Can't live without my white rice!
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shiragatama
Posts: 33 Member
Here's the deal; I'm half Japanese, and grew up on Japanese food. That means, short-grain, sticky white rice as part of my dinner most days a week. I've heard so many bad things about white rice, but I find it incredibly hard to cut out of my diet.
I want to switch to brown rice soon, but brown rice is a little expensive, and we already have a large bag of white rice at home that I don't want to waste!
I never go over my 1200 cal limit; can I still continue to eat white rice as long as I stay under my caloric intake?
I want to switch to brown rice soon, but brown rice is a little expensive, and we already have a large bag of white rice at home that I don't want to waste!
I never go over my 1200 cal limit; can I still continue to eat white rice as long as I stay under my caloric intake?
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Replies
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The bad things about white rice you have read or heard are completely false. White rice is fine in moderation like any other food. Look up the calories for whichever strain/brand you are using and make sure you stay within your calorie goals.
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Yes, there’s nothing wrong with white rice3
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There's nothing wrong with white rice, and there's nothing better about brown rice. Keep your white rice!6
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Thank you! Is there a certain amount I should try to keep to? Would a cup a day be too much?0
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Eat as much as you want as long as it fits in your goals6
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What the?
There is minimal nutritional difference between white and brown rice, assuming you're using commercial fortified varieties.*
There is minimal nutritional difference between sweet potato and regular potato.* There is also minimal satiation difference.*
To be very honest the extreme additional health benefits of either are mostly... underwhelming
At the same time and to be perfectly honest I also find it incredibly easy to over eat white rice. Because, well, it is yummy!
So I would keep a very careful eye on how many grams of uncooked white rice I was consuming.
* Minimal does not equal none. But enough to feel compelled to change a basic staple for some incremental nutritional benefits?
Some discussion: www.muscleforlife.com/brown-rice-vs-white-rice/9 -
Brown rice has more fiber and vitamins than white rice, so there is some benefit if you don't mind the texture and extra cooking time. Eating white rice is fine for your health and weight loss though, so no need to give it up completely. It is always easier to stick with a diet when you can eat the foods you love and can afford, so go ahead and finish that bag.4
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shiragatama wrote: »Thank you! Is there a certain amount I should try to keep to? Would a cup a day be too much?
Get a food scale and weight the rice by grams if possible. Cups vary in size and the packaging is never correct when using generic serving sizes like cups.
Ultimately it comes down to how much of your calories for a given meal do you want to spend on the rice. It might depend on the meal that you are having it with. With veggies you might have room for more rice, With meats you might have to have a bit less.
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shiragatama wrote: »Thank you! Is there a certain amount I should try to keep to? Would a cup a day be too much?
I would personally find a cup of rice (assuming cooked?) too much to "spend" calories on when eating such low calories. I would personally find it difficult to fit in sufficient vegetables/fruit
Make sure you're weighing your rice (preferably dry, before cooking) for more accurate logging.
Also, 1200 calories could be too low for you. What are your stats?4 -
How much can you fit into your daily calories and still eat enough other foods to feel full and satisfied?2
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jennybearlv wrote: »Brown rice has more fiber and vitamins than white rice, so there is some benefit if you don't mind the texture and extra cooking time. Eating white rice is fine for your health and weight loss though, so no need to give it up completely. It is always easier to stick with a diet when you can eat the foods you love and can afford, so go ahead and finish that bag.
Minimal extra fibre... I hardly find it worth it! It may have more nutrients, but the nutrients may be hard to access, it can also be harder to digest...6 -
livingleanlivingclean wrote: »Also, 1200 calories could be too low for you. What are your stats?
I am an 18 year old female, fluctuating around 107 pounds, and I am 5'2". I have a very small frame though!2 -
I have a 20lb bag of sushi rice in my kitchen. I know those feels. Trust me, just make sure you weigh it to properly portion it into your daily allowance, and you are good.2
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I have white rice, usually Basmati, for most dinners. I use 50g of dry white rice, water, 5ml soy sauce, and 1/2 tsp turmeric powder, which makes about 230 to 250g cooked depending on how much water I start with. That ends up being about 170 Calories.
I had no problem working that amount of rice per day into my diet when I was losing weight - lost 100 lbs.9 -
How's your A1c? Unless you are developing problems with insulin resistance, white rice is fine. The typical Japanese diet is healthy enough in other ways (tea instead of cola, lots of fish, limited meat, plenty of vegetables) that it balances out any problems with white rice not being the most nutrient dense food in the world. Several of the oldest people ever have come from Japan and ate rice every day.
On the other hand, if you eat like a typical American, guzzle colas, and only like fried sushi drenched in mayo, white rice would be just one more bad thing.
Either way, brown rice is not much better nutritionally. Enjoy the rice you like best.6 -
I'm glad to say that my diet is not that of a typical American ;-) Just thinking about drinking soda makes me shudder.
I could definitely do better with eating more green veggies/less red meat, but I'm getting there! I've been eating a lot of fish, and basically no processed foods. I cook everything myself!3 -
As long as it fits within your calorie limit you can eat as much rice as you’d like and not gain anything.2
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Also, I noticed the variability in the MFP calories when adding rice to my diary. One said 242 calories per cup, and another said 176 or something like that. What amount of calories seems the most accurate for short grain sticky white rice?0
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shiragatama wrote: »Also, I noticed the variability in the MFP calories when adding rice to my diary. One said 242 calories per cup, and another said 176 or something like that. What amount of calories seems the most accurate for short grain sticky white rice?
Does it have a barcode or a way to search up how many calories it is?0 -
It is 155 calories uncooked for 1/4 cups, (620 cal for uncooked one cup) but I don't know how that translates into cooked rice. It's easier for me to just measure cooked, since our family just makes a lot of rice in the rice cooker for everybody, which is why I've been trying to use the MFP options in logging.
If anyone knows the ratio of cooked to uncooked rice, that would be so helpful!1
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