By There is no need to eliminate this cost-effective dietary staple
I eat white rice all the time.
It’s not accurate to blame white rice for making us fat or causing problems with our blood sugar — how and what you eat with rice makes all the difference.
Some research suggests that cooked and cooling before consumption lowers blood sugar spikes after a meal.
Better yet, when you allow the rice to refrigerate for 24 hours before heating it again, you activate its resistant starch.
Resistant starch is a non-digestible carb that benefits gut health and blood sugar management.
Keep that in mind when you eat rice.
We can go one step further and add the right foods with rice to make it a complete meal that’s nourishing, gut-friendly, and helps stabilise our blood sugar.
You can try the experiment yourself by having rice off the stove and then when it’s been refrigerated and re-heated it 24 hours later.
Write down how you feel and what happened to your energy levels.
Let’s compare the difference between cooked parboiled white rice and brown rice.
Taken from the US department of agriculture.
As you can see, the results are pretty close, apart from the caloric range.
So white rice does contain some nutritional benefits.
When we combine white rice with the right foods, we have a nutritional match in heaven!
One: Rice with vegetables
Non-starchy vegetables added to your serving of rice help to boost the fibre profile of rice on its own.
Add an array of colourful vegetables to your dish.
Bake, steam or air fry as many as you can, then add to containers with rice to prepare your ready-made meals for the week.
This way, you can cool the rice for 24 hours and re-heat it at work (or if you are working from home)
Vegetables have many different vitamin and mineral properties.
Plus, they help to reduce the risk of certain cancers. So you can’t go wrong by eating more vegetables — especially when dressing them with white rice!
Two: Rice with beans & peas
Beans and peas with rice are one of my favourite meals.
Peas and beans contain a lot of fibre and antioxidants and help to improve blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol.
Combining beans with rice forms a complete protein, which is wonderful for vegans and vegetarians.
Complete protein meals provide all nine essential amino acids in the right amounts. Unfortunately, that’s quite rare for us vegans to achieve!
Try eating lentils with rice (my absolute fave!) and add a dash of vinegar to your lentils. It might sound strange, but it’s a staple added ingredient when eating lentils (Greek tradition), and it’s amazing (plus it helps lower blood sugar.)
Three: Veggies, meat & rice
Splitting it into three parts is a nice way to balance your plate. It would be best to fill half of your plate with non-starchy vegetables, a quarter with protein (meats, fish, poultry) and a quarter with grains like rice.
Eating in this fashion helps to add more nutritious and high-fibre vegetables whilst still allowing a good serving of white rice.
Try to eat your serving of vegetables first, as they provide the bulk of your satiety whilst saving rice for the finish line.
Four: Rice stuffed in bell peppers
Stuffed bell peppers are a simple and delicious way to enjoy rice without fuss. But, of course, you can always add vegetables or herbs to your rice, making it tasty and satisfying.
Bell peppers are great because they contain capsaicin, a phytochemical compound that helps fight against cancer development.
Peppers are also a great anti-inflammatory, help lower blood sugar and contain antioxidant properties that help benefit our health. You can also add pepper to your foods for added punch.
Key takeaways
Why not build your rice bowls and experiment with different beans, protein sources and vegetables?
One other stuffed vegetable rice idea is to use tomatoes.
It’s a traditional Greek recipe, and it’s wonderful!
You can get a recipe similar to my traditional one here.
So, go ahead and enjoy rice; eat it with veggies, beans and protein as often as you like.
Don’t be afraid of it. Cook, refrigerate for 24 hours and then re-heat it back to life.
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