Whether to eat rice or noodles is always a controversial topic. Let’s divide into several questions and take a quick look.
Question 1
Compared with the staple food made of white flour, which one has higher calories?
As far as the calorie of food is concerned, it is not what food is made of, but what it is made of, how much water it contains, how much dry food it has, and whether it is added with oil and sugar. The reason why pasta is generally higher in calories is because of the above two reasons.
A lot of pasta needs oil, even both oil and sugar. Most of those foods with stuffing have fat and thin meat stuffing and enough fat. Therefore, compared with rice, these pasta dishes have higher calories, which is understandable.
Those pasta without oil and sugar depend on the moisture content. The moisture content of ordinary white rice is usually between 62% and 65%. Except for soft noodles, pasta will probably be lower than this value. For example, the moisture content of steamed bread is about 45%-50%, and the staple bread is even lower, only about 40%. As for dry staple foods such as naan, steamed buns and dry pancakes, the moisture content is even lower.
Because the water content is low, eating a little more will increase the calories. Comparatively speaking, rice has more water content, less dry goods and lower calories. If you cook porridge again, it will contain more water and have lower calories in each bite.
Therefore, compared with the same dishes, when eating rice or porridge, the quantity is better controlled, and the risk of excessive calories is slightly smaller.
Question 2
Compared with the staple food made of white rice and white flour, which one has higher blood sugar response?
In terms of blood sugar reaction, white rice and white flour food are generally high, depending on the cooking method.
Compared with white steamed bread and white bread, the glycemic index (GI) of rice is slightly lower, but not much lower. White steamed bread and white bread are 88, and white rice is 83. Whole wheat steamed bread and whole wheat bread will raise blood sugar more slowly.
For those pasta with added fat, although the digestion speed is slow and the blood sugar rises later and lower after a meal, the food with high fat has an adverse effect on the insulin sensitivity of the next meal. Therefore, it is not a good choice for people who need to control blood sugar, and it is not a good choice for people who need to lose weight.
Among pasta, pasta and macaroni have the lowest blood sugar reaction, and ordinary dried noodles are lower than steamed bread. Generally speaking, the higher the content of protein in flour for noodle making, the more chewy the cooked taste, and the lower the postprandial blood glucose response.
Similarly, rice also has different processing accuracy and processing methods. If you eat germ rice, rice with some brown rice, etc., then under the premise of the same cooking method, the GI value is lower than that of polished white rice. There are also some boxed ready-to-eat rice processed in advance, and the GI value is lower than that of freshly cooked rice at that time.
Of course, the GI value of these rice is lower than that of steamed bread and bread. Therefore, from the perspective of blood sugar stability, ordinary rice has a slight advantage.
Question 3
Is there any rice food with a higher blood sugar response than white rice?
Among white rice foods, there are indeed some foods with higher blood sugar response than bread and steamed bread, that is, white rice porridge and glutinous rice food.
White rice porridge cooked with refined white rice is very easy to digest because it is boiled to powder, so its blood sugar response is higher than that of white rice.
However, these foods are similar to rice. Although the blood sugar peak is steep, it is not easy to cause hypoglycemia. What is more powerful is glutinous rice food. After eating them, not only did their blood sugar rise sharply, but according to the same amount of carbon and water, their postprandial blood sugar was easy to drop below the normal level.
So, what if you add oil to glutinous rice food? Blood sugar will rise a little later, but the peak of blood sugar in the later period is big and lasts for a long time. Of course, this kind of food is added with fat and has more calories than white rice, which is not suitable for people who need to lose weight.
Therefore, for unhealthy people who have already suffered from cardiovascular diseases or diabetes, glutinous rice foods such as fried cakes, glutinous rice balls and zongzi, as well as refined white rice foods such as rice rolls and preserved egg porridge, need to be controlled even more, because their GI values are really too high, even higher than ordinary white rice.
Therefore, from the perspective of controlling blood sugar, glutinous rice food is the worst, worse than white bread and steamed bread.
Question 4
How to match rice food and pasta with whole grains?
Rice can be incorporated into countless kinds of whole grains and legumes to make miscellaneous grains rice. Half white rice and half other miscellaneous grains (most of which need to be soaked in advance) actually taste very fragrant. It is also very simple and convenient to add some diced sweet potatoes, Chinese yam slices and taro seeds when steaming rice.
Flour can also be added with about 20% of miscellaneous grains powder to make steamed bread, cakes, pancakes, bread and so on. However, when the addition amount exceeds 20%, the taste of pasta will become worse because gluten is seriously diluted. A small amount of mixed bean powder can be added to the noodles, which makes the taste smoother. You can also add oat flour, buckwheat flour, corn flour, etc., but the toughness of the noodles is reduced, and the cooking method is different. Home-made technology is difficult, and the overall popularity is not high.
Therefore, from the convenience of adding whole-grain miscellaneous beans and potatoes, rice has a slight advantage.
Question 5
Are there enough dishes to accompany the staple food?
Although the postprandial blood sugar response of white rice is higher than that of noodles, jiaozi and Melaleuca Cake, many people find that eating rice has better blood sugar control effect than eating these pasta, and it is also less likely to gain weight. Why is this?
To a large extent, this is because of different eating methods and different contents.
In addition to the low nutritional value of white rice, there are advantages in food collocation when eating rice. We seldom just eat a bowl of rice, but we have meat, fish, eggs, bean products, and vegetables, and usually there are more dishes than rice. This makes it easier to obtain relatively balanced nutrition.
When eating noodles, there is a big bowl of noodles, and there are only a few dishes and marinades. Therefore, from the perspective of fully cooperating with various dishes, rice is still slightly dominant.
Question 6
Which vitamin is more, rice or pasta? Which is safer?
Comparing rice with white flour one-to-one, protein and B vitamins in white flour are slightly higher. However, the disadvantages of rice are not so obvious after matching dishes. Rice with a large number of dishes, compared with noodles and cakes with few dishes, nutrition will win.
From the safety point of view, rice food rarely has allergic problems, while some people eat flour with the risk of "chronic gluten allergy". For these allergic people, wheat gluten will damage the intestinal mucosal barrier, which may lead to chronic allergies to other foods. Severe wheat gluten allergy may even lead to "celiac disease". Such patients can lead a normal life only if they are completely away from all foods containing flour.
Generally speaking, rice food and pasta have their own advantages and disadvantages. Whether it is white rice or white flour food, eating more is not conducive to preventing diabetes and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, nor to losing weight. Appropriate inclusion of whole grains is a better choice. For people who need to lose weight and prevent chronic diseases, reducing the oil and salt in the staple food, including some whole-grain miscellaneous beans and more vegetarian dishes are the key points to eat the staple food healthily.
Text/Fan Zhihong (director of China Nutrition Society, chief expert of science communication hired by China Association for Science and Technology)