Is eating rice a good idea?

I eat rice a lot - I generally prefer the taste and texture of brown rice, but white goes well with some meals.
I usually measure out a half cup serve, that's enough for me and is not much more than 100 cals.

I don't consider any food "dead calories", if there are calories you are getting energy, which is one of the reason's to eat. Of course, you want to ensure you are getting good nutrition too, which you can do by eating a variety of foods.

Don't overthink this.

sarabushby wrote: »

Supposedly you shouldn't eat rice too often as it naturally contains Arsenic, you can google for more info and there's stats on what's a 'safe amount' of different types of rice and rice products for adults and for children.

Yet society has been eating large amounts of white rice for decades and we're all fine. It's all about the dose-I suspect the dose for this would have to be outrageous in order for it to do damage.

I eat rice a few times a week, but I don't make it a large part of my meals. For example when I make fried rice at home my recipe if 50% rice 50% vegetables. If you are adding meat you can go even lower, like 30% rice 20% meat 50% vegetables.

Also I know healthy eating can seem expensive, but you can save a lot of money by making things yourself from scratch. For example, it's a lot cheaper to buy a bag of beans and cook them yourself than to buy canned beans. On the flip side there are some things which are cheaper to buy already made, for example pancake mix and spaghetti sauce (depending on the brand).

Another way to save on healthy eating is to cut back on meat. I noticed that my shopping bill is almost cut in half since I have been having more meatless meals and meals where the meat is more like the side than the main dish. Meat is expensive and lean meat is even more $$$. For example when I make sloppy joe I replace half of the meat with brown lentils.

You can also look up tips for buying more fatty meats and making them lean through the way you prepare and cook them. For example I read a few articles that said if you buy 80% lean ground beef and brown it on low heat for a longer time it helps the meat release more of its fats and you can reduce the remaining fat even more by rinsing the meat with hot water after it's cooked, some might worry that this might take away from the flavor, although to me meat doesn't have much flavor anyway.

Not sure how it is cheaper to buy pancake mix. All it is flour, baking powder, egg or egg white, water/buttermilk/milk/non-dairy milk. I don't bother adding sugar to mine. I mean, why? You are going to drown it in sugar anyway. No one has ever missed the sugar in the pancake.

I make my own buttermilk from culture. Takes like 1 minute to actually do anything (add store bought live culture buttermilk to a quart Ball jar 3/4 full of milk) and then you just wait a day for it to clabber at room temp somewhere. Put in fridge and use when needed. When you need more buttermilk, add more milk and leave out for another day. I haven't bought buttermilk in months now because you can keep generations of the bacteria alive indefinitely as long as you regularly feed - just like sourdough starter or yogurt.

85Cardinals wrote: »

I'll allow it.

LOL!!

I think rice is generally good as long as you don't have an intolerance to it. In general it's usually pretty easy to digest. I am struggling with intolerance. I can sometimes eat a small amount of rice. If I eat a large amount my belly swells and is painful. But, I react even worse to quinoa (which I used to like to eat).