Sweet Treats Aside: Could eating white rice be worse than drinking soda?
Here’s a shocking new finding about rice that should give you some food for thought.
Growing up in Asia, we all know of white rice as being a staple food for us. However, new findings from health authorities have shown that white rice is, in fact, worse than drinking soda. Asians are more prone to diabetes than Caucasians. You don’t necessarily have to be obese to be at risk. Starchy white rice can also spike our blood sugar levels and heighten the risk of diabetes. Studies have also shown that each plate of white rice eaten a day, on a regular basis, raises the risk of diabetes by 11% in the overall population. Below are a few points as to why eating white rice could be worse than drinking soda – we hope they help you change your diet as much as it changed ours!
One bowl, two cans
Studies have shown that a bowl of rice has more than twice the carbohydrate content of sweetened drinks, eliciting a higher blood glucose response. As such, Asians’ carbohydrate intake is higher than in the West. Much of these are also refined carbohydrates, which explains why there is a higher number of people with diabetes across Asia.
What can you do?
You can cut down the intake of white rice in your diet by replacing it with other alternatives or changing your diet as a whole. No, we don’t need you to go vegan for this, let alone sacrifice your love for rice in general. You can replace 20% of white rice with brown rice – doing this alone will replace the risk of diabetes by 11 percent. Either that or you can throw out the white rice and consume brown rice as a whole. Also, going for a 15-minute walk – 2000 steps – every day can cut your risk of death by diabetes by 4 percent. Long grain white rice is also better than short grain when it comes to how it spikes blood sugar.
This is not a petition to get every Asian to stop eating rice, as it is a staple food here. We hope that this bit of information could get more people to opt for a healthier way of eating.
Sonia Lourdes
