium. As a result, patients would often go in a state of Diuresis, which resulted in the increased secretion of urine. So, you do not actually lose fat, you only lose water; and even if this weight loss may count up to twenty pounds in the first few days, you will soon regain this weight, as soon as you go back to your old eating habits.

It was also stated that, the rice diet was also low in iron, calcium, zinc,vitamins B12 and D, and protein. More than that, you cannot totally stay away from dairy products and eliminate them from your diet, simply because, they are a rich source of calcium.

The rice diet soon faded into oblivion, with the passage of time, although you may still find many people, who would vouch for its success.