Most of us know that brown rice is a lot better for you than white rice but living in Malaysia, it’s more common to be eating the latter. It’s unavoidable because our culture depends on it, but that doesn’t mean you can’t opt for the healthier choice when cooking rice at home. If you didn’t know, brown rice is basically white rice before it goes through a refining process. The outside hull and bran is removed when it is put through such process, which essentially turns it into the sparkling white rice we buy in grocery stores.
White rice is basically rice that’s been completely stripped off of its natural wholeness. That means you’re missing out on fiber, proteins, thiamine, calcium, magnesium and potassium. When you eat white rice and eat it often, you’re depriving your digestive health from fiber, and we all know how important it is to have fiber in our diets.
Here are some of the reasons as to why you might want to make that healthy switch from white rice to brown rice:
It promotes weight loss — Anything that helps shed some pounds should get anybody’s attention. Brown rice is absolutely packed with fiber-richness and that translates to a healthy bowel function. Eating brown rice promotes weight loss because of all the fiber, which increases your metabolic function by “keeping things moving”. A small bowl of brown rice is able to keep you full for ages and might even prevent you from snacking unhealthily.
Brown rice is whole grain — As we mentioned earlier, brown rice is basically rice in its most natural form. It hasn’t been stripped off and is not processed, so it’s got all the natural goodness inside each grain. Eating brown rice can reduce your chances of ever getting a heard disease and high cholesterol, unlike white rice that leaves you feeling bloated after each serving and is very fattening.
It’s an antioxidant — And a great one at that. When it comes to antioxidants, most people associate it to blueberries or green tea but brown rice is just as powerful of an antioxidant. We all know how great antioxidants are for promoting good health and avoiding unwanted diseases. So, what are you waiting for? Give up that white rice and start cooking brown rice instead.
Keeps your bones healthy — Yeah, you read that right. Brown rice can keep your bones at its strongest because its packed with calcium and vitamin D. A cup of brown rice has about 21% of your daily magnesium requirements and magnesium is a nutrition that helps with keeping your bones healthy and not develop something like osteoporosis later on in life.
Brown rice stabilises your sugar levels — For those who suffer from diabetes, brown rice would be an excellent food choice to have in your diet. Research has also shown that by having half a cup of brown rice a day can reduce your chances of getting diabetes by 60%, unlike when you consume white rice.
It’s very versatile — If you think giving up white rice means having to give up some delicious ingredients to go with your cooking, you’re absolutely wrong. Brown rice not only fills you up and does a great job at doing so but it’s so delicious that it literally goes with any ingredient you can think of.
