The Rice Diet: It's More Than Just Rice

I am a big fan of "take everything in moderation" and you'll generally be okay.

A lot of people, however, go from diet to diet to try to lose weight. Since each person's body is different, some diets work better than others. One problem is with dieting is once the person goes off the diet they pop right back into their previous weight.

But let's explore one dieting option that seems to work for many, it's the rice diet.

Now despite it's name, it's more than just eating 3 meals of rice a day. The goal with this diet is to lower the person's sodium intake because your body can swell with salt and water if you consume too much.

What is Allowed?

Meat is allowed in this diet, but in smaller portions such as fish and lean meats like poultry.

Brown rice is generally a preferred rice over white, but if white is all that is available then it is a good substitution.

Lots of fruits and vegetables are also included in the rice diet. And since wine has fruit in it, a little bit of wine is okay.

Beans, high fiber from whole grains, whole grain starches, fruits and vegetables are all included.

What is not Allowed?

Alcohol tends to have a lot of calories in it, and so it is a good rule of thumb to just avoid alcohol if you want to lose weight. Caffeine drinks such as coffees and sodas are another thing to avoid.

Avoid processed food, but instead eat all natural foods.

Large portions of meat that could hurt your body such as give you high-cholesterol should also be avoided.

The Problem With This Diet

Since it is a low protein diet and also rapidly losing weight people can lose muscle. This is why doing regular exercising along with dieting is always important.

Some exercises that could be included to help keep your muscle is bench presses, leg presses, and squats.

Also, since this diet is quite strict, so strict in fact that there is even Rice Diet Solution where you check in and stay where you are fed what they give you and you weight, cholesterol, calorie intake, sodium intake, along with other things are monitored.

It has very fast results, but it seems to be one of those diets that are short term because to live such a strict lifestyle could be hard to maintain.

Because of it's limit on food, people may find eating not very enjoyable.

The Good

Well since it is a strict diet and has worked rapidly for many people, it seems to be a good kick start to healthy living. Maybe people will gain weight after going off the diet, but may be able to make a few extra healthy decisions in their lifestyle from time to time.

People who are well disciplined may be able to keep this diet throughout their life and maintain a nice weight. I would find this difficult to do 100% since people are always faced with going to dinner with friends, family reunions with a dinner, an office luncheon, going to a restaurant with a date, lor lack of time. I would think people would have to bring their own food for such occasions to avoid eating unhealthy because in many situations there will be no options available that will suit the rice diet meal plan.

It's good to have the option out there to help people maintain their weight and perhaps take something from it.

Is the rice diet for me? I don't think so, but that's because I grew up having meat and potatoes and I think I would grow tire of it quickly. But the option is out there for people who think they can.