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Filipinos are rice lovers. Seriously. Lechon won’t be complete without puso, or champorado wouldn’t taste good in wheat. Add humba or adobo sauce to a pot of just-cooked rice and voila—it’s heaven! We pair rice with almost anything—Star margarine (remember this
), Milo, condensed milk, sugar. You name it, being rice lovers is evident in our every meal. However, I always hear this with almost every dieting person I meet—“Di na ko mag rice kay manambok ko!” or if one orders everything else except rice, this is then followed by an eyebrow-rising question, “Nag diet ka?”
This has been a misconception among us that rice makes us fat.
Yes, you read that right.
Misconception. False belief.
This is a misconception and it gives the rice lesser credit than it should have. It’s like judging a person without knowing his or her qualities first.
Let us first ask ourselves, what else did we eat?
And how much/many did we eat?
Did we have chicken/pork skin last night?
Did we have bacon and hotdogs for breakfast?
Or a fruit salad for dinner?(mayonnaise/heavy cream plus sugar)
These are just a few examples of calorie-dense food, meaning these are rich in calories but not the macronutrients that are essential. It’s either high in saturated fat or sugar that basically, will not be used up throughout the entire day (if you don’t exercise) and will be stored as FAT instead. We tend to point our fingers to poor old rice instead and jump into conclusions that rice makes us fat. We blame rice to be the cause, forgetting the one fact that we are sometimes taking too many calories or too much calories. We call this a calorie surplus.
So, what I’m trying to say is—go easy on our poor old buddy—rice. It has its great benefits which are the following:
- Great energy source
– it is rich in carbohydrates, acting as fuel for the body and aids in brain normal brain function.
• Cholesterol free – it does not contain harmful fats/cholesterol and sodium that affect cholesterol levels.
• Vitamin-Rich – an excellent source of vitamin D, calcium, fiber, iron, thiamine, riboflavin and niacin.
• Resistant Starch – it abounds in resistant starch, which reaches bowel in undigested form. It aids the growth of useful bacteria for bowel movements.
• Gluten-free – very essential especially for people who have celiac disease or those having problems with their body interacting with gluten.
So rice is definitely a good source of carbohydrates, especially brown rice that has low glycemic index rating-- it won’t spike up your blood sugar levels. Common thing is, most people don’t measure how much they are eating. A cup of rice is about 54 grams of carbohydrates which is around 216 calories in estimate. Because of its form, it is easy to eat and digest so we tend to eat a lot.
Learn to count your calories.
Rice isn’t fattening.
Rather, calorie surplus/overeating is fattening.
Extra rice?
Bring it on.
Facts By: Stanly C. Inso
Krusade (iSTORYAn nick)
Edited by: thisbe.ara (EIC)
Krusade is both food and fitness enthusiast. He is a fitness instructor in one of the best gyms in Lapu-Lapu City. He is also a chef. He maintains a Facebook page that talks about Nutrition and Fitness.. Check it out--> http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nutrit...12582768825198
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