The Rice Diet – Zoë Harcombe
Executive summary
* This week’s note was inspired by a newsletter about a presentation (by Denise Minger) about a diet used decades ago for the treatment of obesity and other health conditions.
* The diet was called “The Rice Diet”, although the person who designed it (Walter Kempner) called it the rice-fruit-sugar diet.
* A 1974 paper best described the diet. The macronutrient ratios were extraordinary – almost entirely carbohydrate.
* A 1975 paper presented the 106 best weight loss case studies that Kempner achieved (from several thousand patients).
* Patients were only featured in the 1975 paper if they had lost a least 45kg. The average loss was 63kg.
* In addition to the diet, exercise was prescribed, and meals were provided. Daily consultations were undertaken, and bi-weekly tests administered to ensure adherence. Measures to ensure adherence were also extraordinary.
* Minger hypothesised that just as something ‘magical’ appears to happen with ketosis, so something ‘magical’ might happen at a high carb low fat extreme.
