# Rice a Good Diet Food? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 6, 2003, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rice-a-good-diet-food/173342 "2003-05-06T05:49:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Fuel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df705f/32.png) [@Fuel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuel)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2003, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rice-a-good-diet-food/173342/21 "2003-05-06T18:11:45Z")
Brown rice would be a little better, because it takes longer for the digestive juices to break through the husk of the brown rice, which in turn creates a slower uptake of glucose. This ensures a more steady rate of insulin response so less of it will be stored as fat. But, there is definately more to it than what I just said. This is a guideline. If all you eat for one meal is a bunch of brown rice really quickly, the glucose will all modulate at the same time and you will get a big rush of sugar. That’s why _balanced_ is the key here. Everyone who is trying to lose weight and is not on a carb-free diet should eat whole oats for this same reason. **Philster** By the way, twinkies have preservatives and hydrogenated fats in them. Aren’t those bad? ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2003, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rice-a-good-diet-food/173342/22 "2003-05-06T18:41:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Philster \* > \*\*Twinkies contain what ingredients that are ‘bad’ for the human body? > > Please elaborate/enlighten. \*\* Oh, my. Don’t _we_ take ourselves seriously. Are you actually arguing that eating something loaded with refined sugar isn’t bad for the consumer? Well, to begin with, they **are** a food product, contray to [popular belief](http://www.snopes.com/food/ingredient/twinkies.htm). > [@](#): > > Twinkies are cream-filled sponge cakes shaped like ladyfingers which pack 160 calories per cake and are loaded with “trans fats,” a form of fat which (even moreso than saturated fats) raises levels of bad cholesterol (LDL) and decreases levels of good cholesterol (HDL) in the blood. So that’s a start. Add in the fact that they’re essentially refined sugar and white flour and I know what _I’m_ not having for dessert. ---
**Author:** ![tarfu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tarfu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tarfu)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2003, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rice-a-good-diet-food/173342/23 "2003-05-06T18:44:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Philster \* > \*\*maybe you all should read > > readhttp://www.howstuffworks.com/diet.htm \*\* Philster, please quit sending people to this outdated, 90’s diet site. I suggest you first read some recent nutrition books before singing any more praises of a diet based on 80’s and 90’s concepts. I mean, they recommend rice cakes! Come on! Rice cakes will put weight on faster then ice cream! Sheesh! No offense, but I think you are really misguided… To the OP - try some internet searches on glycemic index, and then try eating a diet of food made of low GI foods. You’ll lose weight, and feel better… ---
**Author:** ![Fuel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df705f/32.png) [@Fuel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuel)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2003, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rice-a-good-diet-food/173342/24 "2003-05-06T20:15:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Philster \* > \*\*Yeah, Twinkies, wise ass. Twinkies can be eaten, like any other food, as part of a diet plan. > > I’m sorry, maybe I didn’t realize they were removed from shelves because they are poisonous. \*\* They _can_, but why would you want to? Pizza and wings are better cheat foods and they don’t mess with your insulin as much! Choose your “cheat foods” well. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2003, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rice-a-good-diet-food/173342/25 "2003-05-06T20:28:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Attrayant \* > \*\*A diet high in Rice or other starches can send you triglyceride levels through the roof, unless your overall diet and genetic pre-disposition allows you to cope with it (c.f. Asians, et al.). > \*\* Engineering to Cap’n Kirk! Cap’n, the triglyceride levels are through the roof. She can’na take anymore or the pancreas is going to blow sky high! [/Chief Engineer Scotty] ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2003, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rice-a-good-diet-food/173342/26 "2003-05-06T20:32:12Z")
You can eat anything you want, in the right quantities. Because people gorge themselves on refined sugar does not make refined sugar bad, or make all carbohydrates bad. It means it’s a bad habit. People have carbs at easy disposal, so they are first to be consumed in mass quantities. It’s all about how much you eat. AND, recent and real tested scientific evidence bears this out. You want a current link? Here goes: Calories restriction is the way to go. If you can pack USDA nutrition too…and you can always have some calories like a twinkie, if you’d like. Here is some science from people doing long term research on the effects the diets they propose. This is the latest and greatest. > **[Lisa Walford](http://walford.com/)** > > Deep peace, and simple joys Atkins! Good lord, people were in shape LOOOOOONG before Atkins, but not since mass quantities were consumed in eating frenzies and since laziness skyrocketed. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2003, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rice-a-good-diet-food/173342/27 "2003-05-06T20:36:37Z")
Thanks, everyone. ---
**Author:** ![dwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwyr/32/363_2.png) [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rice-a-good-diet-food/173342/28 "2003-05-08T01:16:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Attrayant \*A diet high in Rice or other starches can send you triglyceride levels through the roof, unless your overall diet and genetic pre-disposition allows you to cope with it (c.f. Asians, et al.). 'Scuse the bump. I just had to say that triglycerides primarily come from **fats** in the diet, not starches. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rice-a-good-diet-food/173342.md?page=1)