- Make It Yourself Lavender Heart-Shaped Bath Bombs!
- 20 Things You Never Knew About “Down There”
- 12 Best Foods For Those Suffering From Arthritis Pain
- 12 Personal Hygiene Mistakes Almost Everyone Makes (Mom Never Told You About #4!)
- 15 Medicinal Plants And Herbs From The Cherokee People
- 12 Mind-Blowing Benefits Of Drinking Coconut Water During Pregnancy
- 12 Outstanding Winter Foods That Won’t Fatten You Up Like A Christmas Turkey
Add This One Thing To Rice To Make It Much Healthier
Photo credit: bigstock.com
If you love rice, but you don’t make it often because it is highly processed and has a high glycemic index, we have good news for you. Did you know that the effect food can have on your blood sugar levels can be altered when you add something to that food? It’s true! Although many cultures have known this for some time, it took a pair of scientists to recently discover this one little trick.
Two scientists from Sri Lanka, Dr. Pushparajah Thavarajah and Sudhair James, experimented with eight different recipes and more than 38 different types of rice. This pair of scientists found that the best way to increase the health factor of rice was to add coconut oil to the boiling water, then stirring in the uncooked rice. After cooking the rice was allowed to cool completely, and it was consumed after 12 hours had elapsed.
Even when the least healthy type of rice was made this way, the calorie count was reduced by as much as 12 percent. These two scientists did their research at the College of Chemical Sciences in Colombo. According to them, the calorie count of rice can be reduced even further by using the correct type of rice, prepared with coconut oil in the manner described above. Doing so can cut the calories by as much as 60 percent!
How does this work? Some schools of nutrition have taught for some time that mixing certain fats with high carb foods, such as rice, can lower the carb’s high glycemic index. Cooking rice with coconut oil and chilling the rice before consuming can cut calories because the process changes the actual chemical composition of the rice. Digestible starch now turns into indigestible starch (sometimes called resistant starch), so the rice does not get as easily turned into glucose. When we eat more glucose than the body can use, the body converts it into fat.
Continue to Page 2
Photo credit: bigstock.com
One cup of medium-grain white rice, the most commonly consumed type of rice, contains 246 calories. When cooked with coconut oil and cooled before eating, the calorie count goes down to an unbelievable 147. To make this deal even sweeter, resistant starch is a prebiotic, so it really compliments the way probiotic foods work. Prebiotics feed those good bacteria in your digestive system, which improves your entire digestive process while strengthening your immune system.
SEE ALSO: Everything About Rice Infographic
Here’s how to use this new and improved method of cooking rice:
Boil two cups of water. Once the water is boiling, add one tablespoon of virgin coconut oil. Now stir in one cup of rice (medium grain white rice would be a good choice). Cook for 20 to 30 minutes, or until all the water is absorbed. Allow to cool to room temperature, and then put the rice in the refrigerator for 12 hours. You can use the rice the way it is, or re-heat it. These researchers found that even when the rice was re-heated, it didn’t lose its healthier benefits nor regain any calories.
Although rice will be healthier when you cook it this way, this still doesn’t mean that you can eat as much as you like. It does still contain calories. However, if you love rice, who wouldn’t want to eat one of their favorite foods with half the calories?!
References:
