How the (food) fear spreads- Rujuta Diwekar's take on rice

Especially for those who are way too afraid of having rice!

Twitter

Rujuta Diwekar ‏@RujutaDiwekar
@dsrikantaiah thanks. Rice doesn't need any defence but we need to defend ourselves from our stupidity of fearing rice

Rujuta Diwekar ‏@RujutaDiwekar
dal chawal, thairsadham, khichdi, waran bhat - Our rice is high on taste, low on GI, big on common sense, small on the waist.

Rujuta Diwekar ‏@RujutaDiwekar
@kiranmanral @priyaramani Smart girls with skinny waists and sharp brains eat rice


How the (food) fear spreads

Recently a newspaper headline screamed “South India worst hit by diabetes; rice to be blamed?” Now I would have learnt in a journalism school that it’s exactly this kind of “statement” that makes a headline. (a). It is Clear, you are encouraged to not be clever, (b) It is Relevant to a rice eating nation, something which google results can grab and (c) It Stirs the reader emotionally. ‘Oh no! I should really not eat that thairsadham afterall.’ Chalo toh full marks to the report. Well done!

The truth is that most of us read “news” like this – headlines to headlines. We don’t bother reading the actual report, we are in a rush and we just want to quickly glance through what’s happening world over, it makes us feel smart, intelligent and “with it”. So the smart, intelligent and cool people that we are, we quickly tell ourselves and everyone around us that rice is bad, fattening and now “research” has “proved” that it’s the “leading cause” of “diabetes”.

And everyone is only too eager to believe all this. Fear sells like hot cakes, common sense is tough to sell. So if you were to read the report in detail, prevalence of diabetes in Kerala (8.83%), Andhra Pradesh (7.24%) is lower than Tamil Nadu (11.76%). The national average is 7.1% and Himachal (6.06%), Uttarakhand (5.91%) and Bihar (4.88%) are much lower than the national average. But here is the thing - these states are predominantly rice-eating states. And what about Maharashtra? Poha, ghavan, pej, dahibhat, waranbhat, masalebhat, modak - we eat rice in every form and in every course of our meal. So we must be high on this list, right? Nope, its 3.56%, second lowest in the country.

So why didn’t the headline read, ‘eating rice is great for diabetes?’ Or that ‘there is no link between rice and diabetes (even within this study design)?’ And as a reader and for all your quest of science, research, GK, you were just (a) clueless that these Himalayan regions and Bihar are indeed rice eating and (b) you have an inherent ignorance about homegrown food wisdom.

You shouldn’t be asking me on twitter/ FB/ Open days whether you can eat Bissebelle, thairsadham, dal-rice, etc. You should ask yourself why would I give up on my rich rice eating culture because of some “eye grabbing” headline. Why should I bother with what a “screening” has to say about rice and diabetes when it doesn’t even consider the figures from other rice eating states? Why do these kind of reports appear on the day or the week when some “diabetes free” or “healthy” rice is being launched?

P.S: This particular “screening” was undertaken by the National programme for prevention and control of Cancer, Diabetes, CVD and Stroke (NPCDCS). There is no mention of how many people they spoke to, what the study design was and what factors they looked at. The study was apparently done on people above 30, pregnant women and TB patients. Even then, was it across age groups, income groups and ethnic groups? Like all such “studies” it is concluded with this line – “The screening report is important but we have to conduct further study and sampling of screening data on the basis of age, socioeconomic conditions and pre-existing health problems to validate rise in Diabetes cases among the South Indians”.

Rujuta's gyan: How the (food) fear spreads

 

Adding one more article on the same topic by Rujuta

Rujuta's gyan: Rice is nice

Rice is nice

Rice is a perfect example of the weight loss industry (with aid of "research and marketing") brainwashing entire cultures into believing the food that they have always eaten is somehow harming them. World over, the nutrition bodies have finally recognized this phenomenon as ‘nutrient transition’, where ancient communities are becoming increasingly prone to diabetes, obesity, heart and other lifestyle diseases after switching from their local, seasonal foods to something exotic, non-native.

Here is the summary of the ‘Rice is nice’ series I ran on FB and Twitter in the last week:

Things we don't know or don't bother to know about Rice

Most common myths about Rice, and where you should banish them
It promotes growth of pro-biotic bacteria, eases bowel movement and rids you of bloating.

Rice has starch – a) cooked rice has less than 10% starch and b) starch is a source of energy as it’s converted to glucose in the body, so we need it.

It prevents premature wrinkling.

Rice is high GI and bad for diabetics – Rice, as it is traditionally eaten with dal/sabzi/meat/dahi, etc reduces the GI of the meal and is great for diabetics.

It has essential amino acids like methionine, which when consumed with dal, for example, completes the amino acid profile of the meal. (They are limiting factors of each other).

Rice is carbs, so avoid, especially in night – a) No food is just carbs or proteins or fats. b) Rice has crucial amino acids, vitamins and many phytonutrients. c) Carbs are essential for our body and have a calming effect, therefore great as a dinner option.

Has inositol, which has fat burning, anti-anxiety, and irritability reducing properties.

Brown is better than white – a) traditionally we have always eaten hand pounded or single polished rice which is whitish, not brown, b) this kind of rice lets the body assimilate all the nutrients from it, e.g. Vit B6.

It allows for better assimilation of Vitamin D and calcium.

Ok, ok fine, rice is nice, but must not eat it too much – Too much of hawa is also bad, so completely let go off your fear of rice, eat it and trust your tongue and stomach to guide you.


Myths about rice stem from basically two reasons – a) ignorance about the wisdom on food passed down over generations. Not just ignorance, disdain almost. b) knowing little about the science behind food. No one claims to be an expert in fields like CA, engineering, design, medicine, etc etc, but for some reason everyone is one when it comes to Nutrition. So things like carbs are bad, or rice has starch or its fattening, etc are nothing but fantasies of a brain starved of, ironically, carbs/starch and fats.

Eat your rice the way you like it, eat it as often in the day as you want and eat it in quantities which will leave you feeling light and energetic, and enjoy the wonders it will have on your body.

P.S: This post was in part motivated by misleading ad campaigns that claim that their rice is fibre rich or cholesterol free or low glycemic index, which gives the general public an impression that the regular rice they have traditionally been eating doesn't have all these benefits.

 

This I think is the most important lesson everyone should learn.... not just for rice but for any food...

I only eat till the time I feel light and energetic...