Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Rice or No Rice in Diet

Friends there are lots of articles which have stated all along that eating rice is bad for health & accounts to weight gain & other problems. But just think about the vast population of South East Asians Chinese, Japanase & others eat rice with every meal, all their breads & other foods like noodles are made of rice but they are not fat or overweight. So, can we actually account rice as the cause. I am also a rice eater if not three meals atleast 1-2 meals everyday, and frankly I love it :).

rice a must in diet for reasons you should know

Removing rice from the diet is not a good idea, and especially going to a wheat diet instead. It simply means reducing your amino acid intake which is the building block for proteins and Vitamin B. It has essential 9 amino acids present which cannot be synthesized in the human body. The profile is excellent in comparison to other protein sources as well & has shown recovery in muscle strength. The presence of methionine in rice has shown to mobilize the fat from the liver and tyrosine present is also a very essential amino acid. The other option people have started choosing is to replace it with brown rice. Brown rice has the husk & bran remains on the rice which makes it high in fiber, this fiber is actually much more than the body can digest. This would only aid to indigestion, also the proteins present cannot be completely absorbed by the body. Instead of this a better way is to introduce rice which is not completely white but the husk is removed & is slightly brown.

Also to add on to the note that people think that rice is bad for type-2 diabetes has proven to be wrong. The carbohydrates present in rice are complained to be bad due to high glycemic index which makes the carbohydrates to be digested faster and increasing blood sugar levels. But recent studies have shown that Indian rice like swarna & mashuri have GI of around 50 & Basmati GI around 55-69, which is considered to be much better than other varieties of rice present. Another few ways to reduce the carbohydrate content is to wash & soak the rice for about 30 min before cooking. It also reduces the time to cook the rice. Next is to cook the rice in an open container with more water, this way the grains become much bigger as well as the excess water afterwards can be drained so reducing the excess starch.

The next important point to be noted is that rice is a gluten free grain. Gluten is a protein present wheat, barley, rye & oats. Gluten sensitivity is seen in many individuals and shows digestive issues like gas, bloating, diarrhea & also constipation in certain cases. This can cause disease called celiac disease which causes inflammation & destruction of inner cells of the small intestine. This chronic disease leads to malabsorption of vitamins  minerals. Also it has shown adverse effect on type-2 diabetes.

I hope the above article has helped you make your decision clearer. The average Indian's staple food is rice & can be enjoyed in a healthy diet, without worries. Please share your thoughts on the same.
Thanks!!


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