New Low-Calorie Rice Cooking Method Could Cut 60% Of The Calories Your Body Absorbs

“My favorite food is rice, rice, rice and rice. When I binge out it’s on even more rice . It’s better than pizza, better than ice cream.”
-Victor Richards

New Low-Calorie Rice Cooking Method Could Cut 60% Of The Calories Your Body Absorbs

Victor Richards, better known as Vic Richards or Mr. Big is the most massive bodybuilder to ever live weighing in up to 370 lbs. at 5’10” tall. Vic was reported to eats 8,000 to 12,000 calories per day and believes that adequate carbohydrates in his diet is the key to getting really big. During a typical day Vic eats 3 pounds of brown rice, 25-30 chicken breasts, 75-120 egg whites, 10-12 cans of corn, and 5-6 cans of pineapple.

Rice is the staple of just about every bodybuilders diet. Ronnie Coleman, also used chicken and rice as a staple part of his diet. Rice contains a number of nutrients, including potassium and magnesium. One cup of cooked rice holds approximately 200 calories, most of which comes from starch in the food. The problem with rice is that its easy to consume too much and put on excess weight.

Now a team of Sri Lankan researchers has devised a new way to cook rice that reduces the amount of starch–and calories–the body absorbs from rice by up to 60 percent. The researchers presented their findings this week at the meeting of the American Chemical Society in Denver.

Rice contains two types of starch: digestible and indigestible. The small intestine can’t break down the latter, which means the body can’t absorb the carbohydrates and sugars that come from it.

To convert digestible starch to indigestible, the researchers added two key steps to the process of cooking rice. First they put a teaspoon of coconut oil into boiling water before adding a half a cup of rice. The oil, the researchers explain, enters the starch granules in the rice, changing their structure to be resistant to the enzymes that would normally break down the starch during digestion. Secondly, after the rice was done cooking, the researchers refrigerated it for 12 hours. This part is essential, the scientists say, because the cooling process expels the digestible part of the starch; once outside the rice granules, the molecules form strong bonds, turning them into indigestible starch. The amount of indigestible starch didn’t change when the rice was later reheated. Sir Lankan commented, “We as scientists believe that if we are going to do this process on the best varieties and if this method is going to work this could be a massive breakthrough,” James said. “We could lower the calories in rice by 50 to 60 percent.”

How To Do It

The chilling time is 12 hours but it’s a crucial step in converting the starches, so make sure you don’t skip this.

Ingredients

• 1 cup white rice
• 2 teaspoons coconut oil
• 1 3/4 cups water

Instructions

• In a pot, bring water to a boil.
• Add coconut oil to pot, followed by the rice.
• Cover, lower heat, and cook for 20 to 25 minutes.
• Let rice cool, then chill in the fridge for at least 12 hours.

James S, et al. New low-calorie rice could help cut rising obesity rates. 249th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS). 2015.