Kempner Rice Diet

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Here in these forums, we are all about nutritional standards and recommendations, yet the one outlier we have been amazed by is Dr Kempner's Rice diet. A seemingly rediculous diet, nutrition wise, yet a diet that performed literal miracles in curing the "uncurable" of chronic diseases.

How can you, professionally, reconcile this type of diet with current nutritional standards? In other words, at least in phase one of the program (where some were on it for 6 months or more) they ate white rice (not sure if it was even enriched back then), fruit/fruit juices and pure sugar. Obviously, this is not what anyone would call nutritious and yet the results were amazing. What possibly could have caused such results?

Could it have been the CR? Or maybe the minimization of fat? or the elimination of salt? or the minimization of protein? or even the minimization of micronutrients/phytonutrients? Or maybe it was forcing the body into re-utilization and conservation of nutrients? Or was it simply the weight loss?

Or could it have been a synergistic combination of all the above despite the apparent lack of "nutritiousness"? Or maybe I'm just missing something in how the results were garnered from the means.

[JeffN]

Here in these forums, we are all about nutritional standards and recommendations, yet the one outlier we have been amazed by is Dr Kempner's Rice diet. A seemingly rediculous diet, nutrition wise, yet a diet that performed literal miracles in curing the "uncurable" of chronic diseases.

You may be referring to the “induction” phase, which was the most limited phase. However, they were eventually moved through a few phases that brought them to something similar to our recommendations.

In regard to the induction phase, remember we have published studies of people who safely fasted on just water for 6 months (or more). During that time, you could say that outside the water, they are getting zero nutrition. Yet “miracles” appear to happen. In regard to fasting, the fasting docs will tell you, one should only fast as little as needed (length, frequency). Then, to transition to a healthy diet that won’t hurt them and be health supporting.

It is not the diet that performs the miracles, it is the body. To run it, it needs certain fuel. When one is overweight/obese, there are often enough stores that a person can live on nothing but water, or a very limited intake of foods (ie, Kempner) for quite some time

Much of our nutrition related lifestyle disease are due to excesses, mostly excess calories, fat, sat fat, cholesterol, refined carbs (fours, sugars), etc

In Health
Jeff