Nutrition Nugget: Rice or Wrong?
Bite-Size Reads for Your Health & Your Waistline
Over the past six+ months of quarantine, you’ve probably found yourself going to the cupboard and looking for something easy to make for dinner. I know I have! Perhaps what you find is a bag (or box) of rice. It’s economical, tasty and easy to cook. Plus, it pairs well with a variety of other flavors and food groups. To top it off, it’s healthy. Score! Right? Maybe not.
Ever heard it’s better to eat brown rice? What about all the other varieties? And on the store shelf there’s everything from 90-sec microwave cook time to taking what feels like days in a rice cooker. Does it matter?
While it’s true not all rice is created equal, the varieties might differ in ways you wouldn’t expect. In fact, white and brown rice can actually impact our blood sugar levels similarly. The range of rice and its impact on our health is a spectrum. Where it falls on that spectrum depends mostly on one surprising factor: how it’s cooked.
When health is our goal, it is best to eat low-glycemic impact foods. This means choosing foods that will not spike blood sugar. In general, processed foods are higher-glycemic, which means they’re more likely to raise blood sugar into a fat-storage zone. Whole and natural foods, rather, keep our blood sugar stable and support our body’s burn of fuel instead of storing it. Generally, fiber, protein and fat content are indicators of how quickly our body will turn the food into usable fuel. We want to keep that rate steady and even by choosing high fiber, high protein, quality fat containing foods, or a combination of these to create a healthful meal.
Let’s think about it for a minute…how is it possible that some rice needs to cook for hours and some can cook in 90-seconds? The ones that take longer to cook are close to the natural state of the grain. The ones that cook in the blink of an eye have been processed to be able to cook quickly. This processing often removes many of the nutrients our body needs; in this case, the fiber and protein naturally occurring in grains. Eating the 90-second microwave rice means we’re consuming a product that’s been highly processed and it is more likely to spike blood sugar. Think of it this way, since the machines already did most of the work, our bodies don’t have to work that hard and the release of the fuel into our system is fast.
So, your slow-cooking rice is more likely to be medium glycemic, while your fast-cooking rice is likely to be higher. It might be more convenient in a time crunch, but it’s not helping our energy or our health in the long run!
While some research shows basmati rice is preferable, it doesn’t make a huge difference by comparison. As long as we’re eating rice that we cook for a longer period of time (not the 10-min, boil-in-a-bag either), we’re doing our bodies a huge favor. Bonus: rice is a gluten free grain, making it safe for anyone with gluten sensitivities.
Since it’s unlikely we’re eating rice alone for a meal, let’s think about building the full plate. By pairing rice with low-glycemic vegetables, quality fats and protein, we can slow the release of fuel and keep our bodies out of the dreaded fat-storage zone that contributes to weight gain. Try adding some mix-ins like broccoli, zucchini, legumes, roasted chicken and avocado for a complete meal that will keep you full for hours. Now that’s a win! To further maximize the health benefit of your meal, bulk it up with veggies and protein and let your grains be more like a condiment, adding another flavor and texture.
So take out your rice cooker and get steaming. You can even turn on a podcast or listen to your favorite music in the meantime. It might take a little longer, but I promise it’s worth the wait!
