Rice is a dietary staple for a large percentage of the world’s population and has been for centuries.
While people ate brown rice the nutrition provided was good. When the preference switched to the more palatable and more easily chewable white rice, nutritional deficiencies resulted.
White rice is produced by removing the bran and germ of the rice grain, leaving only the starchy endosperm. While this process extends shelf life and provides a quicker cooking time, it also removes critical nutrients, most notably thiamine (vitamin B1). Thiamine deficiency is the leading cause of beriberi.
Also, refined carbohydrates like white rice have been linked to a host of modern health issues, including obesity, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome. For this reason what little rice I consume is brown rice.
For those who prefer white rice over brown there is a process by which the negative impacts of white rice can be reduced. Obviously you cannot replace the lost nutrients by other than supplementing but you can decrease the inflammatory effects of white rice with this tip.
Resistant starch is a type of starch that resists digestion in the small intestine and ferments in the large intestine, feeding the beneficial bacteria in the gut. This not only improves digestive health but also increases feelings of fullness, reduces inflammation, and improves insulin sensitivity.
Here’s the hack: cook your rice with a teaspoon of coconut oil, then cool it for 12 hours before reheating. This simple process can increase the resistant starch content of rice by up to 10 times! The coconut oil interacts with the starch molecules, making them more resistant to digestion, while the cooling process further crystallizes the starch. The result is a healthier, more satisfying rice that won’t send your blood sugar on a roller coaster.