I love rice and if you are a rice fan like me the first thing you are probably thinking when you go Paleo is whether or not rice is Paleo friendly.
On the Paleo diet it is a lot about getting right back to basics in the foods that we eat to help to have a healthy life style and to lose weight but there are some foods out there that cause a lot of confusion (I know they confused me anyway!) and one of these is rice.
The first thing to know about the Paleo diet is that it is not the law. If you want to eat something that others say are not Paleo, the Paleo police are not going to come and drag you away, you have free will and can choose what you eat.
Is rice Paleo?
For the majority of people, rice, in any form, is not considered to be a Paleo food but some people following the plan do eat a small amount of rice if they are not aiming for weight loss and simply want to increase the variation in their diet.
Generally, if you are looking for starches in your diet then it would be a good idea to head towards a sweet potato, rather than rice but as I said before – the foods on the Paleo diet are not the law!
How many times have you heard that wholemeal and brown are better than white when it comes to bread, pasta and rice – well on the paleo diet this is actually not the case at all and if you are going to be eating some rice in your diet then it is widely recommended that you opt for the white variety every time.
Why should you go for white rice when it looks less healthy? Well the reasons all come down to science – and we know that the Paelo diet looks a lot at the scientific basis for why the diet should be followed and also why it works so well for so many people.
Luckily, you don’t need to be a nutritionist to be able to understand why white rice is the only option if you are going to be eating it. Basically white rice is very easy for the body to digest, even for those who have digestive orders, and this combined with it being cheap and easy to prepare and also containing no fructose makes it the best choice if you do want to eat rice.
The main reason people do not eat rice when following a Paleo diet is that rice is considered to be a grain and it is not that rice is bad for exactly, it is just that they are generally hard for us to digest and therefore don’t make you feel great.
Keep away from rice on the Paleo diet and if you are going to have a little – then always choose white!
Plan B On Paleo
Or with plan B do what I do and have cauliflower rice instead. It tastes amazing and is really good for you. You could make it with some chicken breast, lots of vegetables and use olive oil and then you are ticking all the boxes for a Paleo approved meal.
