I love brown rice. I eat it all the time with lots of veggies and proteins, around 3 days a week. I do 20:4 or OMAD with CICO for weight loss. I almost never eat white rice, but opinions seem divided on brown rice and whether fasting for 20+ hours and breaking it, with even whole grains, is bad. I want your personal opinions/experiences on brown rice, please!
I am from South East Asia and grew up on rice. An uncle of mine is a rice miller who trades a variety of rice, I grew up seeing the trend of rice consumption and the different types of rice. I’m passionate about rice haha.
While white rice remains a staple in Asia due to its price and availability, it’s highly accepted that it’s a bit of an empty carb with high GI and GL, linked with type 2 diabetes. About 15 years ago, there was a huge marketing and media push to market brown rice as the healthier alternative in Asia, which continued up to about 3 to 4 years ago.
Over the past 5 years, with the consumption of brown rice increasing and white rice reducing, there’s been a few long-term studies and papers showing that brown rice isn’t as healthy as we thought / we were told. “Brown rice is nothing but unpolished rice. As per nutritionists, brown rice is the generic term for unpolished rice or whole grain rice.”
The research I have read is - brown is marginally better than white rice (we are talking 5%) and brown rice is sold as some healthy alternative with a higher price point when in fact it’s cheaper or the same effort to produce.
Over the past couple of years, doctors have been leaning more towards black, purple or red rice. I myself have switched over to that about 8 years ago and it’s amazing. I would highly suggest giving black or red rice a try.
In terms of breaking a fast with something like black rice, I don’t see it as a problem. I often use black rice. It’s a bit like quinoa, which is a great way to break your fast.
Some simple data on black rice:
While white rice has 6.3 grams of protein per 100 grams, black rice has 9.1 grams of protein. It has more antioxidants and fibres than white rice, not just protein
Lower in calories, lower in carbohydrates, and higher in protein and fiber than white or brown rice, black rice is a lower calorie powerhouse.
Using a mouse model of hyperuricemia, fraction 2 and crude extract of black rice anthocyanins were found to have a strong ability to reduce uric acid levels and inhibit key enzymes in the uric acid production pathway, and to reduce kidney damage and oxidative stress.
Black rice reduces high cholesterol levels in the blood. It suppresses the action of enzymes that are responsible for cholesterol production.
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/black-rice-benefits#5.-May-have-anticancer-properties