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What are the Pros and Cons of a Rice Diet Plan?

G. Wiesen
G. Wiesen

There are numerous pros and cons of a rice diet plan, though specific benefits and disadvantages are likely to depend on the health of a person and the reasons why he or she may be starting such a diet. Some of the major benefits of this type of diet include a fairly immediate loss of weight with continued weight loss over the first month, steady weight loss continuing even beyond the first month especially with exercise, and the cleansing nature of this sort of diet. Negative aspects of this diet plan can include the restrictive nature of the diet and a potential lack of proper nutrition for some individuals.

A rice diet plan typically consists of a diet in which a person primarily eats rice, often brown or whole grain rice, along with an assortment of fruits, vegetables, and protein. Many of these diet plans involve an immediate change in diet and the first week of such a plan can be quite difficult. The first day of the plan may include nothing more than rice and fruit, with vegetables, protein, and non-fat dairy added in subsequent days and weeks. These diets are often intended to help someone cleanse his or her system and then develop a simple meal plan for each week.

Quick weight loss is one of the major pros of a rice diet plan.
Quick weight loss is one of the major pros of a rice diet plan.

This cleansing is one of the major benefits of this kind of diet, as the first few days see the loss of a great deal of weight. These diets often have very low amounts of sodium and with reduced sodium intake many people see immediate weight loss from reduced water retention. In the first few weeks of a rice diet plan, someone can lose a fairly large amount of weight even without exercise, although exercise can increase this weight loss. Weight loss then typically continues with each following week as long as the person stays on the diet and continues to exercise.

Someone considering a rice diet plan should consult a doctor before beginning to ensure proper nutritional intake is being maintained.
Someone considering a rice diet plan should consult a doctor before beginning to ensure proper nutritional intake is being maintained.

There are some potentially dangerous negative aspects of this diet plan, however, such as the major and sudden change in nutritional intake through meals. A person beginning this type of diet should usually consult a doctor or nutritionist first, especially if he or she may have health concerns already. A rice diet plan may also not provide someone with enough calories for healthy living, so anyone on such a diet should ensure proper caloric intake and may need to take daily vitamin supplements as well. The restrictive nature of this type of diet, primarily rice with some fruit and vegetables, can also make the diet difficult to stay with long term.

Discussion Comments

anon278592

Eat steamed rice, not stir fried. Stir fried is bad.

whiteplane

This article offers a pretty severe warning at the end, but the simple truth is that a rice diet is perfectly healthy and an option for anyone, regardless of their current diet.

If you do it properly, rice diets provide all the nutrition and calories you need and they can be filling and tasty. I have been eating mostly brown rice and vegetable stir fry for dinner for the past ten years and I am in excellent health.

ZsaZsa56
A friend of mine went on a brown rice diet and she did not lose a single pound. And she was really good about it. She basically ate stir fry for two meals a day every day for a month. And her pants were just as tight at the end of the month.

Has anyone had the same experience, or a positive experience? I want to loose some weight so I am trying to find a plan that actually works.

jonrss

A rice diet cannot be sustained forever but it can be an effective and enlightening way to eat for a while. I did a rice diet for about two months and I lost only a little bit of weight but it got me thinking a lot about the things I normally ate.

I was eating a lot of pasta and a lot of meat. The rice diet helped me to get away from that. It puts a lot of the emphasis on eating healthy fruits and vegetables which I was not getting enough of. I got sick of the rice after a while but I learned to like or re-like a lot of veggies that I never thought about.

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    • Quick weight loss is one of the major pros of a rice diet plan.
      By: Warren Goldswain
      Quick weight loss is one of the major pros of a rice diet plan.
    • Someone considering a rice diet plan should consult a doctor before beginning to ensure proper nutritional intake is being maintained.
      By: AntonioDiaz
      Someone considering a rice diet plan should consult a doctor before beginning to ensure proper nutritional intake is being maintained.
    • A bowl of rice.
      A bowl of rice.
    • Vegetables and nonfat dairy products are gradually introduced during the second phase of the rice diet plan.
      By: Serghei Velusceac
      Vegetables and nonfat dairy products are gradually introduced during the second phase of the rice diet plan.
    • Both brown and white rice lose much of their fiber when their husks are removed, but brown rice, which is not milled and polished, still retains a small amount of fiber.
      By: Stepan Popov
      Both brown and white rice lose much of their fiber when their husks are removed, but brown rice, which is not milled and polished, still retains a small amount of fiber.