A lot of diets out there advocate a certain way of eating and
shunning specific food. Is added sugar really bad?
Should we avoid fried food forever? What about laksa? How about
Chocolate? Are egg yolks bad? Does eating healthy truly mean you can never
touch white rice again? Is brown rice, sugar, eggs, dogs and computers
really better than their white counterparts?
Well, let’s tackle this issue today!
Brown
rice has long been touted as THE rice to eat over white rice. White
rice, HORRORS! is an anti nutrient and must be avoided at ALL COST. But
oh, lovely brown rice is the darling of the wholegrain world. Unsullied
and unspoilt, it comes gleaming on your plate in all its unrefined
glory.
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| Taken from here |
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| Taken from here |
When grains go through refining, the bran
and germ are removed, effectively removing out fibre, B vitamins,
Minerals etc, leaving only the Endosperm which contains carbohydrates,
some protein and B vitamins.
you can see, brown rice trumps white rice on every front, calorie wise
as well but the differences are miniscule. White rice still gives you
more than 4g of protein and the carbohydrate levels are almost similar.
the Glycemic Index is different, the glycemic index of white rice can
actually be lowered by combining the rice with other fibrous food like
veggies etc. Since nobody usually eats plain white rice alone, that
shouldn’t really pose much of a problem.
Stay happy and healthy guys 🙂
<3
Hi, I love reading your blog!! Thank you so much for the helpful information~ I would like to try eating brown rice, do you have any brand of brown rice to recommend? Thank you!
Thank you so much for your kind words! I'm going to do up a page soon about the brands I like and the products I usually eat. Will let you know when it's posted! But for now, I usually eat organic thai hom mali brown rice. you can google for the picture.It's sold at the kovan wet market in the dry provision stroe but I've seen it at other places as well. It has a cartoon elephant on the packaging! Haha. For starters, you can go to NTUC and try a small packet of the mixed rice as well just to ease your tastebuds into eating different grains! 🙂
Browsing through, your blog has alot of good posts. You're spot on regarding the white vs brown rice issue. I too have started questioning the comparison.
The "effect" of combining vegetables or other foods with a carbohydrate source is called Glycemic Load. The Glycemic Index is just a guide on 100g of carbohydrates of a certain food like white rice, brown rice etc as compared to glucose the gold standard.
More importantly is the Glycemic Load, where the actual quantity consumed AND its Glycemic Load is taken into consideration. As you've mentioned, we don't eat just white rice alone and we also hardly eat 100g of carbohydrate (macronutrient not physical weight) at one go.
With the Glycemic Load, portion control and moderation shows how important it is. Because consuming more of a Low GI food, will increase the load compared to consuming a lesser amount of a High GI food. But of course for the same amount of carbohydrates, Low GI is a healthier alternative at least for general meals with no specific dietary requirements.
The emphasis on nutrition should be on balanced, portion, and healthier choices. However for public health, where sadly people are generally more educated and know what to do, it's the influence of popular culture, society and habits from young that are the big obstacles.
It's how to truly compete with popular, great tasting and desirable food. I wish to change that. Slowly …
Haha thanks for dropping by and for the great write up here! I should totally invite you to guest blog here! We could all benefit from your wealth of knowledge!
Hi, you have a nice blog here… i stumbled on your blog as i am looking for the GI info. of Hom Mali Brown rice… Lately, i was diagnosed with gestational diabetes at my 30th week pregnancy so my gynae recommended me to switch my intake of white rice to brown rice. But after some search online, not all brown rice has low GI. Some site even mentioned some brown rice have high GI. I wondered if you have the actual GI count for Hom Mali Brown rice? I just bought a 2kg pack from NTUC but it did not state its GI level…
Hi there!
congrats on the new baby! I'm sure you must be very excited! 😀
It's unfortunate about the gestational diabetes but there are many ways to handle it. I don' tnow about the brown rice's actual GI count but brown rice in general has a GI count of 55-85 depending on how processed it is. To ease your fears, I would say that the GI value of the rice doesn't really matter much but it's what you pair with it that matters. Also, the hom mali is a real type of brown rice. Some brown rice have high GI because unethical suppliers actually colour their white rice darken to make it look healthy!
The GI value of the food is based on that food BY ITSELF. So eating white rice alone will impact your sugar levels drastically because of it's high GI but this can be mitigated by pairing it with fibre rich food, protein or good fats such that it slows the impact on blood sugar levels.
The Thai Hom Mali brown rice is one of my favorites in terms of flavour and I recommend that you enjoy it as well paired with lean protein and fibre rich sides! On a standard round dinner plate, 1/2 a section should be ALL leafy veg/ broccoli etc, 1/4 meat and 1/4 brown rice. If you can handle it, i personally recommend subbing the brown rice for steel cut oat porridge sometimes maybe for variety. What you want to always make sure is to have carbohydrates with fibre to slow the release which means hawker centre porridge is possibly the worst thing you can eat because of it's high sodium and fat content + high GI.
I hope this information has been useful! Don't stress and do enjoy the last few weeks of pregnancy! Is this your first child? 🙂