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Brown Rice question
Started
by Happychick
on November 5, 2010
Hi, just a little question - when explaining how to cook brown rice in The Kind Diet book, it says to use either short or medium grain brown rice - why not long grain? I was just wondering if there is a nutritional difference or something?
We use short grain because it gets softer more like white rice. We make ours in a pressure cooker which helps too. I don't think there would be any nutritional difference. I know a lot of people don't like brown rice because it is chewier, but short grain seems to be more comprable.
According to Macrobiotic, short grain is more yan (more concentrated energy) and long grain is more yin (more relaxed). So, they recommend eating more long grain during summer time and short grain during winter time. I'm not sure if there are any slight nutritional differences between them i.e. short grain has a little bit more fat and long grain has a bit more carbonhydrates, but even if there are, I think they are very minimum. Calorie wise, I'm pretty sure they are the same. My family likes long grain brown rice better than short grain, but I try to switch up once in a while.
Oh, same logic with the cooking style: If you cook your rice (or any food) with pressure cooker, it's more yan vs. regular way of cooking would be more yin.
to me the yin and yan is confusing. I have thought about going macrobiotic, but it seems to difficult. any Dummy or idiot books out there for that?
I read the "Hip Chick's Guide to Macrobiotics" by Jessica Porter and I liked it a lot. I believe she is also a co-writer of The Kind Diet. She has bunch of videos online too.
The Hip Chick's Guide is great, and I prefered it to the other macro books I've read, but it does have a bit of a "new age" bent, compared to other books. I also have the Macrobiotics for Dummies book, lots of good info in there, and it goes more into modern scientific health stuff, and how the Macro diet holds up. I don't think you need to "get" the whole philosophy of macrobiotics before you begin. Just cook up a pot of brown rice and some veggies, chew it well, and feel the difference it has on your body.
Thanks for the info everyone - I have since tried the short grain and see what you mean - it is sticky and yum! I am eating it alone sometimes just with a little olive oil and toasted sunflower seeds mixed through. 
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