3 HACKS TO MAKE REFINED CARBS ‘HEALTHIER’
INTRO
Refined carbs like white potatoes, white rice, or white bread.
They're less nutrients and quickly raise your blood sugar levels (aka sugar spikes).
The feeling o f sugar spikes is you feel great after eating food but then feel tired couple hours later, and make you crave more food.
Though you can't make refined carbs healthier, you can lessen their impact on your body.
By lowering their glycemic index (GI) can stabilises blood sugar after meals.
Foods with a lower GI helps maintain steady blood sugar, weight loss, lower the risk of heart disease or type 2 diabetes.
Here are 3 simple hacks to make the common refined carbs 'healthier':
HACKS
Hack for white potatoes: soak for an hour, cook, cool or reheat.
Soak white potatoes before cooking can reduce starch & lower the risk of cancer by minimising the harmful chemical, acrylamide.
After cooking, allow the potatoes to cool or reheat them the next day from the fridge.
This process can result in a 30-40% reduction in glycemic index (GI).
Hack for white rice: soak overnight, cook, cool or reheat.
Soak white rice before cooking by letting it sit in water (5:1 water-to-rice ratio) before using a rice cooker or pot.
When overnight soaking rice, can reduce arsenic level by 80%, lowering the risk of heart diseases, diabetes, and cancer.
After cooking, let the rice cool to reduce its glycemic index (GI).
A study found that reheating rice resulted in more stable blood sugar levels compared to eating freshly-cooked rice.
You can do the same for pasta.
Hack for white bread: toast it.
Toasting your bread reduces its carb % compared to untoasted bread.
When toasting, the Maillard Effect (browning reaction between amino acids, can reduce sugars contain.
From taste wise, from my opinion, taste even better than untoasted bread.
A Study indicate that toasted bread has a lower glycemic index (GI) than plain bread, making it a healthier choice for individuals with diabetes.
WHY IT WORKS?
Save time with batch cooking.
Save money on grocery shopping.
Applicable everywhere, especially stay in Airbnb.
Many of us prefer refined carbs over unrefined options (e.g., whole wheat bread, seeded bread, brown rice).
Though not the healthiest choices in the long term, you can make them less unhealthy with these hacks.
You can enjoy them healthily by cooking smartly.
TL;DR
Lowering the GI of refined carbs can control your blood sugar level.
Three hacks to lower their GI level:
1. White potatoes: soak for an hour, cook, cool or reheat.
2. White rice: soak overnight, cook, cool or reheat.
3. White bread: toast it.
CLOSING THOUGHT
When comes to low/no carbs diet, it's promoting low in refined carbs.
Meaning, you can have more or replace with unrefined carbs.
Remember, not all carbs are created equal.
Diet with low/no carbs doesn't mean all carbs are bad for you.
For me, I don't fear carbs and I don't gain weight or fats.
The reason: I eat more unrefined carbs, less refined carbs.
So, enjoy your carbs my friend! :)
Until next time,
Ray
