Five White foes in the Kitchen - Part 4 - Rice

 "Aunt Snigdha, as you had asked, I have read about today's food substance"

“Wow, let's start then with the information you have gathered. Tell me what have you read? ”

Shriya enthusiastically started, “Today I have read about rice. I've been curious about this ever since you first mentioned it. Rice is an important element of our diet because we get carbohydrates from rice/rotis in a wholesome diet of carbohydrates, proteins, fats and vitamins. Rice is the staple food in coastal regions. In olden days, they used to eat hand pounded rice. But nowadays the rice is over-polished to make it look whiter. This process removes the * bran and vitamins * too from the rice grain and only the starch remains. This starch due to their high * GI*,  increase blood sugar levels. This increases the risk of developing diabetes. So if not everything, one should avoid eating this polished rice atleast. ”

"Oh wow, well done. You shared a lot of information. Now, I will tell you only a few parts related to Ayurveda. In Ayurveda, rice is called 'Shali' and today's common word 'Sali' is derived from the same. Earlier there were different varieties of rice like Raktashali, Mahashali, Shashtik Shali, Kolam widely available.

शाल्यान्न कफवातघ्न स्वादु पित्तनिवारण ।

रूप शुक्र महातेज सत्त्व बुद्धि बलप्रद ।।

Rice is pacifies vAta. Being sweet in taste it reduces the pitta.Increases kapha. It bestows beauty (rupa), shukra;  bright glow of aura (mahateja) ; mental strength(satva); intellect (buddhi)and bala (power). These days we are familiar with varieties like Ambemohor, Indrayani, Kolam, Sonamsuri. Rice has been such a significant part of Indian diet that the alternative name of rice is * Odan (meaning food) * During convalescence, rice soup, porridge etc. is given as rice it is easy to digest. Even infants are fed rice first when its time for them to have soild food. Rice pacifies vata-pitta dosha and increases kapha as well. Hence one should use aged rice instead of new rice to reduce the problem of phlegm. (Remember the ad commercial where they say their rice is aged for 2 years). Earlier, while cooking, rice was cooked in a large vessel with lot of water the excess water was drained once the grains were cooked. Then the rice was covered so that the grains were steamed well. In this method, the excess starch goes away and the GI of rice comes down as you said and you can eat rice guilt free. But these days we cook rice in pressure cooker. The excess starch is not removed when rice is cooked in pressure cooker making it difficult to digest.

"So if you want to eat rice, what is the solution?"

"You can look for hand-pound or single polished rice which is good for health. We can buy such rice. One should eat rice that is aged for at least 6 months to a year. Such rice grain has less water content. Or one can dry roast the rice well before cooking it. Another very important aspect i must tell you, that all across India traditional meals comprising rice  are Varan-Bhat, Amti-Bhat, Rajma-chawal, Sambar-Bhat, Dal-Khichdi, Fish curry-rice and Biryani. If you give this a thought, you will notice that in all these dishes, rice is paired with proteins, i.e. pulses, cereals, meat. Additionally we have salads, leafy vegetables, fruits in our diet. Therefore, we don't end up eating a rice only meal. "Okay aunty, I mean when you eat rice this way, you should take care that other fibrous foods too are consumed instead of just carbohydrates. Otherwise, the habit of eating a heap of rice with pickles avoiding veggies and salads will only get starch in your tummy, right? ”

"That's right, I'm deviating a bit from our topic bit let me mention that pickle-rice, sauce-chapati, bread-jam, jam-chapati should also be avoided as much as possible. Alright, now let's decide what to discuss tomorrow?"

"Oh I'm going to keep that a suspense for you, auntie," said Shriya and ran away.

(To be continued)

Dr. Snigdha Churi-Vartak.

9870690689

Translated by Mrs Madhura Poduval.

(This article was first published by Vaidya Snigdha Churi-Vartak on 19th August 2020 on her blog *https://samanwayayurved.blogspot.com/2020/08/five-white-foes-in-kitchen-part-4-rice.html*. All rights are reserved by the author. If you want to share elsewhere, please make any changes.) And share with the original author's name.)