rice question

[Trux]

I had to go to a different grocery store last night than I normally go to. I was there to get some brown rice and a couple other things and sure enough they were out of the brown rice I normally get. So I was looking at the nutrition facts of some of the other rices and I began to think. The rice I normally get is jade east brown rice. There were rices called wheat that had more fiber than what I normally get. Alot of the different types of rice looked brown so does that mean there good for you or do you go by if its called brown rice? Or should I just get the rice with the most fiber to least sugar ratio? Or if in the ingredients it says it made of whole wheat flower is that good enough? Thanks for any help!!!

Brown rice is slightly less refined that white rice, hence the fiber content should be somewhat higher. Same goes for whole wheat vs refined flour. Read labels--just because something is brown doesn't make inherently healthier. A little molasses makes anything brown. In general, grains do not deliver a lot of nutritional bang for your calorie buck. You can leave this whole category of foods out of your diet and your body will never know the difference.

If you are eating grains for the complex carbohydrates, I suggest you switch to potatoes and yams. Lots more nutrition per calorie.

[Trux]

While cutting you would recommend to eat poatoes over oatmeal? I would think there wouldnt be much of a difference. Also what other carb sources would you recommend while trying to lose bodyfat? I tend to only take in brown rice, oatmeal, dextrose in my pwo shake, and chick peas.

Chick peas...good deal...as are all types of beans...good carbs and good protein all in one food. IMO brown rice and oatmeal are over-rated as bodybuildng foods. They do not deliver much nutrition per calorie. Beans, peas, potatoes, yams...even corn, which IS a grain...give you a lot more bang for your calorie buck than rice, oats or wheat. Most grains are pretty lame and can easily be deleted from a cutting diet.


Yams/sweet potatoes are loaded with nutrition. If you only eat one starchy food a day, make it a cup of sweet potato and skip the brown rice.

If it's dark green, eat it.

[Trux]

I appreciate the input tarzana. I am very active and because of this mr. x recommended me to take in 30% of my cals from carbs. I really dont like much dark greens. I eat romaine/ baby spinach almost everyday and green beans occasionally. But its difficult to take in 175 grams of carbs a day eating only those dark greens and 1 starchy food a day. Maybe il cut back on the rice and add a yam and beans in everyday. I thought i had read that corn wasnt good on a cutting diet?

Originally posted by Tarzana
If it's dark green, eat it.

Bad advice...Have you seen the inside of my fridge?

Seriously, it is harder for a guy, especially a bigger guy to get by eating little starches. Unless you load up on the protein, I'm finding it harder and harder to eat my daily caloric intake on a "clean" diet. Besides, who wants a yam for breakfast? Not disputing your grain theory because it makes sense, but oatmeal is a far better choice than most cereals and breakfast bars out there.

You guys might like whole oat groats...if you've never tried them, they're typically found at the larger health food markets. You can boil a large pot of them at once and reheat them in the microwave on subsequent days.

Here's how I do sweet potatoes...very convenient and delicious. I peel a bunch of them and dice them, and then divide them up into single servings in quart-sized ziplock bags. When I'm ready for them, I take them out of the fridge and zap them in the microwave right in the bag for 3 minutes, with a vent left open along the zip-strip.

I think that a few berries are important to include in the diet for their antioxidants...blueberries, strawberries (unsweetened) are relatively low on the GI index compared to other fruits.