| At the
present time, I take no medication and am convinced this
vegan diet has saved my life. I adhere to it strictly and
enjoy my food more than ever. |
| Morton B. |
|
Why Is Limiting Sodium Such An Emphasis On The Rice Diet?
In 1939, when the Rice Diet was initially founded, it was developed as a no-salt-added dietary treatment for those with kidney disease and malignant hypertension (very high blood pressure). Before dialysis and hypertensive medications, the Rice Diet was the only hope for people with these diseases. They either did the Rice Diet or were dead by the age of 40! Dr. Kempner went on to research and publish revolutionary results on the Rice Diet's dramatic beneficial effect not only on kidney disease and hypertension but on cholesterol, cardiovascular disease, congestive heart failure, and diabetes.
(Click here for Dr. Kempner publications.)
In addition to weight loss we have also seen significant improvement in such conditions as sleep apnea, psoriasis, pulmonary hypertension, edema, and joint stiffness associated with arthritis.
Within forty-eight hours of eating no-salt-added foods (and usually within twenty four hours) you will marvel at how little desire you have to overeat. In fact, the more overweight people are, the more they seem to experience this change in appetite or perception of hunger. We believe, after hearing this response from thousands of Ricers, that salt can best be described as a "food trigger," or a food like refined sugar that seems to fuel a desire to overeat. When you hear people over 500 pounds, who you know were typically eating more than 5,000 calories per day to maintain their weight, say after two days on the program that they cannot finish the 1,000 calories they are being served per day and furthermore have no cravings or obsessive thoughts about food for the first time in decades—you know something miraculous is going on and needs to be shared.
Most doctors and dietitians, and thus their patients, don't realize that this significant a reduction in sodium intake, via a no salt-added 'whole foods' diet will make as much difference as it does. Not only do all modifiable heart disease risk factors improve faster than any method proven, but there are testimonies of renewed health in every arena imaginable—healing insomnia, daily headaches (that had been suffered for decades despite numerous therapies), psoriasis, arthritis, depression, and general lethargy. Truly, unless you try it, or come here and witness it in dozens of others who are experiencing it, it is hard to believe!
The 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans on Sodium and Potassium recognize the direct relationship between increased sodium intake and increased blood pressure. The guidelines recommend a sodium intake of less than 2,300 milligrams per day, and, for specific populations (persons with hypertension, African Americans and middle-aged and older adults), the recommended daily intake is no more than 1,500 milligrams. In addition, the guidelines call for increased intake of potassium (found abundantly in fresh fruits, vegetables, and legumes), which blunts the effects of salt on blood pressure and may reduce the risk of kidney stones and osteoporosis. The report also notes that 80 percent or more of Americans' sodium intake is derived from salt added to food by manufacturers or at restaurants, while about 10 percent is from the natural content in foods and 10 percent is added at the table.
In the United States, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) is encouraging Congress to create a "Division of Sodium Reduction" within the FDA that could advocate for manufacturers to add less salt through regulation. Food products such as Kraft Lunchables manufactured in the United Kingdom have far less salt than the same product in the United States, and CSPI wants the United States to follow Great Britain's enlightened lead.
Given that roughly 90 percent of Americans will eventually develop high blood pressure (which often leads to heart attacks and strokes and is still the leading cause of death in the United States), and how many Americans are African American or over 50 years of age, it seems that we should be giving more than lip service to this 1,500-milligram-sodium recommendation. The CSPI reports that the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (part of the National Institutes of Health) set a target of reducing sodium in the American diet by 50 percent over ten years, but our government has done absolutely nothing to achieve this laudable goal. It would be laughable, if it weren't so downright tragic, that the FDA still considers salt to be "generally recognized as safe" despite the medical evidence that excessive sodium intake is so dangerous.
|
|
