WHITE RICE

I don't think my Nigerian husband could survive without white rice for a week and I have to admit  in spite of my hard work he would not want to change to brown rice.

Is brown rice even better?

1 cup of cooked white rice contains around 205 calories,and brown rice contains 216 calories in 1 cup. Rice also serves as a good protein source. The difference in the protein content between brown rice and instant white rice is 5 g for brown rice and 3.3 g for instant white rice. Brown rice contains slightly more fat.

The bottom line is that both brown and white rice are nutritious options which can be eaten as part of your healthy diet. They fit into the same nutritional category as potatoes, pasta and bread so use them to add variety to your diet without worrying too much about certain types being "healthier" than others.

Most of the calories in rice come from carbohydrate; brown rice and white rice have around 44 g of carbohydrate per serving.
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So why all dietitians push you to eat brown rice instead of white rice?

Refined white rice has a higher glycemic index than brown rice, meaning it breaks down into glucose much more quickly after being eaten than brown rice. Foods with a high glycemic index can increase the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, according to the Harvard School of Public Health. Brown rice takes longer to break down because it contains more fiber. A Harvard study showed that eating five or more servings of white rice per week increased the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes by 17 percent, while those who ate two servings of brown rice per week reduced their risk by 11 percent.

So brown rice contains so many nutrients that get removed during the whitening process. It contains tons of vitamins, tons of minerals, iron (women take note), and fiber. Some of these minerals have been shown to reduce the risk of certain cancers, like colon and breast cancers, and even diabetes.

Will it be easy to make the switch?

Heck no! If you have been going the white route and want to switch to the brown route (no pun intended), it will be difficult mostly because, frankly, white tastes better than brown. I mean, no one would go through the process of getting the brown out if it didn’t actually taste better. But we’ve laid out the benefits above, and if you’re health conscious, which hopefully you are since you’re reading this article, you would slowly make a shift back to the original. And you know what they say: Once you go brown, you’ll stick around. No? Yeah, I agree, that doesn’t work.