Brown Rice : Shooting Myself In The Foot?

[TangoWedding]

I was just reading through some stuff and had a thought. I figured I'd ask here because you guys seem to know your stuff. :grinhappy:

I'm trying to lose some weight/inches for our engagement pictures.

The last couple of weeks, I've been watching what I eat. The last week, I've been counting every calorie (getting about 1300-1600 calories/day). The thing is...I've been having a lot of baked fish and chicken...but with brown rice and fresh veggies.

I've heard brown rice and veggies is good for you and a good filler meal for diets, but just realized rice is a carb...and most diets say cutting carbs is the key.

Is brown rice ok because it's good carbs?

I'm confuzzled. :ooh:

[katieandalex]

I don't know if I'm right...but if you are cutting your calories from what you normally eat then you will lose weight either way. You are feeding your body less food than its used to, so it forces it to use your reserves.

Cutting carbs isn't always the way to go. It works for some people, but my MIL is a prime example. She cut carbs and lost a ton of weight. She has never went back to eating many carbs, and she has gained weight back and is now trying to get rid of it again. Your body needs carbs, but my feeling is that if you are watching your overall calories and you have cut significantly from what you used to eat, you will still lose weight.

And as far as I knew, brown rice was better for you than white rice.

[TangoWedding]

Thanks. :)

I just did my one week weigh-in and inches check. I've only lost 1.5 pounds, but I lost 1.5" on my bust, 2" on my waist, and 1" on each thigh.

:grinhappy:

I've been drinking ONLY water...I imagine that's what did it.

Chugging on!

[Smashingpennies]

Brown rice is better for you then white rice. Long stem is supposed to be better than short, and wild rice is supposed to be better than Brown rice. I personally do not like alot of wild rice, it just has a funny taste and texture to me. Some of these new diets are not all they are cracked up to be, you do need some carbs and it is important to make sure you drink your water like you have been. Water helps flush your system out and that is really important, if you do not already have a food chart find one and use it. Eating the 3-4 servings of dairy and stuff will help with the weight loss but just watching what you eat is not always enough. Staying active to help burn the calories you are taking in are improtant too. I found the following on what burns calories I found it in the May issue ofReader's Digest on page 200.

Taking a walk- 10min, 5 times a week 170 calories burned per week 2.5 pounds lost a year

Using the stairs instead of an elevator- 5 min, 5 times a week 225 calories burned a week 3 pounds lost a year

House work- 2 hours a week 408 calories burned a week 6 pounds a year

Playing actively with the kids- 1 hour, 3 times a week 612 calories burned 9 pounds a year

Working in your yard or garden- 2 hours a week 712 calories 10 pounds a year

Dancing- 2 hours a week 816 calories 12 pounds a year

[katieandalex]

Thanks. :)

I just did my one week weigh-in and inches check. I've only lost 1.5 pounds, but I lost 1.5" on my bust, 2" on my waist, and 1" on each thigh.

:grinhappy:

I've been drinking ONLY water...I imagine that's what did it.

Chugging on!

Great job! Drinking only water helps. I gave up soda a few times now and only drank water and its helped...but I always resort back to soda. But I've been limiting myself more and have been drinking a lot more water (I'm up to 32 oz a day which is a lot for me!).

[bichonlvr]

I am on the South Beach diet...which works for ME..not for everyone...

But yes, brown rice is a GOOD carb! Very good for you!!!

Good job on the weight loss:)

[I called it He caught it]

I have been working my arse off since early June after we were engaged. I have lost 32 lbs to date and have 68 to go. Don't worry about the brown rice. I have a couple of theories and so far, they are all working.
First, you can have anything you like, in the right portions at the right time (and not all the time):D .
Second, you can count, fat, calories, sodium, carbs or points.. but you can't count everything. If you are working at low cal & low fat, then don't kill yourself over carbs and sodium... if you are on the low carb kick, don't focus on the others. If you try to rule out excess of everything, you will be left with nothing and that can get you into trouble.
Finally, find yourself a "free" snack that is your own little "cheater". For me it's twizzlers. They are fat free, and can take the edge off when I need a cheat.

My FH doesn't need to lose weight, and can eat whatever he wants, whenever he wants (it's going to catch up with him eventually), so he always has stuff around us that I can't have. Or can I? If he is having ice cream, that's out, but I can take a little bite, just to get the taste. That has kept me from losing it and just binging out of the fridge.

My last bit, you have to get active. Anything works, just get active. I have a horse of a dog, so he goes on a long walk with me every night. I"m working an extra job on the weekends to help pay for this shin dig... it's a cleaning job, so it gives me a good 4-5 hours of activity, every saturday and sunday morning. Park a bit further away, walk to the bathroom on the otherside of your building at work... anything to stay a bit more active.

I won't claim to be the expert, but so far it's working for me.

Good Luck!

[katieandalex]

^I definitely agree with this post! you'll kill yourself if all you do is count everything on a nutrition label...f.or me counting calories and fat grams has been working recently. But everyone is different and you alway shave to have your cheat days otherwise you won't stay on your healthier lifestyle.

[raven34]

Not only will you kill yourself but it is soooooooooo boring.
As far as the rice theory goes I am going to stick my neck out here and give you an answer my FH gave me just 2 nights ago.
We were having the same discussion and he said "Chinese people only eat rice and they aren't renowned for being overweight".
I hate it when he comes up with statments like that and I have no answer.
Does he have a point or is it what they eat with the rice?

[katieandalex]

I think it has a lot to do with the fact that Chinese people eat a lot more vegetables than meat. The chinese food we have in America is completely different and much more fattening. But I read about a study that Asian people had a lesser chance of getting cancers than Americans do, due to how much red meat they eat. But since Asian is getting more and more Americanized, they are starting to eat more red meat and now the prevalance of cancer is going up in Asia.....food for thought.

[twu]

Not only will you kill yourself but it is soooooooooo boring.
As far as the rice theory goes I am going to stick my neck out here and give you an answer my FH gave me just 2 nights ago.
We were having the same discussion and he said "Chinese people only eat rice and they aren't renowned for being overweight".
I hate it when he comes up with statments like that and I have no answer.
Does he have a point or is it what they eat with the rice?

Hahah, Chinese people are thin because they are poor, can't afford all the fatty foods that Americans can, and generally have to bike or do something active every day! No offense to any Chinese people, but it's pretty much what I observed when I visited my relatives there.


My parents are Chinese, and I hear a lot from them about what it was like in the old country. My mother only ate rice 1/year because it was a luxury in northern China. On most days, they didn't even have a scrap of meat.

[twu]

I was just reading through some stuff and had a thought. I figured I'd ask here because you guys seem to know your stuff. :grinhappy:

I'm trying to lose some weight/inches for our engagement pictures.

The last couple of weeks, I've been watching what I eat. The last week, I've been counting every calorie (getting about 1300-1600 calories/day). The thing is...I've been having a lot of baked fish and chicken...but with brown rice and fresh veggies.

I've heard brown rice and veggies is good for you and a good filler meal for diets, but just realized rice is a carb...and most diets say cutting carbs is the key.

Is brown rice ok because it's good carbs?

I'm confuzzled. :ooh:


Brown rice is okay because it's good carbs, but just like with anything else, don't over-do it.


To break down carbs a little more clearly:

Carbohydrates consist of three major classes

simple (sugar)
complex (starches)
fiber (cellulose)Simple carbs are things like sugars, soda, and most anything that's extremely sweet. These carbs aren't necessarily bad for you; it's just that Americans typically over-do these carbs. They provide you with a rush of quick energy that disappears quickly. For this reason, they're more likely to screw with your blood sugar levels and cause things like diabetes. They can satiate hunger only for a short period of time before the body stores away the extra calories as fat or something else. These are also bad in typical junk food, like soda, because they often represent empty calories. However, fruit is chocked full of simple carbs, but you get vitamin benefits from eating them.


Complex starch carbs are most other types of carbs that you'll eat--bread, cereal, white rice, brown rice--these all have starch in them. These are healthier than simple carbs. Even though they have just as much energy content, they release this energy much slower because your body takes time to digest them. The result is that you feel energized longer than with simple carbs.


Cellulose is what we call dietary fiber, and it's simply a material that's found in plant cell walls. Anytime you eat a plant, you're getting a little bit of dietary fiber, but some parts of the plant have more fiber than other parts, and some plants have more fiber in their cell walls than others. Humans cannot digest fiber, but it's important in keeping us regular and keeping our intestines happy! Fiber is good because you feel more full on it, but you don't actually intake calories when you eat it. There is an arsenal of positive health benefits associated with high-fiber diets, but I don't know them off the top of my head.



Brown rice will have more fiber than white rice, and is therefore healthier than white rice. But the grainier you can get the rice (more fibrous), the better!



Hope that helps.

[shopmysongs]

You need good carbs like brown rice, whole wheat pastas & bread etc. You need carbs for energy along with protein. It's good to stay away from bad carbs like white flour & white sugar. Most of the time I eat for breakfast, whole wheat cereal or steel cut oatmeal with a banana & skim milk. Lunch, whole wheat bread with ham (turkey) & fat free cheese and dinner, lean cuts of meat, veggies & fruit. I try to have fruit or 100 calorie micowave popcorn. I try to stay away from carbs for dinner since I had them for breakfast & lunch.