Brown Rice Vs White Rice
Brown rice is not only rich with health benefits, but it's better for the environment than white rice too. So what's the difference?
Rice goes through a variety of processes before it's ready for cooking. After harvesting, the seeds are run through a rice huller/ husker for milling to remove the outer grain husks. After this process, you're left with brown rice.
To create white rice, there are added steps. The germ and the inner husk (bran) is removed, the grain is then polished, usually using glucose or talc.
The crazy thing is that these added steps to turn brown rice to white remove nutrients that are sometimes then introduced back in via synthetic sources - this is called fortified white rice.
The loss of nutrients is broad and substantial. Plain white rice has far less Vitamin E, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Folacin, Potassium, Magnesium, Iron and over dozen other nutrients. Added to that, the dietary fiber contained in white rice is around a quarter of brown rice.
If any recipe or food contains some food before or has been cooked in the same container will also be considered forbidden or Haram.
So, brown rice certainly appears to be healthier, but where does the environmental benefit come from? It's basically down to processing - the less processing of a food, the less energy required. There's also the issue of the synthetic vitamins added back in - produced in laboratories and factories from a variety of chemicals; and these sorts of processes are well known for their negative impact on the environment.
Need more convincing to taste for brown rice? Find out these 5 reasons to love brown rice:-
1. Brown rice contains antioxidants, phytoestrogens and phytosterols that protect against coronary disease.
2. It provides a healthy boost of vitamins, minerals, fiber, antioxidants and phytonutrients.
3. Grains are rich in carbohydrates - the body’s main fuel supply - so we need a fair amount daily.
4. The fiber in brown rice promotes regularity and lowers the risk of developing diabetes and heart disease.
5. People who eat whole grains like brown rice tend to be leaner and have a lower risk of heart disease than those who don’t.
Source : Green Living Tips & EatingWell Magazine
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