Does Anyone Include Rice as Part of their Regular Diet?

[Barb135]

We're always hearing about carbohydrates and what we should and shouldn't eat.  I love starchy foods like rice and potatoes, but I know white rice tends to be high in calories, plus it spikes blood glucose levels, which isn't good for me, because I have insulin issues.

I eat brown rice because it's whole grain and do "okay" with it, but don't really care for the texture or taste of it.  

I know there are a lot of different types of rice, but I'm not familiar with most of them.  What's your favorite type, how do you use and/or incorporate it into your diet and where do you buy it? My regular grocery store(s) tend to only have regular white rice and brown rice.

[AnnieBrooke]

Another thing we do when eating brown rice (which generally I find too sweet) is put salsa on it and mix the salsa in. I do like that combination.

[Barb135]

I make a version of "goulash" using ground beef (or turkey), canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, onions and spices, and brown rice, which is pretty good and gives the rice a bit more flavor...

[dominosarah]

They make a really good guacamole salsa that i put in my brown rice, red onion and shredded chicken .  That goulash sounds pretty good.

[Barb135]

The guacamole salsa sounds good, too; I'll have to look for it in my grocery store.

For my rice version of goulash, the juice in the canned tomatoes and the tomato sauce serves as the liquid to cook the rice, but I usually have to add more liquid in the form of beef broth or water to cook the rice. That depends on how much rice you use and/or how dry you like it.  For spices, I use cayenne pepper, chili powder, black pepper and Himalayan salt - all to taste, depending on how spicy you like things, but of course, you could use whatever spices you like.

I also like rice and gravy, which I learned to eat, living near my Texas-born sisters-in-law, but gravy is only on the menu on very special occasions these days... lol

[AnnieBrooke]

Good time of year for it, though. :)

[dominosarah]

I eat brown rice from the store as we dont have any health markets so to speak around here.  I put cilantro and lime juice in mine for flavor.  What type of brown rice should i be looking for as i know they have different kinds.

[Paxiled]

Basically the different types are based on the length of the grain.  The shorter the grain, the stickier it gets.  Most people are used to long grain rice, whether it's white or brown, but rice comes in long grain, short grain, and medium grain and sweet rice.  The latter isn't too tasty by itself and it's really sticky.  Then there's basmati rice, which has a different and really nice flavor -- that's the kind of rice you eat in an Indian restaurant or in a Middle Eastern restaurant.  You can also get it as brown basmati, though the flavor isn't as strong, and it has the texture of long grain rice.  There are also colored rices -- black, red, and others.  But it's hard to find much of a selection in a regular grocery store.  Most of them can be purchased online in small bags and a company named Lundberg has a lot of them available that way.

[dominosarah]

Thanks for the info!  Will check out that company!

[Paxiled]

Try going to a good health food store instead of the grocery store.  Rice comes in a lot of varieties and you can get a good look at them by studying the different packages.  I pretty much stick with short grain brown rice, which I buy in bulk.  It's a bit stickier than long grain but higher in energy.  Traditionally, in Chinese and Japanese medicine, they eat long grain in summer, medium grain in spring and fall, and short grain in winter based on the energetics of each,  which they find more important than the things we focus on in the US.  They've been eating white rice for a long time over there and they aren't fat and they aren't having sugar problems and it's not a calorie problem to them.  While I'm a whole grain fan, there is a reason for eating white flour and white rice, and that's the phytic acid problem.  Whole grains have a lot of it, and it leaches out minerals, while processed grains don't have much in it.  But I don't quite buy that argument, as the technology to process grains is relatively new in human history and for much of the time it has existed only the wealthy could afford it.  What you might find most tasty because while I'm a rice lover and like pretty much all rices except sweet rice, which is very sticky and too sweet for me, is brown basmati rice.  You get the taste of basmati, which is what is used in India and in much of the Arab world and in Africa, with the benefits if you think they exist of brown rice.  It's not as strong a basmati flavor as the white basmati, but it gives you a different taste than other rices.  Long grain is the standard that most people in the western world know and eat.  I'm a rice lover, I eat it almost every day.  

[Paxiled]

Also, how you cook rice has a lot of difference in its texture.  You can get pretty obsessive in how you cook your rice.  Followers of the macrobiotic diet use an esoteric Japanese style of cooking rice -- and let me mention, actual Japanese people don't follow that diet at all, they never accepted it, it only exists in the US and France in any numbers -- but they not only pressure cook rice, which makes the rice separate more, but they put it in a clay pot which they cover with a clay lid and immerse that in the pressure cooker.  Baking also gives a different texture.  

[AnnieBrooke]

I do eat white rice so I'm not much help. There is a black rice that is short and rounder like barley (well, not that round); it's readily findable at more naturally oriented grocery stores around here. It might be worth looking up because it might not be all starch and carbs like polished white rice is.

Here is from Wikipedia:  "Black rice is a source of iron, vitamin E, and antioxidants. The bran hull (outermost layer) of black rice contains one of the highest levels of anthocyanins found in food. The grain has a similar amount of fiber to brown rice and, like brown rice, has a mild, nutty taste.

"Black rice has a deep black color and usually turns deep purple when cooked. Its dark purple color is primarily due to its anthocyanin content, which is higher by weight than that of other colored grains. It is suitable for creating porridge, dessert, traditional Chinese black rice cake, bread, and noodles."

If you can make porridge with it, doubtless it's got a high gluten content. If you're on a low gluten diet, then, it wouldn't be the rice for you. But otherwise it might be worth checking. Guess you'd have to see what the heck anthocyanin is first.  :)

[AnnieBrooke]

Oh! It's that antioxidant that makes blueberries so dark. So, a good thing. It sounded like cyanide.

[specialmom]

Hm, I have short stubby brown rice but my black rice looks like long, dark cut off pencil lead.   Straight and skinny (unlike me these days). The brown rice I'm referring to is not the regular old brown rice my husband makes me buy to replace white which I like better.  It's more of a darker brown.  I'm going to have to investigate this!

We like rice and grains. I try to do the whole balanced plate thing at our meals.  I do often substitute quinoa for rice though.  Do you do that?

[Barb135]

I did find some black rice once in a natural food store and it was okay, but didn't have a lot of flavor... I don't like anything sweet in my rice, as in a rice pudding/porridge thing, etc.  I'm more likely to use rice in a soup or as a side dish or part of a main dish.  I do cook it with chicken broth and add spinach, broccoli or other veggies and use it as main dish, but again, the starchiness/effect on my blood sugar is a deterrent.

SM - I do have some quinoa in my cabinet but I haven't had it very long so I haveh't cooked it yet.  I do try to stay mostly gluten-free and since white rice increases my blood sugar, I thought I'd try the quinoa.  Do  you use quinoa in the same dishes you use rice?

[AnnieBrooke]

If the black rice looks like pencil leads, it might be wild rice. (Not actually a rice at all, but it is called that.) I've never had much luck making wild rice taste good.

[Barb135]

I've seen wild rice in my grocery store, too and it's actually marked as such.  The black rice was in a clear package and said it "black rice" on the package.  I don't have any left, but I don't recall it looking like pencil leads.  The "kernels" (?) were shorter and fatter.

I've never been brave enough to try wild rice, but I know some people that use it.  Now that you say you can't make it taste good, I won't bother... thank you.  :-)

[Paxiled]

Wild rice is really good in certain dishes, and is great stuffed in game birds.  You can also get blends that combine some wild rice with brown rice, which is how I usually use it.  Real wild rice is very expensive and has a strong flavor and texture.  Cheaper versions aren't actually wild, they're cultivated.  Wild rice and buckwheat, both seeds, not grains, like quinoa, are two of the rare grain-like foods native to the US and Canada.