brown rice or white rice?

I think one of the biggest fat loss mistakes someone can do is to completely avoid rice. Not only is it very impractical especially if you’re living on this side of the world (Asia), it’s also absolutely unnecessary to lose weight.

I’ve tried quitting rice for a whole year back in my 123kg days, only white rice though. I was still eating brown/red/black rice. The end result? I still gained weight.

Now thinking back I can completely understand why I still gained weight. It was cos I was eating way way more brown rice than I usually would cos I thought brown rice meant I could eat as much as I wanted without any consequences.

Big big mistake on my part.

It was kinda like how before I’d snack on buckets of nuts thinking it was great for fat loss cos it’s “healthy” but in reality I was just gulping down tons & tons of calories. That’s a story for another day though.

Brown rice and white rice are very similar in calories.

I mean their difference is calories in so little I’d basically consider them the exact same amount for easy calculations sake. What does that mean? That means if you switched out white rice from your diet into brown rice at the exact same amounts, the amount of calories you’re consuming throughout the day is essentially the same. Which would mean no difference to your fat loss progress.

So why switch to brown rice at all?

Well some would argue brown rice has more nutrients than white rice, which is completely true. But it’s not so incredibly nutrient rich that switching from white to brown rice means a huge boost in health, not at all. I mean you could very easily get all the nutrients from brown rice from other sources of food, so it’s also technically possible to enjoy your white rice and just make sure other foods you’re eating in the day is getting you the nutrients you’d be missing from brown rice.

Another thing some may claim about brown rice is that it makes you feel fuller than white rice, which is also true. On paper brown rice has more fiber than white rice which could in turn translate to making you feel fuller for longer. Now from my personal experience, I actually feel fuller from white rice and not brown. I have no idea why, but of the times I’ve ate both brown and white rice I’ve always felt I could eat an infinite amount of brown rice while white rice there’s always a point where I’m just super full.

So which should you eat? White or brown?

Honestly, just eat whichever you prefer more.

Brown rice isn’t some superfood that’s gonna magically help you lose weight asap, and white rice isn’t some poison that makes you gain belly fat the moment you put a spoonful in your mouth. They’re similar in calories, just be sure to be mindful of your portions when you’re eating and that’s it. Neither brown or white rice will ever be mainly responsible for your fat loss progress. Your progress includes everything else that you’re eating regularly in your diet.

If you enjoy brown rice, go eat it. If you enjoy white rice, go eat that. If you enjoy both, mix and match and be mindful of your portions.

Personally, I’m team white rice.

I actually don’t enjoy brown rice at all, so I would never purposely choose to eat it since I started my journey back in 2015. Only times I eat brown rice these days is if I get a bento and there’s no choice for type of rice and it ends up being brown rice.(My heart sinks a little whenever I discover it’s brown and not white)

That’s it for till one, till the next~

Hope you’re well!

— Po.