The health benefits of rice are numerous –it regulates and improves bowel movements, stabilizes blood sugar levels, provides fast and instant energy, and slows down the aging process, while also providing an essential source of vitamin B1 to the human body. Due to its numerous favorable properties, rice is a fundamental food in many cultural cuisines around the world, and it is a common ingredient in our everyday meals.
Its preparation is simple and easy, but it also has its own disadvantages. Namely, just like other cereals, rice leads to weight gain and increases the risk of type 2 diabetes.
White rice is especially harmful, and a cup of it comprises 200 calories, mostly pure starch without many other nutrients. Nevertheless, the majority of us really like white rice, so this article will reveal you a simple trick that reduces its caloric value, but adds nutrients to it at the same time. Indeed, the trick consists of one and only ingredient: coconut oil.
Dr. Sudhair James, who conducted a study on the nutritional value of rice, explained “We cooked rice as usual, the only difference being that before we put the rice in the boiling water, we added some coconut oil, about 3% of the amount of rice. After it was cooked, we left it in the fridge for about 12 hours. “
The explanation behind this simple trick is the following: frying or other ways of cooking rice don’t change the starch and thus, it is hard to digest.
On the other hand, the procedure of cooking white rice in boiling water makes its starch extremely easy digestible, which allows our body to easily convert it into sugar then glycogen, and finally store it as fat.
The co- author of the study, Dr. Pusparajah Thavarajah, reveals that “the addition of lipids (in this case coconut oil or some other cooking fat) drastically reduces the proportion of easily digestible starch.
” This means that the oil reacts with starch and consequently, it changes its structure. He also adds that “cooling the rice helps reinforce the starch in its ‘harder’ form, thus rice remains less calorific even after being re-heated.”
Source: www.healthyfoodteam.com
