Rice: its role in the diabetes world
According to Wikipedia rice is the most widely consumed staple food for human beings. It satisfies the food needs of over half of the world’s human population. Rice stands at third position on the list of global agricultural production after sugarcane and maize, however, given that a lot of sugarcane and maize crops are used for non-human consumption, rice emerges as the single biggest food crop for human beings.
Rice alone provides anywhere from one-fifth to one-fourth of all the calories consumed globally by human beings.
Rice grain is an excellent complex carbohydrate and most rice varieties happen to be a good source of fibre vitamin B minerals and protein.
In India, the Eastern region is the epicenter of rice culture the state of Bengal is particularly dependent on rice as a primary source of carbs in their diet
But during the past couple of decades rice has gained a lot of notoriety. It is considered to be a fattening food, and a food dangerous for diabetics and that is why Indian doctors and physicians, and diabetologists keep prescribing non-consumption of rice for many of their obese and diabetic patients.
Unfortunately, this is not because rice has changed as a grain. Rice grain continues to be what it was essentially even 5000 years back, but what has changed is the way we handle it post-harvest. There was a time when the only way to process it was to pound it with hands.
Today we mill it extensively, we process it at a much deeper level. We have developped industrial setup to do a job within minutes what used to take a very long time and a lot of labour. These industries remove all the bran and germ carefully, and as a result today we have a kind of polished rice that was generally not available to people in the past. And once we polish it so extensively, its glycaemic index goes up. Substantially.
So while the original rice grain continues to be what it was – more or less, genetic engineering has caused some changes in the internal structure as well – but the glycemic load has been increased by our own methods to process it.
Unfortunately, this is the rice variety consumed by most people in the world.
Goes without saying, there are lots of questions regarding rice consumption in the diabetes world, and the following pages try to answer a few of them.
What type of rice is good for diabetes?
Today in markets around us we find a mind-boggling variety of rice available to us. The grocery section is filled with packets of white rice, basmati rice, Jasmine rice, Matta rice, parboiled rice, sticky rice, wild rice, black rice, red rice, and brown rice.
So it is natural to have a doubt as to which type of rice is good for diabetes, and the answer is any rice that has a lower glycemic index.
As you know most food products are assessed to have a particular glycemic index, and broadly most food products are classified according to the following ranges:
Low GI: < 55
Medium GI: 56–69
High GI: 70–100
The glycemic index of a particular rice variety is largely dependent on how much – or how little – processing has been done on that rice.
If a particular rice has been subjected to a lot of processing, and if all its fiber has been carefully removed, then naturally its glycemic index will be higher. On the other hand, the least processed variety will have a much lower GI.
And that is why the least processed varieties are the best suited for consumption by people suffering from Type 1 Diabetes or Type 2 Diabetes or Gestational diabetes. The main varieties are brown rice, red rice, black rice, and wild rice.
Diabetic diet plan
The role of every diabetic diet plan is to integrate such foods that do not cause a major jump in blood glucose levels, and this job is wonderfully performed by hand-milled rice or coloured rice varieties like brown rice, red rice, black rice, and wild rice.
Although most people don’t associate the word rice with the diabetic diet plan, the fact is if the right kind of rice is consumed in the right manner it can definitely be a part of a diabetic diet plan.
Handmade rice or coloured rice contains lots of fibre as well as phytochemicals as well as a bunch of other nutrients; while the fibre helps reduce the glycemic load of the meal, the phytochemicals and various micronutrients and minerals found in coloured rice provide solid nutritional support to the diabetic person, and once a person’s true nutritional needs are met he or she doesn’t have many cravings for extra food or extra meals or extra snacks, and this, in turn, improves the blood glucose levels silently.
Does rice raise blood sugar?
Yes, rice can indeed raise blood sugar; partly because rice grain has a higher glycemic index compared to certain other whole grains like millets, and partly because of the way most commercial varieties of rice are processed.
During the past 100 years, rice processing has changed dramatically. Modern grain processing technology has led to the widespread availability of refined grain. During the refining processes, the outer bran and germ portions of the whole rice grain or the brown rice are removed and what is generally sold in the supermarkets and shops is basically the starchy portion of the rice grain, which is essentially endosperm and that is why consumption of white rice, in general, leads to a stronger higher postprandial blood glucose response.
So if someone is eating highly processed, highly-refined white rice then the answer is very very clear: this kind of rice does raise blood sugar. However even today if someone was going to consume red rice or black rice or wild rice cooked in a proper way then the glycemic load of such a dish will not be too worse compared to several other food products.
For example, recently I ran an experiment where I consumed more than half a kilo of red rice stir-fried with lots of garlic and desiccated coconut, and it took my blood glucose level to barely 127, which was an extremely agreeable reading for me.
I have made a detailed video about it and you can watch it on Nourishing KAKA channel
Of course, the standard caveat here is that this was the effect on my blood glucose, and the spike may be different for someone else, given that everybody is different, however, this simple experiment provides us a kind of reference point.
As can be understood, the original whole rice grain is much safer to eat. However when it is processed and carefully stripped of all its bran and germ, then it becomes a rather uglier form of carbohydrate.
According to Dr. Jason Fung, the author of Obesity Code: “Throughout most of human history, obesity has been rare. Individuals in traditional societies eating traditional diets seldom became obese, even in times of abundant food.”
If today people become obese or go on to have Type 2 Diabetes it is because extra processing has changed the nature of our carbohydrates.
To quote Dr. Jason Fung again: “Refined carbohydrates are not natural foods but are highly processed. Their toxicity lies in that processing.”
Is rice high in sugar?
The rice grain harvested from a crop field generally doesn’t have an astronomically high glycemic index, but modern processing methods very carefully remove the germ and the bran portion from the rice grain, and what is left is basically white rice.
Now although there are some people who consume red, brown, black or wild rice, a huge majority of the population consumes white rice or sticky rice or white glutinous rice or white basmati rice.
Obviously, the glycemic index of white rice is far higher than other varieites. Besides, the way it is generally consumed in most families does nothing to reduce its glycaemic index. Most people consume vast quantities of white rice with very little dal or vegetables.
Foods to avoid with diabetes
Such meals can easily be on the list of the foods or meals to avoid by a diabetic patient. Of course the diabetics also need to avoid several sweet rice recipes popular in our country.
After all, rice is not just consumed in savoury dishes. White rice is also consumed in hundreds of sweets and desserts preparation. In India there is not a single village or a town where a basic recipe of Kheer is not consumed every now and then.
However there is still hope; if someone combines lots of fibrous vegetables along with white rice (with the savoury dishes; can’t mix with kheer or desserts), or if someone consumes lots of beans or lentils along with white rice, if someone consumes white rice along with the beans or lentils or pulses with their skin or husk intact – something that is known as “chhilkewali dal” in India – then the fiber from those pulses or beans are lentils will go a long way to reduce the glycemic load of the entire meal.
According to Dr. Jason Fung, the author of The Complete Guide to Fasting: “The basics of good nutrition can be summarized in these simple rules. Eat whole, unprocessed foods. Avoid sugar. Avoid refined grains. Eat a diet high in natural fats. Balance feeding with fasting.”
Which rice is sugar free?
No rice variety is totally sugar-free, but the amount of glycemic load a rice dish comes with is dependent on how much processing the rice grain has been subjected to post-harvest.
The kind of processing that is nowadays done on the rice found commonly in markets around us is quite substantial.
The modern processing methods carefully remove all the bran and the germ of the rice grain, and then polish the endosperm portion of the rice grain, till it is sparkling white in colour and pure starch by composition. This is what we know as white rice.
Obviously, this kind of rice has a very high glycemic index. So the rice with a lower glycemic index means rice that has been subjected to the least amount of processing after harvest.
Red rice, black rice, and wild rice are some such varieties.
While wild rice varieties have been measured to have a glycemic index ranging from 40-54, white white rice varieties have been found to have a glycemic index anywhere from 55 to 95. And this difference can often be vital for someone coping with Type 1 Diabetes or Type 2 Diabetes or Gestational diabetes.
The higher glycaemic index of white rice is basically due to the current processing methods. Were they not employed, the original rice grain is not that bad.
According to Dr. Jason Fung, the author of The Obesity Code: “It is no coincidence that virtually all plant foods, in their natural, unrefined state, contain fiber. Mother Nature has pre-packaged the ‘antidote’ with the ‘poison.’ Thus, traditional societies may follow diets high in carbohydrates without evidence of obesity or type 2 diabetes. The one critical difference is that the carbohydrates consumed by traditional societies are unrefined and unprocessed, resulting in very high fiber intake.”
On the other hand, too many people today consumed highly refined and processed rice, and that’s why we should not be surprised why there is explosion of Type 2 Diabetes around the world, why the obesity rates are soaring.
In one study the researchers found that people who ate a lot of white rice—three to four servings a day—were 1.5 times more likely to have diabetes than people who ate the least amount of rice. In addition, for every additional large bowl of white rice a person ate each day, the risk rose 10 percent.
Here’s the bottom line: the only diet that has been scientifically proven to reverse heart disease, to slow, stop, or reverse early-stage prostate cancer, and to reverse aging by lengthening telomeres (among other benefits) is a whole-foods plant-based diet low in both fat and refined carbohydrates. No one has ever done a randomized trial proving that a high-fat, low-carb diet can reverse heart disease. It actually makes it worse.
― Dean Ornish
Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie.
– Jim Davis
