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Choose This Starch for Better Blood
Sugar
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You could lower your risk of diabetes by 16 percent with this starch substitution: brown rice instead of white.
Research shows that people who consume lots of white rice each week may up their diabetes risk, while people who regularly eat brown rice lower
theirs.
One Big Bowl
In a study, the people who consumed five or more servings of white rice per week had a 17 percent higher risk of diabetes compared with the people
who consumed less than a serving of the white stuff each month. And people who noshed on brown rice at least twice a week were far better off than
those who rarely partook. The brown rice lovers had an 11 percent lower risk of diabetes.
All Grains Are Not Equal
Most Americans consume about 20 pounds of rice a year. So swapping a daily serving of white rice for an equal amount of brown rice would have a
big impact on nutrition, adding more B vitamins, minerals, and fiber to diets. All of which may help lower diabetes risk. Most of the diabetes-fighting
nutrients in brown rice live in the bran and germ layers -- two layers that are stripped from white rice during processing. Plus, easy-to-digest white
rice can make your blood sugar and insulin levels spike.
Be Careful of the Labels
The benefits of 100% whole grains are piling up faster than endorsement offers in Michael Phelps's inbox. And so are the number of products
touting whole grains on their labels. The trouble? Labels don't always present an accurate picture of what's inside, and the product that appears to be
good for you on the label may have all the nutritional goodness of a gum wrapper.
Why do you want whole grains? They contain the bran and the germ of the grain, which have more nutrients than the endosperm (those are the real
names -- we didn't make them up) that you get with refined or enriched grains. Whole grains are absorbed more slowly than foods made from
enriched or bleached flour, so they raise glucose and insulin levels less and keep YOU feeling fuller longer. A diet rich in whole grains may also help
steer you around cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, even gum disease -- not to mention the pain of having to buy bigger pants.
But not all foods that tout whole grain or whole wheat provide it in the healthiest form. You want the grain to have all of its original components. Here
are a few fake-out label words to watch for:
Made with whole grains: It may have a pinch of whole grains, but unless it's 100%, you won't reap most of the potential benefits.
Multigrain: This tells you nothing about whether the grains are whole or refined. Even if you're getting 38 different grains, that isn't much good if they
are all refined.
Whole grain: If the label doesn't say "100% whole grain," it may have many grain blends. Bad words to see paired with "flour": enriched, bleached,
unbleached, semolina, durum, and rice. What the label should say is” "100% whole grain" or "100% whole wheat."
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