Healthy Rices

An interesting paradox and mistake about the Asian diet is that people think that because most Orientals are smaller and often thinner they must be healthier as well.  My doctor just told me that just as important to how thin someone is is what they are eating.  Because we are not evolved to eat simple sugars such as the ones found in white rice they may not make us fat but they do stress our pancreas.  This leads to an increase in the incidence of diabetes even in those who are thin and whom you would think are fit.

The good news is that there are lots of options for whole grain rices.  The fact that they are not refined means that there is still the fibrous husk which slows the digestive time kind of like receiving your lottery winnings over time so you don't blow it all at once or in the case of the body, store them as fat.  There are two ways we cook our rice.

1. With a rice cooker  or Instant pot like the ones available on Amazon.  Or just by boiling your rice.
2. Precooked which just needs to be heated for the Millennials or those who have less time.  I know there are those purists who would criticize a cooking blog for recommending these quick versions of rice but the primary purpose of this blog is to facilitate the achievement of healthy, tasty food on a rough schedule.  I like these for a quick healthy dinner with a lot of color, flavor and texture.  Fall River Wild Rice and we also buy Uncle Ben's Wild Rice a lot and there a lot of others not mentioned here.  Those brands do not sponsor us by the way.
3. Steam rice when possible.  The American Heart Association recommends steaming rather then frying in the guide for eating Thai food.  At the very least use healthier oils and rices if you do fry and we do like a brown fried rice in our home.

 

If you can find a whole grain jasmine, that is my favorite.  It smells wonderful and fills the whole house like an incense.   Mod precooks rice in our instant pot, she used to do it in a rice cooker, but you can of course use a regular pot.  We usually have some precooked rice on hand in the fridge or as ready to eat microwavable pouches like Uncle Ben's.  I used Uncle Ben's Brown and Wild for this recipe and it works great.