Rice is often considered a healthy side-dish to a lot of great meals, especially when compared to other carbohydrate staples like potatoes and bread. However, rice still remains quite high in calories and starch, with one cup of white rice totting up around 200 calories.
According to Harvard University, a serving of white rice "has almost the same effect as eating pure table sugar — a quick, high spike in blood sugar". On the other hand, carbohydrates are a prevalent, necessary part of our diet, and we shouldn't try to cut them out entirely.
Fortunately, there is a way to cook rice to make it healthier, reducing this quick blood sugar-dump effect.
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Researchers presenting at the American Chemical Society in Denver (ACS) have developed a way to cook rice which reportedly could reduce the calories absorbed by the body by up to 60%. To understand how it works, we need to look at what rice is made up of.
A single grain of rice contains two different kinds of starch, according to the ACS and University of Southern California researchers. Digestible starch is quickly broken down in our bodies, dumping lots of glucose into our systems and storing it as fat if it's not burned off. Resistant starch, however, is not absorbed in our body, and just passes through the digestive system without being broken down.
The ACS cooking method is said to change the rice's composition, turning a large amount of digestible starch into resistant starch.
The healthiest way to cook rice: The ACS method
- Add a teaspoon of coconut oil to a saucepan of boiling water.
- Add your white rice and simmer until the rice is cooked.
- Once it's cooked, place the rice in the refrigerator overnight.
- The next day, simply reheat the rice and enjoy!
This reportedly works because of the addition of the coconut oil, which is said to "enter the starch granule during cooking and changes the structure of the starch so they are no longer affected by the digestive enzyme from our body", according to the University of Southern California report.
Leaving the rice in the fridge overnight allows the process time to work, while the amount of resistant starch in the grain is not affected once the rice is reheated. It requires a little forward planning, but this is said to be a healthy, guilt-free way to enjoy rice as part of a balanced diet, while still hitting your weight loss goals.
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