Types Of Rice And Their Benefits

Hi there!  I’ll be sharing with you today some general information about the different types of rice and what are the nutrients that they contain.

Rice as a “must have” food

Pinoy meal is not complete without a cup of steaming hot rice in a plate or in a different plate **unli rice? Yes! **

Did you know that there are about 40,000 rice varieties in the world? Yep. Including long and short-grained, pearl, basmati, arborio, and jasmine.

Did you even wonder why there are different colors of rice? Well, it depends on how they were milled. The milling process affects not only the grains’ color, but also their taste, consistency, and more importantly, the nutritional value.

WHITE RICE  –   milled until the husk and bran are removed. Afterwards, it is polished until become white and shiny. All of this procedure makes this variety less nutritious than the brown and red rice.

RED RICE – partially hulled or unhulled rice that still have red husks in it. The milling process is similar to brown rice, both have a nutty taste and provide high nutrition. The red color is because of the antioxidant  known as Anthocyanin, it is linked to lowering the risk of developing several chronic health conditions. This rice is rich in fiber, iron, zinc, B vitamins and calcium.

BROWN RICE – partially hulled to keep the bran or germ (covers the kernel). It has a nutty flavor and the germ that is left intact has fats that can spoil, that is why it is more expensive because they are not as easily available, spoil faster and challenging to transport.

1 cup of brown rice can:

• provide 14% of the daily value needed for fiber
• reduce high cholesterol
• reduce high cholesterol
• help prevent colon cancer
• reduce the occurrence of constipation
• provides 88% of the recommended daily intake for manganese

It also provide an excellent source of selenium and magnesium and includes considerable amounts of iron, protein and a number of B-vitamins.

For me, I grew up eating white rice, and yes I eat a lot! What I realized later on is that right after a heavy lunch, I started to feel lethargic and sluggish  then I cannot help it and I will dive into my bed.

This cycle happened for a couple of years, until I noticed I am gaining weight like crazy. Not to the point of being obese but I felt like I am always tired. So I did a little bit of research and found that my *eating habits* are the root cause.

And it wasn’t easy – switching to a colored rice? Whaat? Yeah! BIG DEAL! After several months of convincing myself – I gave it a try.

I started with “brown rice”  last year, retails around Php 120 per 2 kl; that is **expensive** but c’mon let’s look at the bright side of it. 🙂

I noticed that it fills me up for 4 hours straight! Yes, no kidding *bye snack time!*. I love all the benefits that it provides but it does spoil very easily though.

After 1 year of consuming brown rice – I decided to try out the red rice for a change, the taste is similar to brown rice.

I usually buy at the nearest market; retails around Php 70 per 1 kl. And I am on my 4th month of red rice! Yipee!! I love the way it fills me up and the iron %  is such a *winner*.

Hope you learn something today! Try red or brown rice varieties.

It will not hurt giving yourself a healthy treat every meal.

Are you ready for a switch? Let me know! 🙂

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