36 the rice diet renewal
bread, either salted (containing approximately one - third the daily
sodium intake of Americans) or unsalted — the concentrations of
glucose and plasma insulin were substantially higher in the sub-
jects after they consumed the salted meals. In fact, the results
were very signifi cant. Forty - fi ve minutes after participants ate the
salted lentils, the study reported plasma insulin concentrations to
be 22 percent higher than the insulin levels of people who had just
eaten the unsalted lentils. Even more dramatic was the difference
in insulin concentration after subjects ate salted versus unsalted
bread: an average of 39 percent greater during the three hours fol-
lowing the meals! Because obesity, high blood glucose (diabetes),
and accompanying elevated levels of plasma insulin are considered
to be risks for heart disease, why would we want to add salt to our
food? More blood sugar in the blood, with more insulin available
to take into our cells, does not help us lose weight, and we know
that obesity can contribute to all of the modifi able risk factors of
heart disease.
Although the absence of added sodium in the Rice Diet was not
originally intended for weight - loss purposes, it will not take you
long to appreciate its importance. There is no wake - up call more
powerful for an overeater than a no - salt - added whole - food plan; the
obsessive thoughts and overeating tendencies are usually silenced
within one to two days. In my two decades of coaching Ricers,
I ’ ve observed their amazement at the dramatic reduction of their
appetite and food obsessions. This has been the most memorable
and life - altering aspect of the diet. Interestingly enough, the more
overweight a person is, the more dramatic his or her surprise at
the cessation of previous food fi xations. One man described it to
me as feeling like he had been “ let out of jail from a place where his
brain had felt possessed by the unrelenting calls from food. ”
We all know that salt and other sodium - containing ingredi-
ents are fl avor enhancers, thus making us want to eat more, but
no one yet fully understands how high sodium intake can lead
to obesity. An interesting article in the September 2007 issue of
Obesity reported that rats that ate a high - salt diet had increased
white adipose mass, meaning an increase in the size and number of