Saturday, August 26, 2006

Fw: DON'T EAT TOO MUCH RICE


Received this mail from Pontian Salted Fish. Reposted to this blog to highlight how some people cunningly mix facts with fiction.


DON'T
> EAT TOO MUCH RICE The human body was never
> meant to consume rice! You see, our genes have
> hardly changed in more than 30,000 years.

Can we actually know through our gene what we should eat? he he... actually...i am not too sure abt that ... :)

However, our food choices and lifestyle have changed
> dramatically. The caveman would hardly recognize our
> food or way of life.
> Caveman food was never cooked as fire was not
> yet tamed. Thus, he ate only those foods that you
> can eat without treatment with or by fire. He ate
> fruits, vegetables, fish (sushi anyone?), eggs,
> nuts and meat. Yes, even meat. You can even eat meat
> raw if you were starving in the forest. You have
> the necessary enzymes to digest meat.

How can you use caveman as an example? So should we stay in a cave now? Who says the earliest man lives in caves? Human evolve and adapt to the surrounding. So if the earliest man happens to live near the sea, does this means that we should only eat fish? or 'see ham' or 'lala'? Lousy argument, don't you think?

> However, rice, like wheat and corn, cannot be
> eaten raw. It must be cooked. Even if you were
> starving in the desert, you cannot eat rice in the
> raw form. This is because we do not have the
> system of enzymes to break rice down. You were
> never meant to eat rice.

You mean SOMEBODY decided what we should eat 30,000 years ago? Do you mean we should eat everything raw now? That we are not suppose to eat anything that is cooked because we were not MEANT to eat cooked food? Not too sure of this too... Human use heat to cook food not only because it makes the food more digestible, but at the same time, it kills germs...

To make matters worse,
> you not only eat rice, but also make it the bulk of
> your food.
> In some parts of Asia , rice forms up to 85%
> of the plate. Even if you take rice, keep it to a
> minimum. Remember, it is only for your tongue -
> not your body. Actually, rice and other grains like
> wheat and corn are actually worse than sugar.
> There are many reasons:
> Rice becomes sugar - lots of it
> This is a fact that no nutritionist can deny:
> rice is chemically no different from sugar. One
> bowl of cooked rice is the caloric equal of 10
> teaspoons of sugar. This does not matter whether it
> is white, brown or herbal rice. Brown rice is
> richer in fibre, some B vitamins and minerals but
> it is still the caloric equal of 10 teaspoons of
> sugar. To get the same 10 teaspoons of sugar, you
> need to consume lots of kangkong - 10 bowls of it.
>
> Rice is digested to become sugar.
> Rice cannot be digested before it is thoroughly
> cooked. However, when thoroughly cooked, it
> becomes sugar and spikes circulating blood sugar
> within half an hour - almost as quickly as it
> would if you took a sugar candy. Rice is very low
> in the "rainbow of anti-oxidants"


There are some facts mixed with fiction over here. This is very much like the DaVinci Code phenomenon. Yes, when rice is digested, it becomes glucose. The same as sugar.
But, ... and a BIG but is that the effort and time and energy the body need to digest the rice will be very much equivalent to the amount of absorbed glucose!
And rice, does contains fiber, lots of it. And rice has plenty of vitamins too!


> This complete anti-oxidant rainbow is necessary
> for the effective and safe utilisation of sugar.
> Fruits come with a sugar called fructose. However,
> they are not empty calories as the fruit is packed
> with a whole host of other nutrients that help its
> proper assimilation and digestion.
> Rice has no fibre. The fibre of the kangkong
> fills you up long before your
> blood sugar spikes. This is because the fibre
> bulks and fills up your stomach. Since white rice
> has no fibre, you end up eating lots of "calorie
> dense" food before you get filled up. Brown rice
> has more fibre but still the same amount of sugar.
>
> Rice is tasteless - Sugar is sweet. There is
> only so much that you can eat at one sitting. How
> many teaspoons of sugar can you eat before you
> feel like throwing up? Could you imagine eating 10
> teaspoons of sugar in one seating?
> Rice is always the main part of the meal - While
> sugar may fill your dessert or sweeten your
> coffee, it will never be the main part of any meal.
> You could eat maybe two to three teaspoons of
> sugar at one meal. However, you could easily eat the
> equal value of two to three bowls (20 - 30
> teaspoons) of sugar in one meal. I am always
> amused when I see someone eat sometimes five bowls
> of rice (equals 50 teaspoons of sugar) and then
> asks for tea tarik kurang manis!
> There is no real "built in" mechanism for us to
> prevent overeating of rice


Yes, we feel full.


> How much kangkong can you eat? How much fried
> chicken can you eat? How much steamed fish can you
> eat? Think about that! In one seating, you cannot
> take lots of chicken, fish or cucumber, but you
> can take lots of rice. Eating rice causes you to eat
> more salt.
> As rice is tasteless, you tend to consume more
> salt - another villain when it comes to high blood
> pressure. You tend to take more curry that has
> salt to help flavor rice. We also tend to consume
> more ketchup and soy sauce which are also rich in
> salt.

Salt is needed in the body.


> Eating rice causes you to drink less water. The
> more rice you eat, the less water you will drink
> as there is no mechanism to prevent the overeating
> of rice. Rice, wheat and corn come hidden in our
> daily food. As rice is tasteless, it tends to end up
> in other foods that substitute rice like rice
> flour, noodles and bread. We tend to eat the
> hidden forms which still get digested into sugar.
> Rice, even when cooked, is difficult to digest

See what i mean? This is where the writer contradict himself. Earlier he mentioned that throughly cooked rice will be so easily digested that eating cooked rice is like eating sugar. And now, he try to relate the fact that rice is hard to digest with it being bad for our digestion.

See how the writer uses facts selectively to support it's own view?


> Can't eat raw rice? Try eating rice half cooked.
> Contrary to popular belief, rice is very difficult
> to digest. It is "heavy stuff". If you have problems
> with digestion, try skipping rice for a few days.
> You will be amazed at how the problem will just go
> away.
> Rice prevents the absorption of several vitamins
> and minerals. Rice when taken in bulk will reduce
> the absorption of vital nutrients like zinc, iron
> and the B vitamins.
> Are you a rice addict? Going rice-less may not
> be easy but you can go rice-less. Eating less rice
> could be lot easier than you think. Here are some
> strategies that you can pursue in your quest to
> eat less rice:
> Eat less rice - Cut your rice by half. Barry
> Sears, author of the Zone Diet, advises "eating rice
> like spice".
> Instead, increase your fruits and vegetables.
> Take more lean meats and fish.
> You can even take more eggs and nuts.
> Have "riceless" meals. Take no rice or wheat at
> say, breakfast. Go for eggs instead.
> Go on "riceless" days - Go "western" once a
> week.
> Take no rice and breads for one day every week.
> That can't be too difficult. Appreciate the
> richness of your food. Go for taste, colors and
> smells. Make eating a culinary delight. Enjoy your
> food in the original flavors.
> Avoid the salt shaker or ketchup. You will
> automatically eat less rice.
> Eat your fruit dessert before (Yes! No printing
> error) your meals.
> The fibre rich fruits will "bulk up" in your
> stomach. Thus, you will eat less rice and more
> fruits.
>

As asians, we have been eating rice for so many generations and our ancestors have been living for so long. There is no reason to say that rice is not good for us. The key word here is MODERATION. Attacking rice as the culprit and using fact mixed with bad reasoning makes the writer looks ridiculous and very much misleading (but then, that's the whole purpose isn't it?).

Imagine, if we are to eat like the caveman, we may need a cow for a week to survive. By the end of one year, each of us would have eaten 52 cows or 100 pigs!!!

And contrary to popular believe, eating fruits constantly will actually result in diabetes! Vegetables? Well, the caveman doesn't eat vegetables!!!

Very soon you may well receive an article telling us that our digestion system are not meant to take vegetable....that we are not COWs!!! moo...moo....mooo...

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