A New Cafe / A New Standard: Brown Rice

Song:  Into Dust

Artist:  Mazzy Star

A few days ago...

I had taken my mother to a new Korean Cafe in downtown Reno.

They specialize in quick meat and vegetables over rice bowls.

Although it was good...

it was a bit expensive.

My mother and I enjoyed it...

but we will be eating Korean food at our old favorite restaurant.

I just came back from making my mother her supper.

I had her try a new brand of brown rice with her meal.

You cook it as you would white rice.

Although both of us like brown rice...

the previous brand was a bit too hullish...a bit too much fiber from the hulls

(probably not a real word...

but it is now  :)

This brand is very good (Hukkura).

It is a short grain...

lightly milled brown rice.

It is easier to chew and digest than many other brown rice brands.

I will be making brown rice our supper staple from now on...

with the exception of a few dishes needing the rice to bind to itself...

such as Onigiri or Sushi.

I used to eat brown rice exclusively when I cooked for myself while going to university...

many decades ago.

Why brown rice?

First of all...

it is delicious...

nutritious...

and it has very positive effects on the digestive system.

Brown rice has a nutty flavor...

and it fills you up quickly.

You will find that you need only eat half the amount of rice 

than that of white rice.

It is satisfying to the body.

It has a lot more B vitamins than white rice.

In fact...

after WWII...

there was widespread famine in Japan.

Beriberi (a disease of Thiamine deficiency)

broke out among the more wealthy residents in Japan (mostly city folk)...

as they considered fully milled white rice to be a desirable rice to eat...

since it was more delicately flavored and expensive.

The country folk had eaten unmilled or lightly milled rice (brown rice).

The B vitamins B-1 through B-6 (B-1 especially)...

are in the hulls of the rice.

As a result...

Beriberi broke out in the cities...

and had left the country folk almost untouched.

What really sets brown rice apart through immediate effects...

is its effect on the digestive system.

It is a gentle binder of waste products...

due to its fiber content.

It allows a more rapidly and easily passed stool.

There is no straining (there should never be).

It also lends to complete evacuation of the bowels...

as the stool remains solid.

Its undigestible fiber content gently corrects constipation...

without making the stool too soft 

(as what happens with too many fruits or vegetables alone).

It also greatly reduces gas build up...

as a regular schedule of bowel movements prevents this.

Having a fully evacuated bowel in one daily solid movement...

 is one of the great simple pleasures in life.

You feel light and energetic.

Especially in the elderly...

all the bodily processes slow down.

Lethargy can result...

especially if one is chronically plagued with constipation.

By eating brown rice regularly...

you will lose excess weight due to eating less as the appetite is satisfied with less...

as well as through a healthful moving of your bowels more regularly and fully.

If you have never eaten brown rice before...

have a toilet plunger next to the toilet.

As the bowel movements will have more volume due to a more fully emptying

of the digestive system...you can expect to clog the toilets frequently  :)

This is a good thing.

By moving your bowels fully and easily...

you are preventing a whole host of easily preventable problems...

such as hemorrhoids, preventable bowel cancers (due to chronic constipation)...

and constipation.

Again...

one should never have to strain on the toilet.

If so...

you need more fiber.

Eating brown rice is a delicious and nutritious way 

of getting excellent amounts of fiber.

Brown rice also greatly alleviates gassiness by making regularity

of a full evacuation of the bowels something which becomes dependable and natural...

and without strain.