30.9 C
West Palm Beach
Thursday, June 8, 2023

Make Rice Healthier By Adding Coconut Oil

Special Contribution to WPB Magazine By Martina M - Life Health HQ

Rice is an immensely popular staple for many meals. While it’s quite common in American meals, rice is absolutely inescapable in Asia, where an estimated 90% of all rice in consumed!

Better, Healthier Rice!

Rice goes with many different types of foods and is quite cheap, but it hasn’t been known to be the healthiest food in the pantry. One cup of rice has 200 calories, and since rice is mostly starch, it turns into sugar and, eventually, body fat.

However, a new scientific study has shown that rice can be made much healthier just by adjusting the cooking process.

Two scientists at the College of Chemical Sciences in Sri Lanka have been experimenting with rice and found a strategy to cut rice calories by as much as 50%!

Sudhair James notes that: “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…after it was ready, we let it cool in the refrigerator for about 12 hours. That’s it.”

You can make rice healthier by adding coconut oil. First you’ll be using one teaspoon of coconut oil for every half cup of rice. Next, you’ll cook the rice by boiling it for 20-25 minutes, or letting it simmer for 40 minutes. The last step is putting the rice in the refrigerator for 12 hours. That means you’ll definitely have to plan ahead. Still, for the calories you save, I’d say that’s well worth your time!

How Rice Becomes Healthier

While the science behind how it all works is a little more complex, it has to do with changing the type of starch that rice is composed of.

Dr. Pushparajah Thavarajah and Sudhair James tested eight different recipes on 38 different types of rice found in Sri Lanka. They discovered that by adding a lipid (in this case, coconut oil) before cooking the rice, and then cooling the rice right after it was done cooking, they were able to alter the rice’s composition for the better. The process changed the easy-to-digest rice starch into a more complex, resistant starch that is considerably healthier.

Potential Affects on Worldwide Obesity

China and India are huge consumers of rice, and they’ve recently been seeing an increase in obesity as a result. Considering how much rice is consumed in these countries, reducing caloric value of rice, even slightly, would have a tremendous affect. Of course this would be important in America too, where plenty of rice is consumed.

Other varieties of rice still have yet to be tested, but it’s safe to stay this breakthrough could mean big things for you and your kitchen. You can even try the process at home right now, although results might vary depending on the type of rice that is used.

Time to break out those curry recipes – rice is back and better than ever!

[fruitful_sep]

A contribution by Megan M; first published on Life Health HQ

Make Rice Healthier By Adding Coconut Oil. Rice Could Taste Better Than Ever with Simple Tips to Make Healthy and Delicious Recipes Using Rice & Coconut Oil

Latest

Lake Worth Art studio helps save the planet one mural at a time

Some recent window honors Greta Thunberg (Think Globally) and two local scientists.

Suzan-Lori Parks’ dark comedy, ‘Top Dog, Underdog,’ portrays a universal predicament

Suzan-Lori Parks’ dark comedy, ‘Top Dog, Underdog,’ portrays a cultural and universal predicament. The play is at Palm Beach Dramaworks.

Art with a retro vibe at new pour your own taproom

Mural by Pensacola-based artist Morgan Summers adds to the fun at Garden District Taproom.

Boca travel agency books TV’s ‘The Bachelor ‘couple

Leslie Tillem-Doniger is set for major national attention with a new NBC pilot called, “The Extra Mile Club.”

Newsletter

Get "The Weekly," and be in the know of the best of West Palm Beach in your in-box, plus occasional alerts when we publish major stories.

Must Read...

Trojan Rocking Horses to gallop downtown West Palm Beach

Finnish designer Marco Casagrande will monitor, supervise, and design the horses.

Mural by Emo pushes public transportation in the Palm Beaches

Local artist Eduardo Mendieta painted the mural on the roof of the TPA building.

El Camino revs up The Square with a bright mix of fun, food & tequilas

The new spot serves lunch, dinner, weekend brunch and two daily happy hours.

Charlie & Joe’s at Love Street is a ‘touchdown’ in the heart of Jupiter

The restaurant is a culinary compound with the community in mind.

Jennifer Wesley and the ‘Alchemy’ of simple things in life

Jennifer Wesley of Alchemy Juice Co. & Market is a woman of substance.
WPB Magazine
WPB Magazinehttp://wpbmagazine.com
WPB Magazine is a quarterly publication focusing on arts, entertainment, places of interest, things to do, and the latest news about West Palm Beach as a preferred travel destination and a great city to live and work in.

Lake Worth Art studio helps save the planet one mural at a time

Some recent window honors Greta Thunberg (Think Globally) and two local scientists.

Suzan-Lori Parks’ dark comedy, ‘Top Dog, Underdog,’ portrays a universal predicament

Suzan-Lori Parks’ dark comedy, ‘Top Dog, Underdog,’ portrays a cultural and universal predicament. The play is at Palm Beach Dramaworks.

Art with a retro vibe at new pour your own taproom

Mural by Pensacola-based artist Morgan Summers adds to the fun at Garden District Taproom.