In this video, I'll uncover whether or not it's actually healthy to eat rice and some
of the issues that surround rice consumption.
Rice is a truly interesting topic, once you
really dive into it. And the reason for that is because there's a big part of the health
community that believes it's a health food. And then, on the other side of the coin, there's
the health community – like the keto, paleo, low-carb community – that says you need
to avoid this stuff. Now, it's really interesting because that
puts you in the middle, going, "Well, what do I do?" In this video, we're going to figure
that out. And we're also going to talk about the difference between white rice and brown
rice; how you need to prepare rice, in order for it to be the healthiest, and then, of
course, the healthiest rice that you should choose, if that's something you're going to
add into your diet. Before we get started, I'm Dr. Zyrowski. Welcome
back to the channel. If you're new to the channel, it's a pleasure to have you here.
Be sure to subscribe. Hit that bell notification. Be sure to join our notification community,
and that way, I'm gonna help you excel your health and your life.
Let's go ahead and dive right in. My first question to you is, "Do you eat rice?" Okay?
Because the thing is... And you put that in the comment section here, below. The thing
is is that a lot of people find that rice is a health food for them. And a lot of people
are consuming rice, and they don't even know it because you're thinking, "Well, no, I don't
eat rice. I don't go to a restaurant and order it. I don't cook it at my home." But a lot
of people are eating what they would consider health foods that have a lot of rice in them.
So, let's talk about this. Rice flours. When you look at a lot of snack
foods that are considered healthy, when you look at gluten-free flours, most of them actually
have a rice flour in them. Rice crackers are another big one. Rice cereal, okay, once again,
this is why we give it to kids. It's considered that healthier option, and then, the question
is, "Is it actually healthier?" And then rice milk, and then rice syrup.
Now, the other thing a lot of people eat, in the health community, is going to be the
rice cakes. And so, a lot of these different components are found in your typical health
foods. So, we have to make sure that, if we think we're not eating rice, that we truly
know and we are actually reading the ingredient labels on the things that we're eating, to
know whether it actually has components or rice, itself, within it.
Let's go ahead and talk about which is better. Okay, this is a big question we get, in our
community, "Which is better, brown rice versus white rice?" I'm going to break it down, and
then we're gonna, kind of, further discuss some of the different things that we need
to understand about it. First of all, when we look at white rice,
it's stripped of something called the "bran" and the "germ." As a result of that being
stripped from it, essentially, what it's going to do is it's going to lack the vitamins and
minerals in it. And now, the other thing that you're going
to find about white rice is that it's going have a really high glycemic index. Okay? I
shouldn't say "really high." It's going to have a moderately high glycemic index of 64.
Now, essentially, what this means, when it has a glycemic index that's moderately high,
it means that it's going to be converted to sugar, quite rapidly, in your body. And it's
going to spike your blood sugar. Okay? This is something we want to avoid, if we want
to avoid metabolic syndrome or we want to avoid diabetes, insulin resistance. We don't
ever want to be eating a bunch of foods that spike our blood sugar.
Let's move on from that. And let's talk about brown rice because this is the healthier option.
Right? You go out to a restaurant, and you say, "You know what? I'm going to splurge
a little bit. I'm going to get some rice." And they say, "White rice? Brown rice?" And
you say, "Well, you know what? I'm going to make the healthier option, today. And I'm
gonna make the healthier choice, and I'm gonna choose the brown rice." But let's look a little
bit closer. So, the brown rice, yes, it's better because
it has the vitamins and minerals in it. It's going to have that because it doesn't have
it stripped from it. It also is going to have the fiber-rich bran. It also is going to have
a little bit of a lower glycemic index. Okay? So, we're going from that moderate high to
more moderate glycemic index, so it's gonna be a little be better, in that way.
But there is another problem that comes to the table, and that is that brown rice is
high in arsenic. Okay? When we look at arsenic, it's one of the most toxic substances on earth.
It's not something that we want in our body. So, now we have this issue. We have white
rice and brown rice. What do we do here? Let's go ahead and talk about that a little be further.
I want to break down the glycemic index thing and talk about how that's related to diabetes,
and then, also, talk about arsenic, itself. Let's first start with arsenic, okay, because
these are some of the problems, surrounding rice, that you might not be aware of. First
of all, organic versus inorganic. Now, when we look at arsenic, in general, there's those
two types there. Now, when it comes to where I live, for instance,
we have a lot of arsenic in the ground; so much so that we can't use our water from our
well to drink because we don't want that in our food. We can't cook with it, nothing.
So, we have to have a very robust water filtration system in our house, in order to actually
use the water. So, this is something that is naturally occurring within the ground.
Now, one of the things about arsenic is it is estimated that there's a lot more inorganic
arsenic within the ground because of all the pesticides that's used on the crops and a
lot of the different environmental pollution that's going on, today. So, we have to make
sure that we're avoiding arsenic because it's something that's related to heart disease,
cancer. And then, like I said, it's a very toxic substance. So that's high, in brown
rice, like we talked about. Rice is the biggest food source of arsenic.
There's a lot of different foods that are going to have some arsenic, but rice is one
of the biggest. Here's why, is because rice is grown in very wet, marshy environments.
And the other thing about the rice is that it just has an affinity to getting that arsenic
and just sucking it right up. Now, when we look at rice, the brown rice
has higher arsenic levels. Why is this? Because the rice will actually store all that arsenic
in the bran. And so, when we look at brown rice, they leave that bran in there. When
we take white rice, they strip it out. So then, we're left with this convoluted topic.
Okay, well, which one is better, then, brown or white? Let's keep moving, and we're gonna
get to the bottom of that. I want to talk about diabetes because I think
this is interesting. When we talk about glycemic indexes of food being very high, the first
thing, you might go, "Well, geez, this is gonna cause insulin resistance. This is gonna
cause diabetes." Let's take a look at some of the research, like I did, and see what
we can really come to the conclusion on, here. So, 350,000 people were looked at, when we
talk about this particular test. And what they found is that white rice increases the
risk of diabetes. Okay? There was another study where they took rice and linked it to
metabolic syndrome. So, this is an interesting topic because one
of the things I went to, right away, is go, "Okay. Well, what are the populations in the
world that consume the most rice?" So, first of all, we have to look at China. China is
the population that consumes the most rice. Okay, when we look at the Chinese diabetic
and pre-diabetic statistics, they're pretty much the same as what they are in the U.S.
Actually, just a little bit less. Now, this is interesting because when you
look at their statistics, they've risen very much, over the past 10, 20 years, just like
it has in the United States. One of the things that's very interesting about that is that
the Chinese have been eating rice for thousands of years, at this point. This is nothing new
to them. So, I think it's really unfair to say that
rice is actually causing diabetics, in certain populations that are eating rice, a whole
bunch of rice. Okay? And the reason for that is because they didn't have all these diabetes
issues before, but now they do. And when we look at this whole situation, I've heard people
say that, multiple times. "Oh, yeah, the Chinese have a lot of problems with pre-diabetes and
diabetes because they eat so much rice," and I don't think that that's true. And I don't
think that's a fair conclusion to make. Now, one of the other things we want to look
at here, when we talk about diabetes and rice consumption, is that there's a very high chance
that the same people who are eating a whole bunch more rice are also eating a lot of other
junk foods, right, processed foods, a lot of grains, a lot of sugary sodas, that sort
of thing. And the same people who go, "Well, you know what? I'm not gonna consume as much
rice. It's gonna be something that I eat very little in my diet," they're also probably
not eating a whole bunch of processed foods, sugary sodas, grains and other junk food.
So, we have to realize, too, when we look at that whole thing around rice and diabetes,
I bet that the people who are eating a lot more rice are also making a lot worse lifestyle
choices, in general. So, we have to take that into consideration, as well.
Now, when we look at the research regarding rice and weight gain, there's really not a
high correlation of the more rice you consume, the more weight you'll gain. And so, that's
something that a lot of people ask, "Is it gonna cause me to get fat?" It's not a good
food to eat, in general, on a regular basis, but it's something that the research really
doesn't point to rice causing weight gain. Let's go ahead and talk about the best way,
the best methods to actually consume rice, if it's something that you're going to consume.
Now, here's the thing. First, I want to point out that I don't think that rice should be
a part of your daily diet. I don't think it's a health food, for instance. But the thing
is, if you're going to consume it, here and there, here are some of the best methods that
you'll use. Now, first of all, we want to wash it, and
we want to cook it in excess water. Now, the reason that we want to wash it and cook it
in excess water is because we want to always work to lower the arsenic content. So, basically,
what the research found is that, if you wash it, you cook it in excess water, essentially,
what you're going to be able to do is lower the arsenic content by 50% to 60%, which is
huge. Now, when we talk about cooking it in excess
water, essentially, what that means is that you're going to put the rice in a pot and
put a lot of water in it. Now, typically, when you cook rice, you just put the amount
of water needed. Right? It might say, "For this much rice, you just need two cups of
water." Well, with this, essentially, you're gonna put that rice in and just put it in
a big pot of water, almost like you're cooking a pasta, for instance. And then, you're going
to cook it that way. And it's going to help get a lot of the arsenic out of it. It's going
to boil it out of it. Now, the other thing that we want to talk
about are some of the different rices that you can have, that are going to be the best
for you, when it comes to low arsenic content. It's estimated that basmati and/or jasmine
are going to be the best options for getting a low arsenic rice.
Now, another thing we want to mention is phytic acid. Okay, this is a big problem, when it
comes to rice. Brown rice is high in phytic acid. This is an anti-nutrient that basically
means, well, even though brown rice has those nutrients in it, the phytic acid is going
to block the nutrient bioavailability of, so you're really not getting it.
Now, when we look at the phytic acid, there's some things that we can do, in order to help
get it out of it. So, first of all, we can get a sprouted rice. And when we get a sprouted
rice or a germinated rice, it's essentially going to help get some of that phytic acid
out, so you're able to absorb the nutrients better.
So, when we look at consuming rice, like I said, I don't think that rice is something
that is healthy to consume on a regular basis. But if you're going to splurge or you are
going to consume more rice, this is, kind of, the scope in which you should look to
it as. We want to make sure it's organic. We want to make sure it's sprouted or germinated.
And we also want to make sure that it is cooked properly, so that we can reduce the arsenic
content in it. Okay? And what I'll do, too, is I'll try to find a rice that's a good,
healthy one, put it in the link in the description below.
That wraps up this video. Be sure to share this video with your friends, so that you
can improve their rice IQ. And, also, give this video a thumbs up. I'd greatly appreciate
it. Any questions you have, put in the comment section, down here, below.
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