Ban Not the Rice Bran

Yes, you probably have heard a million timesâÂ?¦ “eat the brown rice NOT the white! It is better for you!” Yet, how many of us actually bother with the information that seems to fly pass us without us taking any heed? To a white rice-eater, eating brown rice can feel like a betrayal of one’s beingâÂ?¦ at first! Despite how many people tell you, “It is good for you” you may feel like knocking the block off something if you hear it one more time. This, my friend, is a scenario of one who may have not understood the true meaning of white and brown rice. It is quite curious indeed how “white” and “brown” is used so distinguishingly as if they are water and fire. In truth, they are of the same grain and from the same crop. The difference is in man’s intervention. Brown rice is the original once-milled form of the grain. If you dig further into the brown rice you will find the “white” rice. If they are of one crop, why is there brown and white? White rice is rice torn from its coat because we humans want it to last longer at the supermarket and because we generally have become or have been conditioned to be a bit lazy with our chewing habit.

Brown rice has the coating or bran that gives it a crunchy texture which means more time is needed to chew. What we did not comprehend is that separating bran from “grain” is like separating our mind and heart from “ourselves”. Without our mind and heart we are unable to function properly as a “true human being”. Our individuality is defined by our mind and heart working together to decipher our world and so does the bran to the grain that needs the bran if it is to grow in the soil. By discarding and disregarding the bran of the rice, we are discarding a bag of benefits that help us to grow. The paragraph below gives you some of the reasons why “brown rice is better for you”.

The bran of the rice has a form of vitamin E or tocotrienol that helps to regulate fat and cholesterol and has an antitumor effect. The oil of the rice bran also helps to regulate fat in the blood. The special talent of the whole entire grain is its ability to keep blood sugar levels suitable for the individual. Rice bran also contain gamma-oryzanol which is an antioxidant that is found to strengthen the muscles. This antioxidant has a part to play also in regulating the pituitary gland hormonal secretion. Another form of antioxidant in rice bran is glutathione peroxidase that aids in the respiratory function and in the cleansing of the body system.

These are just some of the nutritional value of brown rice. Much of the value stated above are in the bran. Do I recommend taking supplements that concentrate properties of the rice bran? Not exactly. This is for one of my most important belief that separating and concentrating of any beneficial substance from its entity can be harmful if not used carefully. Properties of a beneficial food is made in whole of that food for a purpose. The quantity and quality is better in balance in the whole grain of the food than in the separation from the food, otherwise the risk of side-effects and other health problems may ensue.