by James Frankie

Is rice a healthy food for you? Since it is categorized as one of the starchy foods such as breads and pasta, people usually think that rice is fattening but in truth, they are not. Unless you want to increase the overall calories, you should avoid adding fats such as cheese and oil. So rice is in fact good for you as it is a good source of carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals.

Did you know that most of the rice grown in Asia is eaten in the country as rice is the principal food that is not only delicious but also low in saturated fat? You can find rice available as a long black grain in most supermarkets as well grocery stores. Unlike in the west where rice is regarded as a side dish, in Asia, rice is treated as the main focus of a meal.

Rice is usually simmered until it is cooked. This can be done in a rice cooker, on the stove top, or in the oven. Wholly unpolished rice is always hand-husked and is always cheaper than the mill-husked rice. The difference between paddy rice and wild rice is most evident in the duration of cooking.

When you remove the outer inedible husk from a rice grain, you will get the brown rice. Brown rice has a light tan coating which is very nutritious and high in fiber and it is quite chewy and taste like nut. The fiber in brown rice is very useful for controlling the blood sugar level so anyone with diabetes problem should treat brown rice as a staple.

Did you know that the fiber found in brown rice can actually reduce your risk of having colon cancer because it can help bind the cancer causing chemicals, thus keeping them away from the cells lining the colon? It normally takes about 45 minutes to cook brown rice but with the quick-fix brown rice, you can cook brown rice in as little as 10 minutes.

Tags: blood sugar level, breads, brown rice, cancer causing chemicals, chicken and rice, colon cancer, delicious rice, grocery stores, healthy food, husk, principal food, rice cooker, rice grain, rice meals, side dish, staple, starchy foods, stove top, vitamins and minerals, wild rice

This entry was posted on Monday, March 30th, 2009 at 1:09 pm and is filed under Cooking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.