While the market for weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy is booming, people have been looking for cheaper, over-the-counter alternatives.
And people are flocking to social media to rave about a new natural alternative that they say works as well as medications: “Rice-zempic.”
A growing number of people have started drinking the drink, which consists of water soaked in rice and lemon juice, after videos claiming it could help them lose 15 pounds in just two weeks went viral.
TikTok user Alfredo Valenzuela, better known by his username TheChorroKing, tried the trend with the intention of losing weight before the holidays. When he started, he weighed 238 pounds.
On the third day he registered 235 pounds, even though he had not exercised that day, prompting him to ask, “Is this the miracle water?”
But despite your three-pound-in-a-day weight loss, experts say the trend doesn’t work the same as weight-loss injections and probably won’t help you keep the pounds off long-term.
Valenzuela started the rice-zempic trend after participating in a 60-day challenge where he drank blended oats to try to lose weight (which is considered oats-zempic).
Soaking rice in water releases the product’s natural starches, which could produce a mixture that is more filling than a regular cup of water.
This is something Mr. Valenzuela struggled with, as his progress using rice-zempic quickly stalled. This caused the content creator to stop the trend after 12 days.
‘What the hell. I only lost five pounds.’ he said in a TikTok on what would have been the 15th.
According to experts, these mediocre results are to be expected.
“There is no evidence to suggest that (the drink) has properties that can significantly affect weight loss, especially in the way that antidiabetic medications like Ozempic (do),” Scott Keatley, co-owner of Keatley Medical Nutrition Therapy. he told health.
This is because Ozempic and Wegovy, as well as similar medications such as Zepbound and Mounjaro, have appetite-suppressing effects because they mimic a hormone that the body naturally releases that controls digestion and hunger.
For most people, receiving these injections reduces hunger, helping them feel fuller for longer, which in turn causes them to eat less and lose weight.
However, drinking rice water has no effect on hormones. When rice is soaked in water, it releases starch, a satiating nutrient found in potatoes, bread, and pasta.
Therefore, drinking a glass of starchy water may help you feel full longer than a glass of regular water, Dr. Mir Ali, medical director of MemorialCare Weight Loss Surgical Center in California, told Health.
Meanwhile, rice water is low in calories, so if people drink it instead of eating, they will consume fewer calories overall and could lose some weight, Dr. Ali added. Experts do not recommend replacing this mixture with whole foods.
Recipes for this elixir vary from chef to chef, but most users who follow the rice-zempic diet combine an equal amount of white rice and room temperature water for five minutes. Some people let the concoction sit overnight.
Then the combination is drained, the rice is removed and the rice water is left alone, and the juice of half a lime or lemon is added.
TikTok user Olivia Dort followed a similar recipe and said he started participating in the trend ‘for fun’ and ‘to try it out’, calling himself part of the ‘ChorroKing tribe’.
Valenzuela originally gained popularity for following a similar trend, in which users drank mixed oat water.
Dort weighed 174.6 pounds when the rice water craze started. On the fourth day she weighed 169 pounds.
Both oat zempic and rice zempic follow the same theory: drink something that is more satiating than plain water and eat less food as a result.
Weight loss, in its most simplified terms, is all about burning more calories than you take in through food.
But diets like these, which attempt to make drastic changes in weight in a short period of time, generally don’t produce lasting results, Dr. Ali said.
“Once you stop doing these kinds of things, the weight will come back,” Dr. Ali said.
What’s most likely to help you reach your weight loss goals are small, consistent changes to both your diet and exercise routines, including eating a diet rich in nutrient-rich, fibrous vegetables and lean protein.
This requires more patience than zempic rice, but will give better results in the long term, Dr. Ali added.
