Becky stumbled across this little nugget last week and immediately shared it with me. As her dad has been a type 1 diabetic for 40 years now, and I have crept into type 2 territory in the past year, she’s heard us talk about blood sugars all her life. Aaron’s controlled his blood glucose levels incredibly well since his diagnosis and is in terrific shape, which I find a bit unfair since he does not exercise. (And yes, he knows he should.) Of course, he is insulin-dependent. No insulin and he dies. Fortunately, he’s got a good supply and we have the protocol for DIYing it (nobody wants to go there) if we have to.
When we can no longer purchase insulin, Aaron’s diet will have to change to conserve his supply. Rice is one of the first things he would cut out because of its high glycemic index. (The glycemic index--GI--is a measure of how quickly blood sugars rise after consuming a particular food.) He’ll be eating a lot more protein, fat, and leafy greens and a lot less carbohydrates. All type-1 diabetics will have to take similar measures.
Type-2 diabetics (most, anyway) live in a different world, or may, if they so choose. Reducing carbohydrate consumption, losing weight, and exercising can all contribute to reversing T2D. Of course, those activities alone may not solve the problems for everyone. Being overweight isn’t the only reason for T2D, and maintaining an ideal weight won’t necessarily make T2D disappear. I am hoping that losing 10-20 pounds will make a difference for me, but owing to the fact that a surgeon removed 70% of my pancreas 15 years ago, my luck may have run out, and I count myself quite fortunate that I avoided T2D as long as I have. Even now, I am still only borderline T2D, but I don’t want to become worse.
So I monitor my blood sugars a bit obsessively. And I get extremely annoyed when my blood glucose levels spike. I have already cut drastically back on refined sugars, but I just love carbohydrates—grains, bread, etc. I love rice. Like most preppers, we have stored a lot of rice. White rice. Because though brown rice is healthier, it’s got a short shelf life, usually less than a year due to the oils in the bran, which is removed when it’s processed into white rice. White rice stores for decades.
Brown rice is what nutritionists recommend for diabetics because it has a lower GI than white rice—it doesn’t spike the blood sugars. So it has posed quite the conundrum for us.
Until now.
What Becky found last week blows my mind. A couple of little tidbits in a much larger article on the nutritional differences between brown and white rice.
The first is that researchers found that cooking the rice, refrigerating it, and then reheating it when ready to eat (after 16-20 hours in the study) reduces the GI from 89 to 53, nearly down to the level of brown rice which has a GI of 50. As long as we have refrigeration, that’s an easy change to implement immediately.[1] [2] [3] [4]
The second is that all rices are not created equal. And some have a much lower GI than others. The article noted that red, black, and wild (which isn’t even a rice, but anyway) have much lower GIs. I’ve never even heard of red or black rice.[5] They’re probably expensive and not high on the list of foods to store. However, basmati rice also made that list. Intrigued, I went to the table to check out its GI score. 58![6] Just a little bit higher than brown rice. And it’s commonly sold in grocery stores. Unfortunately, it’s a bit more expensive, but for many folks it won’t be prohibitively so. (Basmati rice, particularly that grown in California, has the lowest levels of arsenic.)
Links to related posts:
Rice: To Rinse or Not
to Rinse, and Why a Prepper Should Care
[1]
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/brown-vs-white-rice#brown-rice
[2] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002916522004944?via%3Dihub (The pdf link to the table showing the glycemic indices of 2000+ foods is in this article. That link, when I checked it 13 Dec 2023, asked the user to verify 3 times that “You’re not a robot.” Hassle.
[4] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667025923000341
[5] https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/brown-vs-white-rice#brown-rice
[6] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002916522004944?via%3Dihub (The pdf link to the table showing the glycemic indices of 2000+ foods is in this article. That link, when I checked it 13 Dec 2023, asked the user to verify 3 times that “You’re not a robot.” Hassle.
In isolation white rice can be a problem for diabetics. Cooked with beans and a bit of meat and such that problem is resolved.
ReplyDeleteRed Beans and Rice is yummy, just saying. Works well enough with a squirrel or three replacing the sausage if you have some garden-fresh peppers to add.
You might notice I look to easily done at home solutions. A dab or solar electricity and a dorm sized fridge is pretty nice as you mentioned above. If for nothing else carrying dinner over SAFELY for breakfast tomorrow. Far better than the Great Depression cover the dinner with a cloth to keep flies off trick.
I so meant to include something about cooking the rice with beans or a little fat would slow digestion and reduce the glycemic index. But I was writing that at 3AM and got a little tired I finished writing and forgot. Thank you so much for that reminder.
DeleteWhat's a dab?
The standard 400 watt systems with a SINE Wave Inverter seems a real deal once you add decent batteries. More is really nice but lights, a small refrigerator and fans can be done in my area.
DeleteRice has caught up to the other food prices. A WM Great Value 20 pound white rice was around 6 dollars last year, was almost 8 dollars 6 months ago (have the receipts) and as of yesterday nearly 12 dollars.
As the ole Drill SGT said Move it or lose it.
Basmati is our rice staple; we prefer it our white or jasmine. Two years ago 50lbs of basmati was $21, now it's around $60 to $80.
ReplyDeleteExile1981
I was really hoping it wasn't that expensive yet.
DeleteBasmati is the only rice we eat. It’s currently about $1.05/lb at Walmart.com. The California grown rice doesn’t have the same flavor as the rice grown in India or Pakistan.
Delete