Eating Rice Right!

Most of us in south India love rice. In fact we love it so much that we end up eating so much of rice and eventually becoming prone to all those lifestyle diseases that the Internet is talking about all the time. Then suddenly we realize that rice is not so good and we try to completely cut it out and eat chapatti or other wheat based foods, thinking that we are doing our body a great deal of good. Add things like glycemic index and suddenly rice looks like a villain.

However, no food is really bad by itself, it is only the combination and the quantity that makes them bad. Rice is a wonderful dish, it is tasty, it is filling, it has carbohydrates, which has to form a large percentage of our meals to stay healthy. And staple south indian diet always has rice with vegetables on the side.....rather a wee bit of vegetable when compared to rice.

Now, if the same rice is taken with a good quantity of vegetables, it reduces the glycemic index of the meal (not the rice, but since we are eating a meal, we shall talk about the meal as a whole). Suddenly, the rice is not such a villain after all. Now what defines 'good' quantity of vegetables? Simple- Equal quantity. Yes, equal quantity and you read right. So if you have a cup of rice, take a cup of vegetables, if you have one tonne of rice, take one tonne of vegetables. What this does is, it reduces the gylcemic index of the meal, makes you eat fibre, gives you the goodness of rice and the vegetables, gives you the satisfaction of eating rice and stops you from over eating rice.

So what about the carnivores? Well same rule applies to the non vegetarians too. Eat equal quantities of rice and vegetable and then add whatever meat you want to it. So avoid eating rice with chicken gravy, but eat rice with vegetables and chicken. The chicken gravy can go with the rice, the vegetables will be a side dish and the chicken will be the other side dish. So you get two side dishes ;)

However, it is best to avoid eating potatoes with rice. Potatoes are best had with your chapattis, but if you have a strong urge to eat potatoes, include the potato quantity in your rice quota. Rice is also best had once a day if you can help it. Eating a nice heavy breakfast will help you have a smaller lunch, more of which we will talk about in subsequent posts.

drwasim@yourwellnessdoc,com
www.yourwellnessdoc.com

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