Video from https://nutritionfacts.org
Dr. Walter Kempner introduced the first comprehensive dietary program to treat chronic kidney disease, and in doing so, also revolutionized the treatment of other disorders, including obesity. Kempner was Professor Emeritus of Medicine at Duke, where he came up with the so-called “rice diet,” which basically consisted of rice, sugar, fruit, and fruit juices. Extremely low-sodium, low-fat, no animal fat, no cholesterol, no animal protein. The sugar was added as a source of calories so people wouldn’t lose too much weight. But some people need to lose weight; so, he started treating obese patients with a lower calorie version of the diet.

He published this analysis of 106 patients who lost at least 100 pounds—not because there were only 106. He was just picking the last 100 people who lost over 100 pounds, and by the time he finished looking through their charts, six more had joined the so-called century club. Average weight loss among them was 141 pounds. This study demonstrates that massively obese persons can achieve marked weight reduction—even normalization of weight—without hospitalization, surgery, or pharmacologic intervention. Here’s a weight chart of someone who lost, in a year, nearly 300 pounds: from 430 pounds down to 130 pounds.

One important fact to be gained from this study is that, despite the misconception to the contrary, massive obesity is not an uncorrectable malady. Weight loss can be achieved, massive obesity can be corrected, and it can be done without drastic intervention.

Well, the rice diet is pretty drastic. Definitely don’t try this at home. The rice diet is dangerous. It’s so restrictive that it “may cause serious electrolyte imbalances, unless the patient is carefully medically supervised with frequent blood and urine lab testing.” Dangerous, says who? Said the world’s #1 advocate for the rice diet—Dr. Kempner himself.