Original subtitles

hey everyone and welcome to Chef AJ live

I'm your host Chef AJ and this is where

I introduce you to amazing people like

you who are doing great things in the

world that I think you should know about

my guest today is Bethany Russell and

she has had tremendous success following

the rice diet which was developed by Dr

Walter Kempner we've done many shows on

the rice diet Dr McDougall has done some

we've had people that actually worked

for Dr Kempner on the show before I can

link to those episodes if you want

Francis Kneeland Dr C E Grimm

fascinating man fascinating life and

fascinating diet which unfortunately is

no longer really hot anymore there used

to have a place at Duke University it

where they would do the diet my brother

actually who was a physician went to

Duke did the rice diet there used to be

something called the rice house but

Bethany is making the rice diet popular

again she has a support group for people

following Bryce die she's had tremendous

success losing weight on this diet and

reversing diseases and she's going to

tell you all about it please welcome to

the show Bethany Russell it's so nice to

see a young person that knows about the

work of Dr Kepner

hi thank you so much I'm so excited to

be here

well thank you for having let me think

thank you thank me for having you if I

know you but you came on the show

briefly once when Dr McDougall was on

and talked about this but now you've

created a wonderful presentation about

this which I'm sure the viewers will

love

yeah thank you so much

um I if you want I can go ahead and open

the first slide it's actually going to

take about 45 to 50 minutes I might as

well just jump right into it because

sure there's a lot to talk about yeah

let's see okay do you see the slide

again and I remember Dr McDougall one

saying that this man never allowed

himself to be photographed so it's

really interesting to see what he looked

like

yes I found this

um it was a book or an article written

by Barbara newborg she I think she was a

doctor who worked with Walter Kempner

so this is if you want I'll just jump

right in yes please Okay cool so

what I'm going to do is talk about uh Dr

Walter kepner's Price diet

and starting with my story of how I

found the rice diet almost 10 years ago

then I'll discuss relapse and getting

back on track

and finally give an overview of the rice

diet this presentation is about 45

minutes and just so you know I'm wearing

sunglasses

um because I have a light sensitivity

and I might be like sitting back in my

chair so hopefully that doesn't bother

anybody

so my life before getting sick was very

active I enjoyed things like playing the

piano Golf and running I ran six miles a

day and I had no health problems but all

of these things were taken from me when

I developed disease and disability in my

20s

just before having my second child my

life seemed pretty normal I was of a

normal weight starting out my second

pregnancy

I managed to stay slim most of my life

because of the amount of exercise that I

did but I have struggled with binge

eating and weight gain including during

my daughter's pregnancy which I took as

a license to eat fast food for two

I gained 90 pounds

shortly after my daughter was born my

health started to change

she was between six to eight weeks old

when a strange illness took over my body

one day I could not move one of my arms

the next day I couldn't move the other

arm and within days it became

excruciating or impossible to move from

head to toe

I'll never forget the day of my first

appointment my husband pushed me in a

rolling office chair down the hallway of

our high-rise apartment every few steps

he had to return to push a double

stroller holding our toddler and newborn

when we got to the car I could not move

my legs to get into the car I could not

raise my arms to pull myself in any part

of my body that I wanted to move my

husband had to move it for me

I was diagnosed with Advanced rheumatoid

arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis

within months of the disease I suffered

permanent damage to a few joints my

husband's company graciously allowed him

to start working from home because he's

been my full-time caretaker ever since

the length of our daughter's entire life

rheumatoid arthritis is a progressive

systemic and inflammatory disease in

which your own immune system destroys

the joints it's known as synovitis or

inflammation of the synovial fluid

eventually cartilage is destroyed and

ultimately the bones are damaged and

fused together

in some cases it can affect other parts

of the body like the heart and lungs and

having positive anti-ccp antibodies

indicates more advanced disease and a

worse prognosis which I have

I was told by rheumatologists that my

diet had nothing to do with my disease

and to begin the most aggressive

treatment right away

and with the medication there are side

effects

I would need to have my organ function

monitored because the medication can

cause organ failure if I ever left the

country I would need to let them know

since the medication suppress the immune

system I would be more susceptible to

succumbing to infection and viruses

other common side effects could include

GI bleeding distress nausea black stools

and an increased risk of developing

cancer down the road

the best part was that the medications

would never cure me and that I would be

sick for the rest of my life

so being 24 years old I was not in a

hurry to get on these medications

I went home and ran into a friend who

told me about juicing and that her

husband had benefits with juicing for

his multiple sclerosis

so my grandfather bought me a juicer and

I did a 10 day juice fast

we found this film that I've watched

dozens of times fat sick and nearly dead

Joe Cross is able to get off his

medications and reverse the symptoms of

his autoimmune disease with a long-term

juice fast this experience opened my

eyes to the possibility that alternative

treatments may be out there for me I

continued researching and found this

article by Dr John McDougall called diet

the only hope for arthritis

this article presents various case

studies and small trials going back as

late as 1920s of patients with

rheumatoid arthritis or lupus being

treated with fasting and elimination

diets

and I'll highlight a few examples but

you can find the entire article at Dr

mcdougall.com

this article or this example rather is

says a fat-free diet produced complete

remission in six patients with

rheumatoid arthritis but the Improvement

was lost when a high fat meal was

reintroduced

the study says corn and wheat caused a

worsening of symptoms in 50 percent of

patients

and here's an exciting one about fasting

morning stiffness and swelling decreased

in 14 out of 14 patients who fasted with

for one week with just water

and this patient had no morning

stiffness or swollen joints after a

three-day fast but a challenge of cow's

milk blinded in a capsule

brought all her pain swelling and

stiffness back

what these cases have in common are that

rheumatoid arthritis has a dietary link

and while not everyone with rheumatoid

arthritis reacts to the same Foods

almost everyone reacts to food this is

the experience of patients around the

world and when you have thousands of

people experiencing the same thing you

no longer have an anecdote you have a

hypothesis

these are my hands I have many photos

like this from multiple times that I've

done fasting

and this confirmed like others that my

condition was also related to food the

problem was that when I started eating

again my symptoms returned

so the next thing I did was an

Elimination Diet I had to determine what

foods I could eat that would give me the

symptom relief of fasting

and anyone can customize an Elimination

Diet if you wanted to you would just

start by identifying your safe foods

and then when your condition is stable

you can test one new food at a time

every four to seven days

food additives and seasoning should be

tested

keep a journal of ingredients in

subsequent symptoms and go slowly and

avoid triggers potential triggers may be

retested in six months but repeat

offenders should be eliminated from the

diet indefinitely

so I did this process starting with the

list of foods at the article diet Only

Hope for arthritis it consists of rice

some fruits and vegetables

eating these simple Foods allowed me to

recover up to 80 percent

I found the work of Dr Walter Kepner and

continued the rice diet

I lost the 90 pounds I had gained during

pregnancy in just a few months and kept

the weight off for five years

this was my 25th birthday when my dad

made me a fruit platter instead of a

birthday cake I loved making fruit

arrangements like this baby in a cradle

and a bouquet of roses

I could no longer run but at least I

could walk my Mobility never returned to

pre-diagnosis but I felt like the

happiest person in the world like being

given a death sentence and then being

given life

I love this picture so from my husband

pushing me in a rolling office chair to

the hospital to hiking up a mountain

all because I changed my diet thanks to

Dr John McDougall and Dr Walter Kepner

I wish I could say this was my happy

ending but my health relapsed

I've written this presentation a dozen

times

trying to figure out how I can tell you

why I relapsed without talking about the

other aspects of my life there's just no

way to tell you the story without

talking about my battle with PTSD

the context for my PTSD just stems from

a chart a hard childhood beginning with

my very first memory of being abused at

the age of four by a non-family member I

have two loving parents who did their

best

but we didn't have a lot of means

financially that is and so we moved

every year

I went to a new school every year and I

didn't have friends so I spent recess

and lunch break in a bathroom stall

until one year another girl took me

under her wing and made me her best

friend

the problem is that she was involved

with bad influences

so I started smoking and using drugs at

13 years old

I was kicked out of school and

ultimately dropped out of school

and I became a runaway teenager because

of my choices my life was really hard

living on my own at a young age without

someone to protect me I became a victim

of unspeakable crimes and this left me

with a lifetime Battle of PTSD that my

husband has witnessed our entire

marriage

obviously my life now looks nothing like

my youth and I am in good relationship

with my parents and I've been clean for

16 years

so why am I telling you this

because in spite of doing all the right

things with healthy eating my PTSD began

affecting my physical health

at 28 years old I had a really bad year

internally my daytime paranoia was at an

all-time high

I started having Daydreams that I

thought were real I would start crying

uncontrollably in the middle of the day

screaming for my child believing that

someone had broken into our home and was

hurting our children I refused to be

comforted or talked into reality until

my husband brought my children to me and

I could see with my own eyes that they

were okay

this impacted my physical health

causing my autoimmune conditions to

progress

and when my friends were having babies

and looking for their next car to buy I

was falling down the stairs and looking

for one level housing

then we went on a cabin trip with our

church and there's a waterfall at the

bottom of a slope

with lots of steps and I just remember

feeling really sad this day every person

in our church from Toddlers to

grandparents

they could make it down these steps to

see the waterfall everyone except for me

I started to look at my life as the cup

half empty instead of saying how lucky I

was

to be there on the cabin trip where my

kids could have fun making memories with

their friends instead I told myself why

even bother packing your special diet

and feeling like the odd one out if your

diet doesn't solve all your problems

so with my focus shifted from gratitude

to self-pity I began talking myself out

of the diet

then we faced our next stressor in life

when we lost our property we had finally

bought a property with acres of land

that we loved

we did all of our due diligence with

Home Inspections and I couldn't wait for

my husband to build my dream Garden

but within weeks of living there uh

paint started chipping all over the

walls revealing mold and substantial

Foundation issues

the total cost to repair was

123

396 dollars and three cents we were told

the property was unsafe to occupy

so with no money to fix a house and no

money to file a lawsuit

we had no choice but to move and faced

foreclosure and bankruptcy we moved

three times that year and lived in a

hotel for one month

and that's when I threw my hands up

I ate nothing but fast food the entire

month not because I couldn't eat healthy

out of a hotel of course it is possible

to eat healthy out of a hotel

I knew every trick in the book to make

this diet happen I I had successfully

traveled before

I could debunk any excuse out there

except for one that is when you lose

your will

the saying where there's a will there's

a way is absolutely true but you have to

want it

then I begin I began having flare-ups

I was in and out of the hospital put on

high-dose IV steroids including the week

during Thanksgiving I'm so thankful for

our church family who at the time

spoiled my family bringing them a

Thanksgiving meal and presents and

they've never stopped praying for me

so at this point I made the decision to

start medical treatment

then unfortunately our life flipped

upside down yet again

after the first injection I developed a

host of new symptoms my head started

shaking back and forth I had extreme

dizziness and headaches then after the

second injection my head shaking became

ten times worse my stomach expanded

making me look nine months pregnant and

I had all day long nausea

I could not stand or walk without

falling I was in a wheelchair

practically overnight my Tremors were so

bad and so painful that everywhere I

went all eyes were on me

I saw a different Specialists for every

body part and underwent what felt like

every test Under the Sun from swallowing

x-rays upper endoscopy to full body

scans

next I developed tachycardia I had a

resting heart rate of 130 beats per

minute continuously after blacking out a

few times I was diagnosed with pots

postural orthostatic tachycardia there's

a one minute video on my YouTube channel

that shows what happens to my heart rate

when I stand up in this video my heart

rate starts out at 84 beats per minute

excuse me

and within moments of standing it jumps

to 150 beats per minute

this is Dr Blair Grubb he's a

cardiologist and world-renowned pots

expert I've watched every one of his

lectures online that I could find in

this video he explains what pots is pots

can range from mild to severe he says

when people are severely affected they

become totally bedridden

it destroys their lives

they are unable to maintain the normal

regulatory functions that people take

for granted every time they go to stand

up they become extremely light-headed

dizzy and fall

frequently they are plagued with

digestive problems they get

gastroparesis because the autonomic

system also regulates gastrointestinal

function

they will feel either freezing cold or

very very hot when everyone else feels

somewhat normal the illness in its

full-blown State can destroy the life of

a person

now I was on 12 medications including

high blood pressure

um or I'm sorry I did get high blood

pressure but I was on high-dose steroids

and beta blockers with each medication

came more problems

from migraines to stomach ulcers

I was instructed to follow a high salt

diet with DOT with salt and water

loading though I developed edema and

high blood pressure my legs were in so

much pain from the swelling I was put on

diuretics

I was drowning myself for remission but

remission never came during this time my

arthritis became worse I gained 140

pounds with no end in sight to my pain

and problems I felt almost hopeless

I've spent three to four years

wheelchair-bound living with daily

migraines Tremors nausea joint pain

fainting spells the inability to walk

and most of the time I am unable to sit

in a chair or hold up my head I use a

bedside commode and a power wheelchair

simple tasks like showering were

sometimes impossible until recently

among my new diagnoses in addition to

rheumatoid arthritis and Ankylosing

Spondylitis where hypothyroidism pots

and Parkinson's

we no longer think that I have

Parkinson's

but uh for anyone who may have

Parkinson's I just added this book in

here it's called Parkinson's and the B1

therapy by Daphne Bryan

at this point I felt like the woman in

the Bible in Mark chapter 5 it says she

had suffered many things of many

Physicians and had spent all that she

had it was nothing better but worse

I wanted to return to the diet many

times but doctors have told me for a

decade that food has nothing to do with

my condition

I felt backed into a corner pressured by

others as if I were not helping myself

if I didn't follow Doctors Orders and so

finally I took them up on it

and in spite of all the medications my

life was not better it was worse

getting back on track with the rice diet

for one uh this starts with being ready

to change

then for me it came down to one person

her name is Heather McDougall I had a

conversation with her that she probably

won't remember but she encouraged me to

get back up and so I did

sometimes all you need is to know that

someone believes in you I picked up from

where I left off and went right back to

the rice diet like no time had passed

all of my recipes came to memory my tips

and tricks to make it happen no matter

what everyone else is doing around me

here is my recent before and after photo

and my blood pressure results in just

two weeks of changing my diet I reverse

stage two hypertension I lost about 30

pounds in the first month and about 100

pounds in a year

my husband did the diet with me

which is pretty cool and here's his

before and after in just the first month

he lost 30 pounds

uh

on the left he is pretending to be

disgruntled right before starting the

diet holding up some of the foods he

wouldn't be eating for the next 30 days

and on the right after losing 40 pounds

he's holding his bowl of oatmeal that he

eats every day

there you go I think he I think he looks

younger

this is our kitchen setup my husband

does the cooking and that's my recliner

I'm able to help with smaller things

I still have a bit of weight to lose

below the neck improving my appearance

is great but the most important part is

that I am healthier on the inside my

Mobility has improved

um so the last few years I had morning

stiffness that was so severe it would

take one hour every morning just to move

my arms one inch away from my body

now I am able to transfer from the

bedroom to the living room within just

the first 10 minutes of my day

food has everything to do with my

condition

I may never be completely cured on this

side of Heaven

I'm not expecting Perfection I'm just

looking for the best quality of life

that I can have at this point but taking

care of myself and eating the right

Foods proves to be the way forward

and I had a whole section on my pots

treatment to share with you but for the

sake of time I took it out of the

presentation

so with everything I went through from

2014 until now I knew this way of eating

is something I have to stick with for

the rest of my life

but it was pretty lonely the first time

around not knowing anyone else who ate

like me so I craved a community

but the rice houses have closed

and so when I couldn't find a community

I decided to create my own I have a

background in business project

management and marketing and my husband

does marketing for a living so I asked

him to make me a website and he built

our website called rice diet support.com

I have posted some recipes books and

printable PDFs groups and videos and

everything is free except for the books

on Amazon

foreign

this is one of my logs it's a type of

food journal and it's not for profit

this is four dollars on Amazon which is

about what Amazon charges me to publish

it

I have a Facebook page called rice diet

support where I sometimes make a Blog

style posts

then I started a group which initially

was a one month challenge

with family and friends called one rice

diet plate I invited anyone who was

interested to make a 30-day commitment

to just adding one plate per day of rice

diet foods to their regular meals but

people would join the group halfway

through the month and I felt bad at

closing the group on them so one month

has turned into one year

and our group has become a permanent

place a permanent support group for

people interested in the rice diet

I also started a YouTube channel

with zero followers in the beginning

obviously I don't really know what I'm

doing so I was

pretty surprised when one of my videos

reached 7 000 views and I started

getting contacted from people all over

the world who were doing the rice diet

and many of them said that they

appreciate what I'm doing so this really

has given me incentive to keep going and

teaching the rice diet has become my

hobby

which brings me to why I'm here today

so with the time I have left I'll be

sharing an overview of the diet the way

I would teach it to our group members

starting with a brief history then

discuss what foods to eat and how much

to eat and finally some food photos

which will bring me to the end of my

presentation where I have a few people I

want to highlight and some closing

thoughts

first a quick disclaimer this is for

informational purposes and should not be

taken as medical advice please don't

change your diet or medication except

under the care of a medical doctor

the rice diet was founded by Dr Walter

Kempner in 1939. Kepner first trained

under the famous Otto Warburg a Nobel

prize winning biochemist Kepner was a

medical doctor and researcher who

developed a diet therapy that became

world famous not once but twice

first as the only treatment of his time

for kidney disease and malignant

hypertension a time before dialysis

machines and hypertensive drugs when

those diagnoses were a death sentence it

also became famous again with his rapid

weight loss approach

Kempner ran live in program with

multiple rice houses places for patients

to stay like a bed and breakfast where

three rice diet meals were prepared by

staff and served to patients people

would travel from all over the world

including actors and celebrities to

undergo kempner's program in Durham

North Carolina

conditions that improve on the rice diet

kidney hypertensive and vascular disease

autoimmune conditions like lupus and

rheumatoid arthritis psoriasis obesity

type 2 diabetes and diabetic retinopathy

I think what is most surprising to

people is that the rice diet is an

effective treatment for type 2 diabetes

and Dr Frank nilon gave a presentation

featuring one of his patients who

reversed their diabetes on the rice diet

you can find this information in the

full interview that Chef AJ hosted with

Dr John McDougall and Dr nilon this

patient went from 435 pounds down to 194

pounds which is a loss of 240 pounds

normalizing their blood sugar and A1C

and getting off of six medications

for more on the history of the rice diet

I posted several videos on our video

page at rystatsupport.com and each of

these links will take you to their

respective channels one of my favorite

quotes about the rice diet is from this

video

this is Dr Frank nilon he was or he's a

medical doctor endocrinologist who was

the associate professor of emeritus of

medicine at Duke University Medical

Center and former director of the rice

diet program in an interview with the

McDougall Advance study weekend Dr Frank

nilon said that what he had witnessed

with Thrice diet was unlike anything he

had seen in modern medicine

he said I would see patients on the rice

diet that came and were miraculously

transformed

their pills were thrown away their

crutches were thrown away

their wheelchairs were put away

they began to walk the blind could

actually see again

600 pages of medical archives like these

can be found at Dr mcdougall.com

thank you so before going on the rice

diet the first thing to consider is if

you need medical support there are no

rice houses operating today but true

north Health Center in Santa Rosa

California with Dr Alan goldhammer is

the closest thing to kempner's live-in

program

this is a fasting Medical Center but

they transition people to a diet that is

similar to the rice diet

there are other options for patients

receiving Medical Care from home with

telemedicine like with Dr Laurie marbas

at Dr marbles.com and there are other

telemedicine practices

and Technology now allows for things

like continuous glucose monitoring

smart blood pressure cuffs and smart

scales that automatically send those

results to your doctor

and finally what to eat on the rice diet

rice and fruit

at least this is the first phase of the

diet

in the early days many of kempner's

patients were underweight or even wasted

and so to get calories in them Kepner

would add sugar in these circumstances

the rice diet consisted of white rice

fruits fruit juice sugar and a vitamin

supplement

um what I'm focusing on today is

kempner's version of the rice diet for

weight loss

the basic rice diet is simply rice and

fruit excluding dates and avocados

initially

I like to think of the rice diet as an

Elimination Diet you start eating from a

small list of foods and then as your

condition improves you can add Foods

back in

you may substitute rice for other single

ingredient boiled grains if tolerated

how long you stay in Phase One depends

on your condition and tolerance and the

advice of your doctor it's not really

recommended to stay in phase one on your

own without medical care but many people

can move on to the next phase right away

which is to add vegetables in addition

to the rice and fruit this is what we

sometimes refer to as phase one through

three

it's really just phase two but in the

early days vegetables were added little

by little

which is no longer the case as you'll

see in a moment all vegetables are

allowed including potatoes vegetables

make up an important second step in the

rice diet as they are more complete in

essential nutrients including naturally

occurring sodium

in the old days there were certain

vegetables that were forbidden because

they had high sodium content we don't do

that anymore this is a quote from Dr

Robert Rosati former director of the

rice diet program

we are talking about the single

ingredient food the way it uh the way it

was grown in a garden

and um

here's a quote from fast food genocide

it says when you cook a vegetable in oil

it doesn't count as a vegetable anymore

it is junk food

here's an example of what happens to the

calories when you take a single

ingredient food like kale and cook it in

oil kale has only 159 calories per pound

on its own compare that with kale chips

the calories increased to

2430 calories for the same volume

bananas versus banana chips

and potatoes versus potato chips

plain gold potatoes are a low calorie

food at just 313 calories for one pound

and potato chips have

2413 calories

and fats like butter lard and oil or

oil-based dressings pack a huge number

of calories in a tiny package

so here you can see the difference on

the left with no oil as opposed to the

right with oil

grains fruits and vegetables really is

the basis of the diet

the emphasis in your maintenance plan

should be on fruits vegetables and

Grains or as Dr Kepner puts it the foods

available to man in the Garden of Eden

here is a look at the diet from start to

finish starting with phase one at the

bottom

that's your rice equivalents and fruits

The Next Step Above That is to add

vegetables and then eventually other

Foods may be reintroduced the top

section has it says food reintroduction

and maintenance there's a question mark

there because this will look different

for every person

you can find these PDFs on the materials

page of our website rice diet

support.com and I made a four page

infographic I'll go over this briefly

with you so I broke the diet just to

make it a little simple for me at least

I broke it into two sections or two

seasons along our journey the first

being when we first come to the rice

diet hoping for it to help us recover

from something

the top of this page says recovery and

100 rice Diet phase one through three

which excludes all other Foods the

bottom section of this page or the

second season along our journey is once

we have hopefully recovered from

something the last thing you want to do

is completely stop the diet and go back

to old habits

so maintenance is a state of maintaining

our results and good health and should

be a continuation of phases one through

three as the majority of calories long

term

let's say you want to start the rice

diet tomorrow one question you might

have is how much food should I eat

this is individual and requires some

experimenting to find how much food you

need to lose weight if weight loss is

the goal and to satisfy your unique

hunger signals

so on this page I have listed a range of

portions from ad libidum meaning as much

as you need all the way down to minimum

portions which are the lowest portions

recorded for kempner's fastest weight

loss plan

kepner's fastest weight loss plan is

portion restricted

this may be beneficial

if let's say you need brain surgery but

your weight is too high to have the

surgery then you might follow this and

potentially lose weight as quickly as

water fasting I did this experiment for

the first month of my weight loss but in

general I eat a lot more food than this

this is about eight cups of food

and here's the example of 14 cups of

food for only one thousand calories it

is possible to maximize portions and

still lose weight

this is just one example obviously of I

don't eat this every single day and I

always keep extra fruits and vegetables

on hand if needed to satisfy hunger

of course everyone is different and

every day is different

so taking a look at maintenance 80

percent is just representing a majority

of food still coming from those early

phases that might look like 90 for some

people but there is room over time to

reintroduce foods you may be missing

like my husband for example he has

transitioned to the Blue Zone style diet

that Walter Kepner was often able to

transition people to but if you're like

me then food reintroduction is a

slippery slope

so I'll quickly tell you my guacamole

story I wanted to reintroduce guacamole

so I told myself if I can limit it to

just a couple tablespoons per day then I

can have it and what happened was

I had over a cup a day

and I couldn't stop thinking about when

I could have it again and I gained seven

pounds that week

so for me guacamole is a three strikes

you're out food

I couldn't moderate it

and it negatively impacted my weight so

now I choose to avoid it so what each

person chooses to do Beyond phase one

through three is up to them but our

group is for posting and sharing your

phase one through three meals

and this last page is a challenge called

one rice diet plate so anyone who's

interested you're welcome to join our

group

just adding one

rice diet meal per day to your regular

meals

to recap what I just talked about we are

talking about the difference between

going all in that's 100 percent rice

fruits and vegetables until your issue

is under control

then doing 80 20. and testing food

reintroduction avoiding anything that

negatively impacts your health and

weight and finally the one rice diet

plate challenge for anyone that's

interested

so moving on I'll show you some of the

photos of the food my husband and I eat

in phases one through three of course

each person should find the foods that

they like and tolerate

starting with phase one rice and fruit

this is cream of rice and oatmeal

made in just two minutes

baked oatmeal and baked apples

more fruit

this is watermelon Daiquiri a

non-alcoholic of course vanilla ice

cream pineapple ice cream

and strawberry ice cream

uh this is a birthday cake that my

family made for me this year made out of

only fruit

before moving on to our meals with

vegetables this is just a reminder that

this way of eating can be as simple as

eating an apple boiling water or

microwaving a bag of frozen veggies you

really don't need a recipe and you

really don't need to make it too

complicated

um but sometimes we like to break up the

monotony with salt-free seasonings and

homemade condiments

rice and veggies

this is our go-to weekday meal of

leftover rice and frozen veggies made in

seven minutes in a microwavable steamer

oh we use whatever we have on hand and

flavor them with either lemon pepper

cilantro lime or pineapple garlic and

chili flakes

when we make seasoned rice it's usually

a large batch on the weekends that we

freeze into single serving bags

this is dirty rice

and stuffed peppers

and quick pickles

mashed potatoes colcannon baked mashed

potatoes shepherd's pie

these are soups and stuffed jalapeno

this is quinoa strawberries broccoli red

onion and raisins

and our daughter's favorite Sushi night

cucumber Sushi sweet potato Sushi Nori

salad wraps sweet and sour sauce and

mango chili paste or puree

this is watermelon salad and waffle

fries baked fries and wedges

sauces dressings and salsa

pico de gallo stuffed baked potatoes and

corn on the cob

on the left is Cajun boil and on the

right is a potato Crouton salad

low calorie potato chips

bowls and salads this is barbecue salad

Buffalo salad green salad fajita salad

so the bottom layer is a bed of lettuce

the next layer is rice and then whatever

veggies we want and top it off with

sauce salsa and dressing or dressing

finally I enjoy green smoothies

this was basically my daughter's Diet

before she could walk green smoothies

and breast milk

we actually stopped using milk when my

son was born because he had a

sensitivity to it and so my kids have

had you know Dairy on occasions but

they've never had straight cow's milk by

the glass their entire lives and one

time somebody questioned me you know

where are my kids going to get their

protein and calcium

I think a lot of people don't realize

the richest sources of calcium is in

Greens here's a comparison of cow's milk

and kale kale has twice as much calcium

as cow's milk

kale is also a source of healthy fats

all whole natural foods contain fat and

protein in varying amounts kale is high

in anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids

and has 125 percent of the daily value

of vitamin C in just one and a half cups

there are so many health benefits of

fruits and vegetables especially grains

for athletic performance and improving

overall health

kale not only builds strong kids

it builds strong husbands

a couple times a year I do smoothie

fasting inspired by the Botanical family

Victoria batenko

in my opinion I think maybe she invented

green smoothies or she at least

popularized them in the early 2000s when

her family ran a week-long smoothie

Retreats where they would feed people

green smoothies made out of fruits

greens and water and people would

overcome health issues like autoimmune

conditions diabetes and obesity

her son Sergey botenko he has a book on

Amazon this has great tips about making

a smoothie

um and it has 30 recipes and a challenge

to add one smoothie per day to your

regular meals

he also has a documentary on YouTube

called powered by green smoothies where

he gave a group of athletes a green

smoothie once a day and they continued

eating their regular diet including

inflammatory foods and at the end of a

six week experiment everyone who drank

the smoothies had a reduction in their

inflammatory markers on lab work

as far as juices I save them for rare

occasions such as juice fasting or

holidays to look forward to something

different like this jalapeno limeade and

watermelon lemonade

a fun project that I'm working on and

getting ready to announce to our group

members is an annual yearbook

I'll include 12 of our home recipes

and group members will have a chance to

be featured in the yearbook where they

can share their tips or testimony or a

recipe and it will appear on a special

page of our yearbook and I will put it

on Amazon for Christmas time

this is Christy

she is one of our group members she lost

40 pounds so far since the end of May

she and others are doing an amazing job

and in spite of life's challenges she's

making it happen

she's also my buddy in the group my

accountability partner which means that

every morning we take a picture of our

food journal from the previous day and

using Facebook Messenger we send it to

each other and this provides an added

layer of accountability to sticking with

our food plan

I'm also writing my book called a diet

therapy which started as a quick guide

addressing the most common questions

that we get in our group but it's

becoming more of a memoir and I I'm not

sure what it's going to be finished

I have to be patient with myself because

my brain works faster than my body

and I'll be working with one of my best

friends she's a professional

photographer to design the new cover

yeah so in closing

my message I hope you walk away with

today is that food is medicine but also

faith is medicine

there were many days in my life when I

didn't know how I could make it through

the next day

but no matter how hard our life gets and

even when we feel like we've tried

everything God can help us and he can

heal us and he can open doors we maybe

didn't see before

even when we are standing on our last

day on this Earth there's still

something to look forward to

I know 100 that I'm going to heaven and

it's not because of something great I've

done or because I'm holier than now

it's a gift of God promised in the

scriptures to Anyone who puts their

faith and trust in the Lord

uh at Rice diet support.com on the

videos page there is a video titled the

Bible way to heaven and I invite you to

watch this when you have time

finally food is medicine I believe the

number one way we can influence our

health is with the foods that we eat

conventional medicine has its place if I

were in a car accident with broken limbs

I'll be heading to the hospital and not

to the grocery store

but when it comes to most chronic

illness food is medicine

if you're still not convinced consider

Millie Donahue the story behind the food

delivery company mama says Foods at 80

years old Millie had end-stage

congestive heart failure with less than

10 percent heart function after all of

what modern medicine could offer her she

was sent home on hospice to say goodbye

but her family found people like Dr

Caldwell esselstyn the author of prevent

and reverse heart disease and Dr T Colin

Campbell the author of The China Study

and so Millie's family began feeding her

a Whole Foods plant-based diet

and this year Millie is 92 years old not

only did she outlive the death sentence

imposed on her by modern medicine her

heart function returned to normal all

due to a switch in food

and finally consider Tim Kaufman he gave

me permission to share his photos and

story with you today his highest weight

was over 400 pounds

and here's a picture of him after losing

200 pounds

overcoming fentanyl addiction overcoming

alcoholism

and in spite of having a life in pain

almost every day with the genetic

disorder ehlers downloads syndrome often

requiring surgeries to put his body back

together he continues to fight the fight

becoming a plant-based athlete running

in races and competing in Iron Man

events

he once said I'm just a fat guy that ate

some apples

I recently discovered his story and now

it is what pops into my mind anytime I'm

having a bad day as a reminder that

there's always hope

he and his wife are truly inspiring he

just finished his book which I can't

wait to get a copy of when it's ready

and consider the cause of the sick we

may not stop ourselves from facing death

on this side of heaven and not

everything is in our control but many of

our top killers are presentable we may

be able to prevent spending the last

decade of our life in absolute agony

some people say they'd rather die than

eat healthy but some of us are praying

for a cure

some may get lucky and outlive the

consequences of a poor diet like the 95

year old lifelong smoker who never gets

lung cancer but some of us are not so

lucky

I've spent years in isolation missing

out on life passing by me and if I could

just reach one person and save one life

then it's worth time giving this message

the number one reason our loved ones may

die is heart disease obesity related

diseases make up the leading causes of

death

we can all joke about our eating habits

but this topic is no laughing matter to

me how much better of a wife mother

daughter Christian can I be if I'm

healthy

finally this burning building represents

our life in crisis putting out the fire

is the immediate action required to

begin turning our life around and often

those things which are in our control

but even when the fire is out the

healing process has just begun having

worked in the catastrophe relief

industry I personally have stood in

buildings like this one knee deep in wet

insulation and debris and I can tell you

that the cleanup process takes a lot

longer than putting out the fire

and even when the last shingle is placed

or the last wall is painted no amount of

shiny new possessions take away the Scar

left on the Family

our life may never be the same

but it is possible to find joy in new

places if we look for it or if anything

helping others who are entering the

storm we just went through

changing our life simply begins with

taking the first step

it's easy to talk ourselves out of it we

can say that mountain looks too high

this is too hard or I'll start tomorrow

but tomorrow may never come

if we stop dwelling on the future and

instead narrow in our focus on this

moment all we have to do is take the

step that is right in front of us

thank you for listening today and thank

you for Chef AJ for

allowing me to share this presentation

well thank you that was a wonderful

presentation are you have you given a

lot of PowerPoints before

not really I've given three or four to

our group this past year you know who

you look like with the sunglasses Goldie

Hawn

when she was younger you're just

adorable this is a wonderful

presentation and I loved your guacamole

story because I know a lot of people

with a guacamole story a peanut butter

story you know

yeah

what's your what's your food that oh my

God anything well that would be high fat

food like you know I'm sure it would be

nuts or Nut Butter so I can't have those

in the house tahini anything creamy and

fatty so yeah on that for sure you know

um so Nicole who's watching live wanted

to know if you're like if you're not

able to fend for yourself how are you

able to get the food when you relapsed

there was a period where you kind of

went off plan and gained some weight

back so you weren't rice and fruit so

how would you how did you access that

food

um well my husband does all the shopping

and he but he does he listens to me and

so you know when we're going through a

really hard time and we just honestly we

both pretty much

threw in the towel for a little period

of time and so if I said you know just

you know our day is so stressful just go

get whatever the convenient thing is

from a restaurant

you know he was all for it because he we

rely on him to do all of the cooking and

he works a full-time job on top of all

this other stress and so you know I

don't blame him for anything because

ultimately

um it was my decision because even

though I don't physically I don't

physically open a jar of pickles for

example because my hands don't I can't

open the jar

but as a mother I'm still in charge of

I'm still kind of in charge of the food

that I served to our family and my

husband my husband um

yeah I mean it was a really hard time

and so now looking back on it it's like

no matter how hard like if we if we go

through something else in the future we

know

that eating unhealthily doesn't solve

our problems either that's just gonna

make it worse makes it worse yeah people

are saying Kate Hudson and the lady that

lost the weight with your group it's so

funny that she had a potato t-shirt on

yeah Barbara's saying can anybody join

your Facebook group for the rice diet

support

yeah I just um encourage you to

CH uh have one rice diet plate and that

could be you know that could be a snack

um just make one change and maybe there

are people who are already eating a

really healthy diet

then probably something that they're

already eating is going to be on the

rice diet

you know and I'm sure there are people

there who you know one day here or there

they're not they might not be fully

invested yet so they're totally welcome

to to be there if they're willing or

interested you know

to try to make that change towards

healthy eating

yep and uh Stephanie wants to know are

you concerned about arsenic levels in

rice or do you stick with like a

California rice like Lundberg

I'm not concerned but if anyone's

concerned you definitely can eat other

grains you can eat different you know

grains on the rice diet but I know that

there are people who've looked into it

and that it's not like every crop that

grows rice there are some that have less

Arsenic and don't have the concern and

then I think white rice has 80 percent

less or something than brown for me I

would just say research it or do what

you feel comfortable with but I eat

white rice every day

I love white rice and I cannot lie I

know a lot of people doctors that come

on the show say it's like eating sugar

but I think I mean every time that I've

traveled internationally for work

sometimes that's all I can get and I

come home so thin because it's just so

you can't keep weight on if you eat rice

I mean if you put maybe butter or oil on

it that would be a different story you

know

do you eat rice very frequently I do I

love it it's my second favorite starch

after sweet potatoes

I I've um we used to go we used to live

near Whole Foods and so we could get all

different varieties of

all kinds of stuff and so now yeah we

don't we don't have a huge variety

anymore of sweet potatoes but we just

get the orange ones oh and those are the

ones the only ones I really don't like I

like it and the Japanese and the Stokes

and I even love the white rice from

Trader Joe's it's like in a bag you

microwave it for three minutes it's

organic Jasmine it's delicious

it's so good yeah and um sticky rice

like for sushi that's pretty good I

think rice is amazing and like Dr

McDougall says look at all the three

billion Asians lived on it none of them

were overweight but people are concerned

like if they have diabetes should they

be eating rice and if they look at the

work of Dr Kempner that's exactly the

disease he was reversing with white rice

fruit juice and sugar exactly yeah

that's they need to watch that interview

that you have on your Channel with Dr

Frank nilon yeah I put those I put those

links in the in the show notes right

after your information so that's awesome

absolutely yeah you know you think

they'll ever be a rice house again maybe

you can start one

I wish that would be so I mean not me I

wouldn't start it but but that would be

so cool to just have you know and I

think um when Frank nilon was on your

show people were trying to get him to

throw his hat back in the ring

but that would be cool if there was

another rice house that would be

something yeah well this is a wonderful

presentation I think you're a natural it

seems like you've been giving these

presentations for years

oh thank you thank you so much yeah you

did a great job and so when is your book

coming out

um so we well I'm not sure about mine

the it's called a diet therapy

and I made the mistake of announcing a

kind of tentative due date but I had a

health setback a couple in June I think

I because now ever since being on

immunosuppressant medications when I get

sick I stay sick for weeks and weeks and

my whereas like my kids they'll get over

it in a couple days

so I was sick for five weeks and it

really set back my health so just

whenever it's done is when I'm gonna

announce it but as far as the yearbook

that's pretty much my part is done

um that's just an idea for whoever wants

to

be included if anyone in our group who

wants to share their story or tips or

recipes

then they can be included in that and so

hopefully that'll be available in

Christmas time

that would be great nice

yeah do do you like to cook your rice in

an instant pot or a rice cooker do you

have a preferred way of cooking it

um well now we have a rice cooker

we have a little just whatever we got

from Walmart yeah it does the trick

yeah I love it rice cooker like you get

one for like 29 at Costco it's fabulous

exactly and it's so easy it really only

takes one minute like one time we timed

uh my husband like from washing the rice

to you know pushing the button it was

one minute

and he was done cooking the rice so yeah

yeah well good well congratulations on

getting back on track and the success

success you had with the diet and

continuing on the diet and just

improving your health as much as you can

I know it can't be easy you know to have

a chronic condition but I think you're

really making the best of it and you're

helping a lot of people

thank you thank you so much it's been

awesome to be able to be here and and

share and um

we'll see we'll see if um and and I told

my husband I was like

if only five people join my group like

that'll be cool because honestly

I'm just doing this for myself I mean

not to be selfish but

just having a community for me to be

able to go to right because this is my

diet so yep that that's a great that's a

great Point you're making

um there's a viewer asking can onions

and garlic be allowed on this

yes

nice yeah I can you know it's funny

because white rice I can just eat with

nothing on it but my preferred way is to

just cut a few little green onions you

know scallions and then I'm in heaven

but I I think rice is delicious and I

feel bad for people that think it's you

know taboo because they're missing out

on a delicious food group they can be

having

I agree I think it's so delicious yeah

Sylvia says you're very inspiring so

join our group guys especially if you

need some support

yeah hey thank you it's free what have

you got to lose yeah people saying your

husband's so nice and he looked so good

and very nice yeah and it's amazing

because it's not like he was even that

overweight but it just shows that what

you can when you eat this way it's

pretty hard to keep the weight on

exactly yep yeah and it's funny because

it's you have you ever heard this or

thought this about yourself that you

didn't really realize like how much you

had gotten overweight until you see a

picture like a picture if somebody took

a picture of you

and it's like oh my goodness and that's

like the first time you're really

realizing how much overweight you are

and that's what like I didn't really

realize my husband was overweight and he

didn't either but now looking back at

pictures he looks so much different yeah

well you guys look great so thank you so

much for inspiring people uh they're

Diana saying you're building your

community exactly and Ronnie Rana sorry

I should get glasses I have them I just

don't wear them Rhonda says thank you so

much for a very informative presentation

I don't think you thank you so much yeah

thank you

um you can maybe write a cookbook but

you know there's it you seem to keep it

pretty simple I I think based on the

photos

yeah I yeah I probably won't ever write

a cookbook but it's you're right it's

and the thing is is you can

you can eat the same thing every single

day like you could pick your favorite I

mean for lunch anyway it just makes it

easier to you to say I mean because I'm

busy and I'm working and it's also my

favorite food sweet potatoes and

broccoli so I never have to think about

it Dr McDougall said you can eat that

every day and be fine and I do but I do

I do eat a different dinner every day

though you eat sweet potato and broccoli

every day yeah it's a Hannah yam though

and I've eaten well I mean if I'm out of

the country no I can't get that in

Mexico because I work in Mexico a lot

but I've been doing it for like 13 years

and I that's you know when I I was Heavy

13 years ago and I'm not anymore I get a

giant hand of yam it probably weighs

about two pounds before I roast it those

are the ones that are white they're a

little bit different than the Japanese

and about a pound of broccoli and it's

delicious and it's satisfying and I have

it every day for lunch and when I don't

have it I'm like I wish I had but

dinners are different you all have rice

dishes and we do a lot of tostadas we

you know which are based on we make them

with white rice and salsa and things

like that but I'll tell you my new

favorite thing is I got Alyssa raw food

romances wrap book and I've been doing

and raps and going crazy and her wraps

have no gluten no flour they're made out

of vegetables I mean it's insane it is

insane how delicious they are and you

can put anything in them you know salad

whatever you want whatever you're eating

you just wrap it up and you know it's

like hold it in your hand so that's

that's been my new thing yeah really is

that a cookbook or where did you find

them it's a cookbook and it's called I

think it's let me see what it's called

um it's it's not in heart form it's it's

e-book form what does she call her book

I don't know she had it in the bundle

but she does sell it it's just fabulous

you do need a dehydrator but I'll tell

you they're so easy to make you just

basically blend different fruits and

vegetables like onion and tomato or bell

pepper and you dehydrate them overnight

on these special trays that she

recommends that are like fourteen

dollars for Amazon and then I mean if it

wasn't over there if it wasn't all the

way over there I'd show you one and then

you know it's just getting me more salad

because I mean I love vegetables but

salad you know I don't know it's kind of

boring but when you roll it up in a wrap

it's then all of a sudden it's fun to

eat a salad you know and yeah it sounds

amazing it really it really is I'll have

to look for it yeah and Donna says a

great presentation thank you so yeah

this is a lot of fun well I hope people

join the group guys join even you know

what heck you know support is great you

know and you don't have to be perfect

you just have to be on the path I think

yeah exactly well thank you so much well

thank you I'm safe and it was a it was a

pleasure having you Bethany I don't know

if vinegar is on your plan but maybe

somebody in your family will enjoy the

two free bottles of California balsamic

just for being on the show oh wow thank

you so much yes yes Walter Kempner

allowed vinegar that'll be awesome oh

that's great

um Rich says you always have to

congratulate the spouse that supports

and continues to support you they should

get as much Applause as the person who

has turned their life around her husband

is a warrior what a nice comment Rich so

true that is really nice thank you I

know he I can't talk about him or I'll

start crying but yeah he is he's amazing

oh that's wonderful and Linda also

concurs that it's a wonderful

presentation and Chrissy says this is

such a simple way to eat and lose weight

and and it's delicious too the only

reason people don't like the simple

Foods is because they're so addicted to

all the unhealthy foods but if this is

all you ate and all you knew you would

love it or if you go fast for a while

believe me it's delicious

right and it starts to taste better over

time and then you're just totally

satisfied absolutely yeah you wouldn't

be able to keep it up if you weren't all

right well thanks Bethany and um good

luck with your group come on guys thank

you let's all give her some you know she

said she wanted five people let's give

her 50 people

thank you thank you so much oh my God

this has been so fun thank you you did a

wonderful presentation and thanks all of

you for watching another episode of Chef

AJ live please come back tomorrow 11 A.M

Pacific time when we have Andrew Mellon

the most organized man in America

talking about his new book calling BS on

busy and he is going to teach you once

and for all how to get organized