Saturday, February 26, 2011

Is rice your daily food ?

Hello people ! Hope you have a great weekend ahead. Today I thought I ll share some interesting facts about rice and how it can be a super food if eaten in the proper way.
Rice was once considered a superior food is souther parts of India and in regions like  Mediterranean, Japan, China and other Asian countries. But then came 'White Rice' which according to me is rather a bane to human beings than a boon. Rice eaters got sicker, fatter and were more prone to diabetic. People started to diet with oil less rotis to shed weight neglecting the fact that fat is also a part of a healthy diet. A healthy body with proper functioning of all the organs will also be slim and attractive with a natural glow.
Another factor that made the white devil even more unhealthy is the invention of rice cookers. Rice cookers when introduced in the 60's were an instant hit among the mothers as they cooked soon and were very fuel efficient. But rice when cooked through traditional method - by boiling it in a pot of water and then removing the 'starched' water once cooked actually washes away the water soluble 'monosaccharides' or rather the 'sugar' content of the rice reducing the GI load of the rice. This starched water is good for hair, skin, sick old people but certainly not for me ! It can be compared to a cup of glucose.

Now what is 'white rice' and 'brown rice' ?

I have taken these images and other information from this link where they talk a lot about brown rice and I think it is very much worth a click : http://www.salagram.net/64-65_rice.pdf
So brown rice is what we get after removing thehusk of the rice barn either by pounding by hand or by any other minimal processing methods. After removing the bran, other layers just outside the endosperm and along with them all the important vitamins and minerals, we get the famed white rice. The above link and even wikipidea for that matter explains how brown rice has 350% more fibre and 200% more vitamin E among other things. The high fiber content leads to a very low GI load making it one of the healthiest food for diabetics. It has been researched that a person eating white rice 5 days a week is 17% more susceptible to diabetic than a non rice eater and again a person who eats brown rice in a similar manner is 32% resistant to diabetics.
Offcourse I must also say that rice is then artificially coated with extra vitamins and proteins but they are binded together by talc in most of the processing units.  But even with all the extra nutrients white rice couldn t yet match the contents of brown rice. But white rice has an advantage of having extra shelf life which was the basic reason for it s invention.

Please go through some of these wonderfull articles about brown rice in the net.

Pressure cooker method Vs Boiling or Non-pressure cooker method of cooking rice :


There are some advantages and some disadvantages on both the sides. It is up to us to decide which one to choose depending on your body condition.

Advantages of using a Pot to cook rice and then removing the starched water :


  • Removes upto 40% of 'Monosacharides' from the rice as a result of which :
  1. GI load is reduced
  2. Hormones are balanced
  3. Liver gets detoxed naturally making it to digest fat faster
  4. Weight reduction
  5. Hairfall and hirtuism
  6. A healthy food for diabetics
  • The starched water is good for old people, kids, hair and skin
Disadvantageof using a Pot to cook rice and then removing the starched water :
  • A lot vitamins and minerals are washed away (but not fibre)
  • Pressure cookers are faster, fuel efficient and less messy
My Experience with brown rice cooked using a pot :

Duration : Roughly 2 months

Liver spots or freckles on my hands were reduced. My horrible hairfall which lasted for years finally stopped and I eat more but still manage to lose weight (very very slowly though). I made many other lifestyle changes and so I am not sure if it is because of this. But I know one thing for sure about brown rice is that it trains the intestines to reduce the 'carb craving' because on the days when I occasionally eat white rice, I am not able to eat even half of how much I eat brown rice. I know many old people who can not digest white rice or even rice cooked with pressure cooker because it gives them indigestion. There was an article on this even in the local magazines by a doctor. 
It was difficult at first to eat the brown rice but now that I am used to it, I really don t like usual form of rice these days. In love with brown rice !

 So ... 'Are Are Are ... Cauvery aarum kai kuthal arisiyum marandhu poguma' ... 

luv,
CP

10 comments:

  1. I'm a brown rice eater too! What I love most about it is the flavour. White rice is bland without salt but with brown rice you get all sorts of flavours even without it being salted. I've only had white rice less than 10 times in the last year. You're right, once you're used to eating brown rice, white rice loses it's appeal.

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  2. I ve been having white rice for the past 24 years and only now have we converted to this but still my people are addicted to white rice. Sadly, I have to force them to eat this.

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  3. And thanks for following my blog Nan :)

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  4. I love my rice! sadly, I eat white rice.. I dont know whyyy but i couldnt get myself to eat brown rice ever!!! I want to try again!!:)

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  5. Oh please try to. It has lots of benefits and it will help you resist many diseases.

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  6. hey chennai ponnu...nice blog...me tooo chennai ponnu only...very happy to see a blogger from chennai :)
    I am following you :)
    Btwn nice article...i eat loads of rice and sure will try the brown rice...

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  7. i still have to try hard for brown rice..:(

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  8. Hey CP, how have you been? Haven't seen you online in quite a while, so just wondering. TC

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  9. No net means boredom :P Don't know how I managed before we got a computer.
    I'm good these days. Are you back now?

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  10. Do we get the brown rice (kai kuthal arisi) in the shops.

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