Don’t let the bad rep dissuade you from white rice.
I love, love, love white rice. Whenever I get Chinese or Japanese take-out, I always make sure to get a big thing of white rice along with my order. It’s soft, it’s chewy, it goes with pretty much every flavor, it’s just great! There’s a reason rice is a staple food in a large part of the world. However, white rice has been getting something of a bad rep lately; supposedly, high consumption of white rice is linked to higher risk of diabetes. Which, y’know, yeah, if you eat your weight in white rice every day, something’s probably going to go south. But one potential risk doesn’t outweigh white rice’s numerous benefits.
When the topic of health comes up, a lot of people will tell you to go for brown rice instead of white rice. Indeed, brown rice is a little higher in fiber compared to white rice. This is due to brown rice maintaining its outer layer, which white rice doesn’t have. However, what white rice lacks in fiber, it makes up for with higher quantities of vitamins and minerals that arise from its enriching process.
White rice is a great for when you need a quick pick-up meal. It’s full of clean-burning, energy providing carbs, bolstered by vitamin B, iron, and magnesium. Since white rice is very simple, it’s also very easy for your body to digest, and is far less likely to leave you with intestinal problems. Speaking of, white rice is naturally gluten free, which makes it a much tastier alternative to things like gluten-free pasta.
Besides all that, though, white rice is just… nice. Have you ever had a piping hot bowl of white rice fresh from the rice cooker? Let me tell you, once you try real short-grain rice from a rice cooker, you can never go back to the instant stuff. We’ve said it once and we’ll say it many times after, food is meant to be enjoyed. If you like white rice, then enjoy it!
