So carb lovers – Brown Rice or White Rice- that is the question!!!
So carb lovers – to eat or not to eat white rice – that is the question!!!
The Survey Says……………………
Sorry crazy carb fans but BROWN is definitely better. It’s better for a lot of reasons however it is not a Free For All Pass to eat as much as you want and lose weight.
Nutritionally, brown rice stomps on white rice when it comes to the nutrients and vitamins due to the milling process of white rice. There’s that word “process” and soon to follow “enriched” and/or “fortified.”
Rice goes through a process before it’s ready to be cooked. After harvesting, the seeds are run thru a rice huller/husker for milling to remove outer grain husks and, Viola, you have brown rice.
To create white rice there’s more to it! The germ and inner husk (bran) is removed, the grain is polished, usually adding glucose or talc. Because of these added steps to create white rice the nutrients are striped and sometimes added back via synthetic sources. Let me introduce “fortified” white rice. This process also happens with white bread verses wheat bread.
Calorically however brown and white rice are about the same, actually BROWN rice is about 10 more calories per cup. That doesn’t mean to eat white instead of brown however I see more and more, and I too fell victim, a mentality that it’s alright to eat BROWN rice and WHOLE WHEAT bread; it’s alright to eat crackers as long as they are WHOLE WHEAT. That is a much better option however you CANNOT eat those carbs at every meal. Brown rice takes longer for the body to digest, so if you eat toast for breakfast and a whole wheat pita for a snack, brown rice and chicken for lunch, a whole wheat wrap for an afternoon snack and brown rice or whole grain cous cous and fish for dinner you are not doing any better than eating white bread, white rice and baked potatoes for every meal. Because of the slower digestion, you will not get hungry as fast as if you ate white bread or rice however your body will get used to eating every 3-4 hours and want more food. If you keep feeding it those “healthy” carbs the weight won’t come off as fast or at all, you will become more and more frustrated, throw in the towel AGAIN and start all over on MONDAY! That’s what we tend to do. Ditch the “diet” mid week cause it’s not working and start fresh on MONDAY!
In short, eating brown rice will provide you with many nutrients however should be eaten in moderation. I suggest once a day. Try veggies instead of rice, fruit with peanut butter instead of wraps and veggies dipped in humus instead of pitas. These small changes can make BIG differences.
Tomorrow’s Topic – Is “enriched” wheat flour just a good as whole wheat for WEIGHT LOSS??? Thanks for hanging out with me today and please leave your comments - they help all of us get better!!!!
Tina Whetzel is a certified Charleston personal trainer, nutrition and fitness consultant, and speaker with Shaping Concepts fitness training studios.
Click to learn more informtion about Tina’s EatFit LiveFit Healthy Cooking Class and her recently released EatFit LiveFit Healthy Cookbook.
