Is White Rice Bad For You?

You often hear how white rice can be bad for you if you are someone who is trying to lose weight.  But you also hear about how white rice is not that bad, and that it actually can be good for you.  So which is it? Is white rice bad for you?  Depending on your fitness goals, white rice could either work for you, or against you.

Why White Rice gets a bad rap

If you are someone that is trying to lose weight or maintain their current weight, you have probably received the advice about staying away from white rice.  

The reason that may be the case is due to the popularity of low carb diets.

Being that rice is considered a carb, it only makes sense why some would be afraid to consume it.

Also rice is a cheap high calorie, high-carb food that can easily run your calorie count up. That being said, does this mean that white rice is actually bad for you?  Well it depends on what your goals are.

What are your goals?

If you are someone that is looking to gain weight, then rice is a very cost-effective way to increase your caloric intake.  If you are someone who’s focus is to lose weight, then being aware of how much white rice you are consuming is going to be key.

Remember that carbs are a great source for energy and key to making sure you have enough energy to get through a workout.  So consuming white rice can be a great way to get that boost you need to get through any workout.

Just make sure you keep it light since you could end up throwing up all that rice depending on how intense your workout is.

White Rice vs Brown Rice

Now that everyone is starting to see the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle.  Learning what to eat can be somewhat confusing.  There is a thought in society that the brown option is better than the white option.

Whether you are told to eat wheat bread instead of white, whole wheat pasta instead of regular pasta and now brown rice instead of white rice.  But like most things in life, everything is not always “brown and white.”

If we try and break down the the differences between both brown and white rice, you will see that brown rice contains more calories, carbs, and more micronutrients than white rice.

Brown rice also has a lower glycemic index which means the body breaks down the rice much slower than white rice.

From this, it is easy to see the positives and negatives to having either rice, so it can make trying to decide which is healthier for you a little more difficult.  As long as you eat rice in moderation, you should be fine health wise.

Conclusion

So when trying to decide which rice to eat, either rice will do. Both are considered a good source of carb which is needed for a healthy diet.  If you prefer the taste of white rice, then it is definitely ok as long as it is consumed in moderation.

So depending on what your fitness goals are, you want to make sure you are aware of your caloric intake as eating too much rice can increase it.

So there you have it.  White rice is considered to be healthy for you.  So make sure to share any thoughts you have below about how you like to eat your rice.