Eat Less Rice! 
The human body was never meant to consume rice! You see, our genes have hardly changed in more than 30,000 years. However, our food choices and lifestyle have changed dramatically. The caveman would hardly recognize our food or way of life. Caveman food was never cooked as fire was not yet tamed. Thus, he ate only those foods that you can eat without treatment with or by fire. He ate fruits, vegetables, fish (sushi anyone?), eggs, nuts and meat. Yes, even meat. You can even eat meat raw if you were starving in the forest. You have the necessary enzymes to digest meat. However, rice, like wheat and corn, cannot be eaten raw.. It must be cooked. Even if you were starving in the desert, you cannot eat rice in the raw form. This is because we do not have the system of enzymes to break rice down. You were never meant to eat rice. To make matters worse, you not only eat rice, but also make it the bulk of your food. ! In some parts of Asia , rice forms up to 85% of the plate. Even if you take rice, keep it to a minimum. Remember, it is only for your tongue – not your body. Actually, rice and other grains like wheat and corn are actually worse than sugar. There are many reasons:
Rice becomes sugar – lots of it! This is a fact that no nutritionist can deny: rice is chemically no different from sugar. One bowl of cooked rice is the caloric equal of 10 teaspoons of sugar. This does not matter whether it is white, brown or herbal rice. Brown rice is richer in fiber, some B vitamins and minerals but it is still the caloric equal of 10 teaspoons of sugar. To get the same 10 teaspoons of sugar, you need to consume lots of kangkong-10 bowls of it.
Rice is digested to become sugar. Rice cannot be digested before it is thoroughly cooked. However, when thoroughly cooked, it becomes sugar and spikes circulating blood sugar within half an hour-almost as quickly as it would if you took a sugar candy. Rice is very low in the ‘rainbow of anti-oxidants. ‘ This complete anti-oxidant rainbow is necessary for the effective and safe utilization of sugar. Fruits come with a sugar called fructose. However, they are not empty calories as the fruit is packed with a whole host of other nutrients that help its proper assimilation and digestion.
Rice has no fiber. The fiber of the kangkong fills you up long before your blood sugar spikes. This is because the fiber bulks and fills up your stomach. Since white rice has no fiber, you end up eating lots of ‘calorie dense’ food before you get filled up. Brown rice has more fiber but still the same amount of sugar.
Rice is tasteless-sugar is sweet. There is only so much that you can eat at one sitting. How many teaspoons of sugar can you eat before you feel like throwing up? Could you imagine eating 10 teaspoons of sugar in one seating?
Rice is always the main part of the meal. While sugar may fill your dessert or sweeten your coffee, it will never be the main part of any meal. You could eat maybe two to three teaspoons of sugar at one meal. However, you could easily eat the equal value of two to three bowls (20-30 teaspoons) of sugar in one meal. I am always amused when I see someone eat sometimes five bowls of rice (equals 50 teaspoons of sugar) and then asks for tea tarik kurang manis! There is no real ‘built in’ mechanism for us to prevent overeating of rice:
How much kangkong can you eat?
How much fried chicken can you eat?
How much steamed fish can you eat?
Think about that!
In one seating, you cannot take lots of chicken, fish or cucumber, but you can take lots of rice. Eating rice causes you to eat more salt.
As rice is tasteless, you tend to consume more salt-another villain when it comes to high blood pressure. You tend to take more curry that has salt to help flavor rice. We also tend to consume more ketchup and soy sauce which are also rich in salt.
Eating rice causes you to drink less water. The more rice you eat, the less water you will drink as there is no mechanism to prevent the overeating of rice.. Rice, wheat and corn come hidden in our daily food. As rice is tasteless, it tends to end up in other foods that substitute rice like ! rice flo ur, noodles and bread. We tend to eat the hidden forms which still get digested into sugar. Rice, even when cooked, is difficult to digest. Can’t eat raw rice? Try eating rice half cooked. Contrary to popular belief, rice is very difficult to digest. It is ‘heavy stuff’. If you have problems with digestion, try skipping rice for a few days. You will be amazed at how the problem will just go away.
Rice prevents the absorption of several vitamins and minerals. Rice when taken in bulk will reduce the absorption of vital nutrients like zinc, iron and the B vitamins.
Are you a rice addict? Going rice-less may not be easy but you can go rice-less. Eating less rice could be lot easier than you think. Here are some strategies that you can pursue in your quest to eat less rice:
Eat less rice-cut your rice by half. Barry Sears, author of the Zone Diet, advises ‘eating rice like spice’.
Instead, increase your fruits and vegetables.
Take more lean meats and fish.
You can even take more eggs and nuts.
Have ‘riceless’ meals. Take no rice or wheat at say, breakfast. Go for eggs instead. Go on ‘riceless’ days – Go ‘western’ once a week…
Take no rice and breads for one day every week. That can’t be too difficult. Appreciate the richness of your food. Go for taste, colors and smells. Make eating a culinary delight. Enjoy your food in the original flavors.
Avoid the salt shaker or ketchup. You will automatically eat less rice.
Eat your fruit dessert before (Yes! No printing error) your meals.
The fiber rich fruits will ‘bulk up’ in your stomach. Thus, you will eat less rice and more fruits.
It’s your life. Decide what you want to eat!
Dear Dan
Caveman. Hmmm, interesting. Caveman reminds me of clubs, long hair, dragging motion, and the rest is xxx-rated.
Oh, I missed the focus of this post? Alamak…got sidetracked.
But yes, I agree that we should cut down on rice. Love to eat fruits, vegetables, fish, yum yum!
Time for lunch.
Joy
Nooooooo……
I cannot give up my rice!
I’m a “fan tung” (cantonese for rice vessel)
It’s my source of carbo for
energy as unlike angmoh, I dont
like potatoes & bread.
Careful of veg & fruits – unless organic, they are slow,
silent killer becos of high toxic chemical used to
grow them!
Fish – our oceans & seas are contaminated with poisons
like mercury & nuclear waste.. so watch out for your raw
suchi or yusheng.
Meat – they are injected with all sort of growth hormones,
flu vaccines, etc, etc… are most harmful to human.
Sigh… How ? Eat also die, dont eat also die…..
You decide lor! :)
Dan,
Can you imagine ‘riceless’ curry or ‘riceless’ risotto? Or eating nasi lemak without rice?
I think this is another of those scare mongering articles.
For generations people have been taking rice and with each generation, life span is getting longer. If rice were THAT bad, wouldn’t all the rice eaters, specifically Asians, be dying out or having a shorter life span?
Rice is a staple for Asians, just as potatoes and bread are for the Europeans. It’s how much one takes that is important. Event the title says that. “Eat LESS rice”. If one balances the various food groups and takes care not to have ‘too much of a good thing’, there shouldn’t be a problem. Too much of anything is not good for the body and that includes meat and fish and eggs and nuts and…even water.
Go ‘western’ once a week is good, but that doesn’t mean the ‘western’ diet is healthier. Look at the Americans. They eat very ‘western’. In fact, many westerners are opting for the Asian diet, and rice is on the menu.
The only point I agree with is, taking your fruit as the first course. Similarly with salads.
Dan, I’m curious who the writer is.
They say people in our age should avoid the “3 white sins”; meaning white rice, white flour and white sugar.
It should be a good start to healthy life.
Dear Joy,
Don’t envy the caveman, he may have his own set of problems!
Constance,
I won’t deny that in our modern industralized world many of our foods are chemicalised. Like what Mary said moderation is the keyword!
Mary Chan,
I can imagine ‘riceless curry’, why not opt for breads. Some of us will go for the one bowl of rice per meal. The concern here is on those who eats to much.
As Feztus said, at our age we should avoid white rice, white floor and white sugar if we don’t want to be expose to health hazards like high blood pressure and diabetic!
I receive this email from Andrew Kok, perhaps he may help to enlighten who the author is? This is a hot topic for discussion as it affects our Asian style of eating and I do appreciates further contribution from members!
Dan
Dan,
Yup, moderation is the key word.
Contrary to that statement, ” our genes have hardly changed in 30,000 years”, our genes HAVE changed in various ways. The very fact that our life span is progressively much longer than our ancestors, is an indication that our genes have evolved in some ways, don’t you think?
feztus
It is believed that anything ‘white’ is not good as they have been processed and possibly ‘bleached’ to make them look more attractive. This processing removes a lot of the ‘goodness’ or nutrients from the product and we are left with something that has practically no food value.
Then again, there was an article that claimed that there was no difference between ‘white’ sugar and ‘brown’ sugar.
So, what to believe?
Hello Dan,
Your article hoh, so long and so cheem. Poor eyesight hor, my rice cook already I still haven’t finish reading.
I think the author is Ang Moh.
This Ang Moh very good in Marketing one.
Our forefathers hoh, last time use animal and human manure and also urine to grow vegetables. But they very stupid, don’t know marketing. Scared people know they use manure and urine and sell their vegetables cheap cheap.
Ang Mog come, see, learn and do likewise. After that he uses his marketing and sell his vegetables as “OGANIC” leh.
Thats why Ang Moh so rich and we poor lor.
Can add one more sin to Feztus’ 3 sins or not? Besides white rice, white flour and white sugar, I think must add white milk….because of melamine. Haha.
How about white salt hah? I think white salt should be ok. My senior always tell me he eat more salt than I eat rice and my senior live to almost 90 years old.
Aiyah, anyway hungry just eat lah. Eat until full stop lor. Afterall there is a Chinese saying that “you have something to eat means you are lucky”.
Eat more, get more white hair. Passport to join SHC mah.
Roger
Hahaha Roger.
I like your sense of humour. People nowadays are worrying too much about what they eat, all because of these articles. Don’t know how many of them are actually based on legitimate research.
Remember the egg scare? Now, it seems that eggs are not bad. What to do? Eat sparingly lor. I love ‘char kuay teow’, although I know the oiliness will make me gain weight, but I eat it once in a long while, like once a month or two. I think my doctor eats it more often than I do, hehe.
Now, it’s the melamine scare. I have a suspicion there’s more to it. They came down so hard on China and blamed her for it and then what happened? Products from other countries are found to have melamine in them too, but these have not had the bad press that China had.
I think your guess is correct. There are people who are out to make lots of money writing these ‘scary’ articles.
Btw, what white hair Roger? If I remember correctly, you had black hair when I met you the other day, haha.
oh dear, i feel so bad that we are moving this “silver” club to “white” things. white sins, white hair, “white people” making money from other colors, no wonder some of us are getting “scary” and turning white! hope we not seeing white “things” if it is, better be angels!
anyway, it is hard to say what to believe as there is always “some elements of truth” in each of it, depending on where we base our assumptions on. But all this is good becos it rather educating! learning lot. should explore and get the wise and expert to comment.