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Scientists have discovered a simple way to cook rice that cuts the calories

washingtonpost.com

41–50 of 83 posts

Re: Scientists have discovered a simple way to cook rice that cuts the calories

#41
post #4

A lot of people still struggle with portion control and this method will give hope to many people. Calorie-dense foods psychologically bring us comfort so this will allow people to continue to eat them while still cutting calories. In the end, this translates to real weight loss assuming people don't pile on the calories elsewhere.

Calorie-dense foods psychologically bring us comfort Am I the only one disturbed by this statement? Sure, many people are conditioned to get emotional comfort from eating, but I've seen no evidence it's hard wired. I'm not saying one should hate food, but I find it as unhealthy to have a relationship with food where you use it to fill an emotional void, and I suspect it's a major cause of obesity in places like Ameri…

If an obese person lost their emotional attachment to food and stopped eating unconsciously, I'd be surprised if they didn't drop to a healthy weight.

There's much, much, much more to it than this.

Re: Scientists have discovered a simple way to cook rice that cuts the calories

#42
> China and India, which are already seeing rising obesity problems, are huge consumers of rice.

Are there any studies linking rice consumption to higher obesity rates?

AFAIK, these populations have relied on rice for ages and their obesity rates have only spiked recently.

Re: Scientists have discovered a simple way to cook rice that cuts the calories

#43
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've read though, that that same bacteria produces short chain fatty acids with some non-trivial amount of calories. Also, where is this coconut oil they are putting in going when they cool it? Wouldn't the fat from the coconut oil counterbalance the savings by utilizing this method? That said, I'd rather have the short chain fatty acids than the excess carbs, so it seems a fair trade off to me.

I'm not sure if you get anything (nutritious) back from the bacteria but from coconut oil you go medium-chain way which as far as I remember means pure ketones.

Soluble fiber which is fermented by certain gut bacteria[0][1] and product short chain fatty acids (2.5-4 kcal per gram). Those SCFA has a slew of health benefits which the article kind of alludes to but doesn't name.

[0]- http://www.precisionnutrition.com/all-about-resistant-starch

[1]-http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16633129

Re: Scientists have discovered a simple way to cook rice that cuts the calories

#44
post #19

"What we did is cook the rice as you normally do, but when the water is boiling, before adding the raw rice, we added coconut oil—about 3 percent of the weight of the rice you're going to cook," I've never met anyone who cooks rice by boiling the water first. Maybe it's an Indian thing, but all the people who've ever shown me 'the right way' to make rice in SE Asian cooking, stretching from Japan to Vietnam, rinse th…

White people (at least some) cook rice by rinsing once, throwing in rice cooker w/ water ( about 2 part water to 1 part rice), and then turning on the rice cooker. Source: Am white person. (from southeast Louisiana if it matters)

I'm also not Asian, but I no longer rinse at all. I see the point for sushi, but I have yet to discern the difference for any other application. I'll use a cooker if it's handy, but I don't mind a pot on the stove, and I always just eyeball the water.

Believe me, I've already heard all the objections to my rice habits. b^)

Re: Scientists have discovered a simple way to cook rice that cuts the calories

#45
post #29
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Again, who eats their rice ice-cold unless they got take out the previous evening? According to many, the best fried rice is made with cooked refrigerated rice. Also, there's this excerpt in the article "Chilling the rice then helps foster the conversion of starches. The result is a healthier serving, even when you heat it back up."

Is it OK to heat it back up? Still not convinced that turning a 30 minute process into a 12 hour one is "simple".

I think it's simple as in: You don't need a lab to reproduce the results.

Re: Scientists have discovered a simple way to cook rice that cuts the calories

#47

"What we did is cook the rice as you normally do, but when the water is boiling, before adding the raw rice, we added coconut oil—about 3 percent of the weight of the rice you're going to cook," I've never met anyone who cooks rice by boiling the water first. Maybe it's an Indian thing, but all the people who've ever shown me 'the right way' to make rice in SE Asian cooking, stretching from Japan to Vietnam, rinse th…

> I've never met anyone who cooks rice by boiling the water first.

Standard practice for pressure cooking rice. Bring water to boil, add rice, stir, close lid and raise to pressure.

Brown rice in 14 minutes. Yum!

Re: Scientists have discovered a simple way to cook rice that cuts the calories

#48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Eating less actually works for all people, it's just hard to commit to. If people are less able to comply with a program than an alternative program, then the first program, in fact, works less well (if it can even be said to work at all) for them. So the two halves of this statement are opposed.

The problem is when some people claim that they just become overweight because of their genes, and are unable to lose weight by eating less. This is a stupid statement which is proven false by basic thermodynamics, and this should be pointed out. If you look at statistics from Europe at the end of WW2, or from the late 1930s in the US, how many obese people were there? Pretty much zero, because food was scarce.

I don't think your proposal to fight more wars to destroy the global economy and make food scarce will appeal to many people outside the armaments industry.

Re: Scientists have discovered a simple way to cook rice that cuts the calories

#49
I can't find details on their process, but I wonder if they bothered to compare their results to hot water washing the rice prior to putting it into the boil water. I do this every time and I notice a mega amount of starch is taken away. It would be rather sad if they didn't account for this.

Re: Scientists have discovered a simple way to cook rice that cuts the calories

#50

"What we did is cook the rice as you normally do, but when the water is boiling, before adding the raw rice, we added coconut oil—about 3 percent of the weight of the rice you're going to cook," I've never met anyone who cooks rice by boiling the water first. Maybe it's an Indian thing, but all the people who've ever shown me 'the right way' to make rice in SE Asian cooking, stretching from Japan to Vietnam, rinse th…

> who eats their rice ice-cold

Ummm, you could heat it up. I don't think the article implied you had to eat it cold to get the benefit.

Totally agree with you on the cooking method, though. I read that bit and shook my head.

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