Is brown rice or fruit better?

I have low blood sugar and insulin resistance. I'm pretty much adopting the paleo diet because I do well on high protein and already eliminated grains. The only grain I consume is brown rice. I eat a lot of it. Rice is a grain and isn't allowed on paleo. The thing is that fruit is high in sugar and I'm concerned about insulin spiking. I figure that brown rice is more filling, and it breaks down to sugar more slowly/steadily. Of course the logic is that we didn't eat any grains until 10,000 years ago, so brown rice wasn't an option. what would you say the better way to go would be. Any amount of sugar just fuels craving for more sugar. Of course candida plays a role too. Should I stick to rice, or take my chances with fruit?

I would say stick with brown rice, its really quite a perfect food. Also I'm sure you could spare a piece of fruit a day. IMO fruit is more or less 'OK' depending on your metabolic type, though in any case, in moderation.

Keep in mind the use of agriculture has only been "documented" in the last 10,000 years, doesn't mean it wasn't used before.

Thanks for your opinion Silverlin. I don't have any noticeable reaction or symptoms of indigestion from it, so I'd like to keep eating it. Moderation with fruit is hard. Once I start it's hard to stop. Same as pasta, candy, baked goods, ice cream, alcohol, etc. etc.

Going off on a tangent, but can you imagine how many alcoholics there are in the world trying to talk away their insulin resistance, hypoglycemia and diabetes? Poor bastards eating sugar like no tomorrow and they wonder why the success rate is 3%?

Paradox - I too also have a bit of a sweet tooth. Though over the past year I have noticed a gradual change in taste buds and 'cravings' for a lot of sweet things, but this comes with a complete lifestyle change.

I think you might find once you get stuck into Kefir it will take the edge off of your sugar cravings, at least I found it helpful with myself.

Silverlin wrote:Paradox - I too also have a bit of a sweet tooth. Though over the past year I have noticed a gradual change in taste buds and 'cravings' for a lot of sweet things, but this comes with a complete lifestyle change.

I think you might find once you get stuck into Kefir it will take the edge off of your sugar cravings, at least I found it helpful with myself.

I'm looking forward to it. I assume you make it flavored with fruit? Is it sour plain? I bought some organic plain yogurt from Australia the other day. I'm used to eating the yoplait yogurt or whatever so I was surprised at how thin the consistency was. It was almost drinkable like the coconut kefir I've had. I've never eaten plain yogurt either. It was kind of sour. I'm guessing kefir is really similar?

Kefir does have a sour taste similar to yogurt(though not the same), except the sourness of the kefir depends on how long you ferment it. If you put it in the fridge after you have strained it for a period of time, it will become even more sour.

Once you strain the milk kefir from the grains it's beneficial to regularly let the kefir sit at room temperature for another 24hours, this process is called "ripening". Ripening produces (among other things)a greater B vitamin, lactic acid content in the kefir.

Once in a while I'll have some fruit with some kefir ice cream, but generally I don't have milk kefir with fruit(they don't mix well from a food combining point of view).

I'll second Silverlin in that brown rice is really a perfect food. Although, I should add soaking the brown rice for a bit in water to remove the phytic acid is what should be done.

Eating fruit year round is really only a recent phenomenon. In short, if you're lineage doesn't come from the equator then you'll depress your phosphate levels = calcification issues.

You can try the best of both worlds and consume small amounts of fruit for X number of months and then stop for the rest of the year.

Many fruits will make blodsugar rise and this is especiallly true for smoothies. By eating a fiber-rich raw vegetable also
when eating sweet fruits you keep the bloodsuagar balance intact .. carrot is a ideal for this.

Thanks for all the advice. Jdp, If you boil the brown rice until all the water has evaporated...is that enough? On a similar note, I've read that cooking/soaking renders lectins inactive. Thoughts on that one?

Bump for soaking brown rice. How long do you need to soak it to remove phytic acid and how does that affect the time spent cooking? I like brown rice and usually just wash and cook for 30 minutes.

Rice doesn't need to be soaked for very long IME before cooking. When I do soak my rice before I cook it to reduce phytic acid (which isn't very often as it's inconvenient) I usually do white rice/brown rice for about 1 or 1 1/2 hours. Any longer and becomes too soft. Other grains, nuts and seeds you'd soak longer as they have more phytic acid. Phytic acid is fiber which basically reduces the vitamin and mineral content. I've personally noticed I don't get nearly as hungry later in the day if I've soaked the rice to remove phytic acid. I should mention that I've never tried other grains, nuts and seeds as I don't consume them so can't say for those.

Also, soaking the rice before cooking doesn't change the cooking time but again does make the rice softer.

Paradox,

Regarding lectins, yes, that's true to an extent and I believe that article you posted the other day mentioned that. Keep in mind you want to remove the water and put new fresh water in though.

hope this helps

It does help jdp thanks. good to know about the cook time on the rice too.

jdp701 wrote:I'll second Silverlin in that brown rice is really a perfect food. Although, I should add soaking the brown rice for a bit in water to remove the phytic acid is what should be done.

Eating fruit year round is really only a recent phenomenon. In short, if you're lineage doesn't come from the equator then you'll depress your phosphate levels = calcification issues.

You can try the best of both worlds and consume small amounts of fruit for X number of months and then stop for the rest of the year.

Yeah, he's right. Fruit consumption historically was low in many parts of the world, according to a book I read. I can't imagine that drinking fruit juice was common anywhere. Generally fruit should not be consumed in drink form.

Brown and White rice are the same. White rice has all of the rice bran removed. Brown rice has some left on. Rice bran is a superfood, but it goes rancid quickly because of the enzymes. Stabilized rice bran can be had. Brown rice is more nutritious than white, but not a superfood in my book. It doesn't really contain that much bran and germ, and if it did it would be rancid anyway.

Fruit is better because fruit and vegetables are the primary foods humans evolved eating. Brown rice is a very good staple too. White rice contains no fiber and contains less vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients (like beta-sitosterol) than brown rice. Even thou fruit is better than brown rice...brown rice is defiantly better than eating lots of processed foods or fatty foods.

jdp701 wrote:When I do soak my rice before I cook it to reduce phytic acid

If you soak rice, does it get rid of phytic acid but keeps the IP6, which is useful for chelating iron?

What about dried fruit? I am pretty certain that non-equatorial peoples regularly collected fruit when it was growing, ate what they could, and preserved the rest for the colder months by drying or preserving through other means.

tooyoung wrote:

jdp701 wrote:When I do soak my rice before I cook it to reduce phytic acid

If you soak rice, does it get rid of phytic acid but keeps the IP6, which is useful for chelating iron?

Phytic Acid is another word for IP6, same thing. It's up to you on whether it is more important for you to be building or chelating. When I was chelating iron, I was on a vegan diet and was eating a lot of unsoaked grains, my ferritin went from 160 to 60 in about a year. However, I got a huge cavity during this time on one of my wisdom molars, and I think it was because I was not getting enough nutrients to remineralize the tooth. Dentist had to drill out 70% of the tooth.

In my opinion the choice is a tough one. You can either have a diet that is good for teeth, or good for graceful aging. In my experience, you can't have both.

Ive been reading alot about paleo nutrition and I think alot of its good, but I noticed alot of advocates look rather sickly skinny...

I did it for 3 months and now I try to eat more glucose boosting foods...

For Starch: Sweet potatos, WHITE RICE, and gold potatoes

Fruit: Berries, Roots/Tubers, and Bananas/Kiwi

Please dont go too low carb unless your fixing some metabolic derangement... Paleo naturally is fairly low carb

why do people bump year old threads? lol

Rice has its pros and cons, fruits has its pros and cons. Both have a place in a healthy diet. If you put a gun to my head and said pick one to live off for ever, I would pick fruit.

itzmecorey wrote:Ive been reading alot about paleo nutrition and I think alot of its good, but I noticed alot of advocates look rather sickly skinny...

I did it for 3 months and now I try to eat more glucose boosting foods...

For Starch: Sweet potatos, WHITE RICE, and gold potatoes

Fruit: Berries, Roots/Tubers, and Bananas/Kiwi

Please dont go too low carb unless your fixing some metabolic derangement... Paleo naturally is fairly low carb

I know what you mean...Loren Cordain looks like crap..lol

Even though it's interesting, I've stopped judging diets and lifestyles by the persons appearance. I'm friends with many bodybuilders who look great but I guarantee a lot of them are going to have major problems when they hit their 30s. I also looked very good (and still do ) when I started getting mpb but there was a lot going wrong under the hood...

abc123 wrote:why do people bump year old threads? lol

I had a question and searched and found something relevant so asked the question here, I'd rather ask the question in an old thread than make a completely new thread about it.

tooyoung, ip6 from brownrice is not really effective because of the fiber.....even with the right dose it needs to be unbound to work.
Best is to use it via supplements on an empty stomach in the morning.......even better after you take mercury chelators, otherwise it will remove mercury instead of rust.

edit: I'd go for fruit

Abc what problems did you correct under the hood when you started getting mpb? I'm curious.

I am working on balancing gut motility/flora.

Gentle cooking. Mostly paleo with carbs and fruit.

Cortisol rhythms and adrenal fatigue

itzmecorey wrote:Abc what problems did you correct under the hood when you started getting mpb? I'm curious.

I am working on balancing gut motility/flora.

Gentle cooking. Mostly paleo with carbs and fruit.

Cortisol rhythms and adrenal fatigue

Adrenal fatigue, hypoglycemia, bloating, poor libido, dry/brittle hair, excessive sebum production, most likely insulin resistant but I was sitting at 6ft 180lb 5% bf so obviously I must of been healthy

Sad thing is, before I came here, I just dismissed those symptoms as normal and told my self I just needed to get on with it. There is no health link to baldness and it's genetic, blah blah blah. I had also brainwashed myself to believe that looking great = great health.