Low carb diets are drawing attention everywhere, and many people seem to be obsessed with the idea that we need to avoid carbs including whole grains. On the other hand, brown rice is considered to be the most balanced food and recommended highly by the macrobiotic diet. Which should we listen to?
That is today’s topic: Low carb diets versus brown rice. So stick around.
Hi, my name is Sachiaki Takamiya. I am in my late 50s but haven’t had any problems at my yearly checkups so far. I am the founder of Ikigai Diet. Ikigai Diet is a diet and an integrated lifestyle that will help you stay young and healthy so that you can enjoy your 100-year-life. It is based on the traditional Japanese diet and the modern understanding of health and wellness.
Let me introduce another doctor today. His name is Shinjiro Honma who is the author of books such as Byoki Ni Naranai Kurashi Jiten, A Complete Guide to A Lifestyle without Getting Sick, and Byoki Ni Naranai Shoku To Kurashi, A Diet and Lifestyle without Getting Sick. He is a pediatrician who leads a natural lifestyle by growing vegetable using Natural Farming, making fermented food such as miso and soy sauce, and raizing his children naturally. He understands both Western medicine and natural medicine so that he has a comprehensive understanding of health and medicine.
He doesn’t encourage us to avoid all sugars but suggests that we should differentiate the types of sugars which are harmful and the ones which are beneficial for us. Sugars such as monosaccharide and disaccharide are the ones you want to avoid but polysaccharide is something you need. Another word, we should avoid soft drinks and sweets which contain white sugar, but not carbs such as rice, bread, and potatoes. As for polysaccharide, he says that we should stay away from white rice, white bread, and noodles made by white flour, but not brown rice and other whole grains.
In that sense, it is similar to what Dr. Makita is saying, but Dr. Honma stresses the importance of whole grains that they become feed to intestinal bacteria. He believes that intestinal bacteria are the key to our health, and cutting down their feed is like putting the cart before the horse. Dr. Makita doesn’t regard whole grains to be very bad but he doesn’t encourage us to eat them so much either. That is the difference between the two.
Dr. Honma also says that brown rice has a detoxication mechanism and in that sense, it is good to eat it, as well.
I agree with Dr. Honma more, we should have enough carbohydrates, and cutting off carbs completely in your diet doesn’t sound natural. Then you lose the benefits of carbohydrates, and if they don’t have any benefits, why have grains and potatoes been staple foods in many cultures for centuries?
Excessive intake of any food is harmful, so limiting to a moderate amount is fine but we should stop drinking sugar based liquid and eating sweets first. These actions alone will cut down many people’s sugar intake. Then you can change from eating white rice to brown rice, and white bread to whole wheat bread or rye bread.
Bread has another problem of gluten, and if you want to avoid gluten, you can eat brown rice or oats. Sweet potatoes and taros are also good feeds to intestinal bacteria.
If you are overweight at the moment and need to lose weight quickly, you may want to put yourself on a low carb diet temporary for a few months or something, and that’s fine. The Ikigai Diet is designed as a permanent diet that you can continue for the rest of your life. It isn’t a diet to lose weight or cure certain diseases. After seeing some progress, on other diets, you always can come back to the Ikigai Diet.