Cutting calories, like taking the stairs and getting enough sleep, is just one part of an overall healthy lifestyle. But there’s no denying that cutting calories can be challenging, especially when fewer calories means smaller portions. That’s why bulk foods — foods that fill you up with fewer calories — are so important, and researchers found a way to turn white rice into a bulk food just by changing the way you cook it.
In fact, you will cut rice calories in half when you follow their cooking instructions. Rice normally converts to glycogen in your body, a fantastic post-workout recovery fuel for your muscles if you’re putting in hours at the gym. But if your body doesn’t use this glycogen, it turns into glucose, which is then stored in your body as fat.
The researchers found a way to convert the starch in rice into resistant starch, a type that earns its name by resisting digestion and passing through the intestine unprocessed. Essentially, it fills you up with calories that your body can’t use. And it gets better; replace just 5.4 percent of your daily carbohydrate intake with resistant starch sources (rice cooked this way, raw oatmeal, and slightly green bananas, to name a few) and you could increase you burn calories by 20-30 percent!
How to cook rice with fewer calories
Ready to start? Here is his new cooking technique:
- Add a teaspoon of Coconut oil to boiling water
- Add half a cup of rice.
- Boil for 20-25 minutes
- Refrigerate for 12 hours
But that doesn’t mean you have to eat it cold! The resistant starch created in this cooking process will remain, even if you reheat the rice. It may take a little more planning to enjoy rice this way, but we say it’s worth the wait.
