Why does everyone avoid white rice?

Hi guys,

I just had an urge to share my thoughts on white rice. I've heard from everyone and everywhere of North America that refined carbs (such as white bread, white rice, etc.) is bad for you. Well, because I come from a Chinese family, we have rice with almost every meal. Even breakfast is usually a type of porridge (congee) of rice boiled with many times its volume of water. However, we just cannot eat brown rice or another type of naturally enriched whole-grain rice, because it's not of our preference.

Since learning about health and nutrition (and doing some serious self-research), I've argued with my mother (previously a gynecologist in China) about this.

XD I'd like to pose our side of this "white rice=bad" arguement to CC. Firstly, we all know that China/Japan/other countries of Asia have the highest consumption of rice in the world. I don't know what percentage of this is white rice, but my parents are always saying "pshh EVERYONE eats white rice!" Both of them grew up in some of the poorest parts of China, from farmers. And with 5+ siblings each, they grew up from infantry drinking ONLY the smoothest "broth" from boiled water and white rice. And on most days of their life until university, all they ate was white rice with some preserved vegetables, and the weekly roast eel. But my parents are two of the healthiest people I know.

If white rice is just empty calories, then, added with the fact that in their childhood/adolescence, they worked probably several times as hard as the children of today, how can people be so afraid of consuming white rice?

XD And, my dad, being a traditional acupuncturist doctor, thinks the "western" food guide (like Canada Food Guide or Food Pyramid) doesn't cover all there is to nutrition. His opinion is that people should take time to understand the traditional Chinese yingyang method of thinking and eating.

If you are interested in finding out about it (I know I was), just wiki "Traditional Chinese Medicine". The concepts revolve around "warm", "cold", and neutral foods. The idea is that no WHOLE food (aka 100% unprocessed food) is directly bad for the body. It's just that some foods are too "warm" for a naturally "cold" person, therefore causing imbalances in their body. This can partially explain why some people claim works well for them and they really enjoy eating it, while others have completely different preferences. Being aware of how "hot" or "cold" you are, plus portion and calorie control, is the most effective way of maintaining one's health (says my dad).

>_< Sorry if it seems like I'm making no sense in this ranting, and please understand that I'm not arguing that white rice is healthier than brown or anything. I still think it CAN be eaten in moderation and enjoyed free-of-guilt occasionally. I simply want to share this reasonable explanation with the CC community.

 Any thoughts? ^^;;

this is really interesting.  i'm curious, though, if your parents grew up in farming families, wouldn't they have eaten whole grain rice in China?  if you're buying it at the grocery store in north america, obviously there are many choices, but in rural China, wouldn't it be a different story?

i'm really interested in the "hot" and "cold" piece.  is that to do with the part of the world where your ancestors originate, like that blood-type theory?

I switched from rice to quinoa or bulgur because I wanted a grain with fewer calories, fewer carbohydrates, and more protein.

=^..^= MOLLY

My blood sugar spikes about 30 minutes after I eat it, and then it crashes, and I'm starving.

That's why.

Full stop.

Hey kagura, If you hvae time to explain the hot/cold thing, I'd be very interested to hear it. And I just LOVE white rice! Had nigiri sushi tonight, as a matter of fact. (:

White rice contains almost no protein, no fat, no fiber, massive quantities of calories, and is high GI.

Just because the chinese eat white rice and are generally healthy doesn't mean that it is a good food. The french eat MASSIVE quantities of uncooked beef, eggs, large portions of milk, cheese, and other fatty foods, and yet have relatively low levels of heart disease. That doesn't mean we should all live off of cheese.

There's white rice and there's white rice.  I regularly eat white basmati rice because I find the american-style white long-grain rice rather tastless and over-starchy.   It never makes up the bulk of my plate... and I think that's the key. 

The real problem with long-grain rice in the Western Diet isn't its GI necessarily.  It's that it tends to be consumed in much too large quantities for most people's activity levels and served up with lots of fatty/sugary/processed foods ... result is too many calories and a nutritional imbalance.   You buy a chinese takeaway meal and it bears no resemblence to food in China.  Very heavy on the syrupy sauces and deep-fried things etc.  Rice with preserved vegetables and a little fish, on the other hand, although basic sounds like a good balance.  

Other 'hard working' peasant cultures existed reasonably well on high carbohydrate diets.  Italians and pasta.  Irish and potatoes.   Czechs and dumplings.   English bread and cheese.  It's only when people get wealthier, stop digging fields all day and the basic peasant diet gets augmented by lots of meat, dairy products and - worst of all - refined sugar, that the carbohydrate element becomes a problem.

The only time I ever avoid white rice is when I'm really not hungry, 'cause otherwise it's so delicious I can't help to eat it whether my tummy wants me to or not.

I'd like to hear more about what cold/hot person means.  Sounds interesting.

also, I think working physically very hard, has a lot to do with being healthy.

I really appreciate your providing the Chinese perspective.  I don't think that we overindulgent Americans have figured out the "balance" perspective and therefore are a community of unhealthy (eg high blood pressure, diabetes, etc), so then white rice become an issue due to the need to control blood sugar, carbs, etc.  Is it true that Asian do not have a history of diabetes?   Your/Parents perspective makes a lot of sense then.

Personally, I have allowed myself to get fat.  Therefore, I've got to cut back on high glycemic foods and focus on lowfat, high fiber, high protein, whole foods to get back on track so I very RARELY eat white rice, although I just adore it.

like everyone else, i'd be really interested in hearing about the hot/cold/ yinyang stuff.
i prefer brown rice because it is lower cal and higher fiber...and it has a bit of a nutty flavor.

lol, I'm half chinese and occasionally have guilt issues about avoiding it.  The chinese side of my family will have white rice at every meal, regardless of what else is on the table.  On one hand it is a part of my cultural heritage, and I like it a lot.  Most of my chinese relatives are quite thin, and are thus not too concerned about their eating habits.  On the other hand, it doesn't do me any favors to load up on refined carbohydrates, because I will crash later.  Basically I just try not to eat too much of it at a time.

 

kagura, i hear you and love your post.  also, brown rice doesn't have fewer calories than white rice.  and mega also, the french don't eat massive quantities of anything--ever been to france?  a frenchman's feast would suffie as a snack for me.

I am Chinese, and I've had the hot/cold theory thrown at me all through my childhood. Whereas a lot of the Western world is buying into 'alternative medicine' right now, I personally try to avoid it and stick strictly to Western schools of thought, where I understand, clearly (and sometimes not so much), through molecular structures and biochemical processes what is going on in our bodies. But at least more than I ever understood Chinese medicine. And certification for Chinese medicine practicioners here? I haven't looked into it, but I'm willing to bet it's at least a little hazy.

I'm not saying Eastern medicine is without merit - but it's tenuous, and doesn't work for everyone, and a lot of times you'll walk away without knowing why. I also believe in the placebo effect, but that's just me.

As far as white rice goes, it is truly portion size. I live in America and I've been to China a few times. Everything's bigger in the U.S. (and especially where I live, Texas).

However, did you know, because of the high percentage of preserved foods and high sodium foods, Chinese people have some of the highest rates of stomach cancer? Each culture has different problems.

Brown and white rice are not different varieties of rice. 

Brown rice *IS* white rice that has not had the outer bran and germ removed.  That bran and germ contains the majority of vitamins, minerals, fiber and antioxidents.  Whats left without them basically is starch.

FIBER
Consider that 1 cup cooked brown has 3.5 g fiber while 1cup cooked white has only 0.6 g fiber. 

VITAMINS & MINERALS
White rice labelled as 'fortified' has had some of the nutrients sprayed back on it which can easily be removed when its rinsed as some cooks do to remove excess starch and avoid overyly sticky rice.  The US requires fortified rice labels to include instruction not to rinse since it voids the nutrional listing.
Parboiled or converted rice though is steamed before the hull is removed so some of the nutrients remain after the bran is stripped away - definitely a better choice for white rice.

White rice isnt bad for you, it does have some nutrients although its mainly a starch and I agree Kagura in moderation can be included as part of a healthy diet.  I avoid it personally because Im carb sensitive and even whole grain carbs I have to limit due to insulin resistance.

I'm also from a culture where rice is staple of every meal.  I'm from Laos and we love our short grain, sweet, glutinous rice.  Every time I get together with my mother and grandma (once or twice a week), we eat.  After eating sweet rice, it gives off that heavy feeling in my stomach.

Growing up eating rice, I've found that it's hard to go without it.  I don't cook sweet rice that often at my house, only ocassionally.   I cooked long grain instead.

Since I've been counting, I've learned to incorporate it into my diet and don't eat it everyday.  When I do eat it, I reduce the intake to half the serving size and load up of veggies and lean protein.  And recently, I just switched from white to brown for nutrients.  I switch between the two often so I don't get bored with it.

I guess moderation is the key.

sauvignon, i'd been inclined to put more, rather than less, faith in Eastern medicines.  the fact that those traditions--like Indigenous medicines--predate Western science is no reason to think they're not valid.  western medicine may have the advantage in being able to analyse, test, and diagnose specific illnesses, but the older traditions tend to do a better job of treating the whole person.

i still wonder how refined the white rice eaten by farmer in rural China is likely to be.

going back to the original question, with all due respect to eastern culture and medicine (which I do think is legitimate) brown rice is simply more nutritious than white. Certainly if the rest of your diet is healthy it doesn't matter that much if you choose white rice over brown, but that doesn't change the fact that brown rice is objectively better.

 

plus, white rice doesn't taste like anything! 

I bought a book a few years ago about healing with natural foods. It was written from the perspective of the warm, cold and neutral foods. It had a section on how to determine which you were. I gave the book to someone else, I'll try to come up with the name. It was a big hardback, encyclopedic.  

It separated types of people into warm and cold, meaning how their bodies worked. It also separated diseases and physical problems into hot and cold. It suggested that if a cold person was eating warm foods, that it could exacerbate health problems. I wish I could remember well, and I'm sorry to just add tidbits.

It was fascinating. I think there is merit in the theory. The book was written from a more radical approach, in that it expressed the idea that if you were a warm person you should never, or rarely, indulge in cold foods and vice versa.

I don't eat it because I have seen The Lost Boys a few too many times and associate it with maggots....I have little to no appetite for maggots, though I know they are 3x higher in protein per unit than chicken...i stay away from the crawlies and anything resembling them.