Healthy Lifestyle Change for JULY – Eat whole grain brown rice

Keeping with the theme of consuming more whole grains… it’s better to eat whole grain brown rice than the regular polished white rice because:

It has more nutrients – Vitamin B1, B3, Iron and Magnesium naturally found in the hull of the rice grain
It has more fiber – helping you of any constipation issues
It is very flavorful
It comes is a variety of formats – Basmati, short grain, long grain… just like white rice.

All these benefits, yet you prepare it basically the same way you make white rice – you just need to add a bit more water.

Here’s a few tips:

You can purchase whole grain brown rice at any major supermarket – I buy frequently Uncle Ben’s or Mahatma Brands of brown rice. Lately I have also been purchasing Texmati brown rice, available at health food stores or at Costco.
To me it’s easier to make rice in a rice cooker – but if you are used to making rice in a regular pot, all you need to do is follow these measurements:
- 3 cups of water x 1 cup of rice
- When you make more than 1 cup of rice, you add 1 cup of water for each cup of rice + 3 additional cups of water SEE TABLE

If you’re using a rice cooker, my rule of thumb is to add ALMOST twice the water you would need for regular white rice.
- Something about Texmati rice… it only needs a bit more than the water you would need for regular white rice. So it cooks faster than other brown rices.
You can make any rice dish you usually make with white rice using whole grain brown rice.

Here a few recipes you can try:

Arroz Provencal