Turn Toxic Rice into a Gut Superfood!

Turn Toxic Rice into a Gut Superfood!

We live on a toxic planet. Heavy metals, chemicals, and other junk show up in the air, water, soil, and food. You cannot avoid every bit of it, but you can lower your total load by making smarter choices with everyday foods. Rice is one of those foods that is easy to improve.

Rice soaks up arsenic from the ground and water more than most other grains. Arsenic is a poison that builds up in the body over time. Long-term exposure to arsenic from foods like rice is linked to serious health conditions, including cancer, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. In infants and young children, prolonged exposure can also affect neurological development, potentially leading to lower IQ scores and learning disabilities. So it’s not something you want to ignore.

The good news is that a few simple cooking steps get rid of most of the arsenic in rice. And you can take an additional easy step to change how the rice affects your blood sugar, and even turn it into food that helps the good bacteria in your gut!

Reducing the Arsenic

First, thoroughly rinsing rice before cooking removes a little arsenic (around 10 percent).

Next, the most effective cooking method is to start with a short, 5-minute parboil before your final cook. You want to bring a large pot of filtered water to a boil (about four cups of water for every cup of rice). Add the rice and boil it for five minutes. Drain off that water completely. That’s it! This method can remove more than half the arsenic from brown rice and up to about three-quarters from white rice.

The last step is the final cook: Add fresh filtered water — about 2 cups of water for every 1 cup of the original dry rice. At this point, we recommend adding a pinch or two of salt (see our salt article for the best salt) and little coconut oil or ghee (see below to know why!). Bring it back to a gentle simmer, cover the pot, and cook on low heat until the water is fully absorbed.

This usually takes 10 to 15 minutes for white rice (basmati, jasmine, etc.) and closer to 15 to 20 minutes for brown rice (sometimes a bit longer).

Do not stir while it is cooking. Near the end, taste a little bit and quickly put the cover back on. When the water is gone and the grains are tender, turn off the heat. Leave the lid on and let the rice sit for 10 minutes. This finishes the cooking gently with steam and helps keep the texture fluffy instead of gooey. If the rice still seems a little firm after the water is gone, you can add a tablespoon or two of hot water, cover again, and give it a couple more minutes.

Some people prefer to cook rice like pasta the whole time, meaning that they use a lot of water, boil until done, and then drain. This also lowers arsenic by 40 to 60 percent. The downside is that it washes away more of the vitamins and minerals from the rice. If you care about keeping nutrients, the five-minute parboil followed by final cooking is the best option.

Remember to always use clean water for cooking. If your tap water has arsenic, that defeats the purpose.

Stop the Blood Sugar Spike!

Cooked rice can raise blood sugar pretty quickly and pretty high. The starch breaks down fast and sends a big load of glucose (blood sugar) into the bloodstream.

You can change that! In the final cooking step above, add a little coconut oil or ghee (about two teaspoons per cup of dry rice). After the rice is cooked, instead of letting it sit for 10 minutes, take the lid off and immediately put it in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours. The starch reorganizes into a form called “resistant starch”. Your body digests less of it leaving more to feed the beneficial gut bacteria. The blood-sugar rise is much smaller, and now you are actually helping your good gut bacteria! You can eat the rice cold or reheat it.

Keep in mind that if you immediately refrigerate it as we recommend, rice will stay good in the fridge for up to 4 days! So you can make a large amount in advance and scoop it from the fridge as needed for days!

Choosing Lower-Arsenic Rice

Not all rice is the same. Growing region, variety, and processing matter a lot. Independent testing by MamaVation looked at total arsenic, estimated inorganic arsenic (the more harmful form), cadmium, and lead in many rice products. Lower numbers are better. “MRL” means the amount was so small it could be detected but not measured exactly. “Non-detect” means none was found at the lab’s limit.

It’s important to keep in mind that these test results apply only to the specific products listed below. A brand that has one clean rice may still sell other products with higher levels of toxins. Here are the lowest-heavy metal options according to MamaVation’s testing:

• Azure Market Organic Heirloom Rice Basmati, White: 0.059 ug/g total arsenic, 0.04 ug/g estimated inorganic arsenic,  <MRL cadmium, 0.011 ug/g lead
• Lundberg Family Farms Organic Basmati California Brown Gourmet Rice: 0.065 ug/g total arsenic, 0.04 ug/g estimated inorganic arsenic, 0.004 ug/g cadmium, <MRL lead.
• Lotus Foods Organic Brown Jasmine Rice: 0.046 ug/g total arsenic, 0.033 ug/g estimated inorganic arsenic, <MRL cadmium, <MRL lead. (Use discount code “MAMAVATION” for 10% off your order!) (Or Purchase on Amazon here.)
• Lundberg Family Farms Organic Basmati California Brown Gourmet Rice: 0.065 ug/g total arsenic, 0.047 ug/g estimated inorganic arsenic, 0.004 ug/g cadmium, <MRL lead.
• Lotus Foods Organic Brown Jasmine Rice: 0.046 ug/g total arsenic, 0.033 ug/g estimated inorganic arsenic, <MRL cadmium, <MRL lead. (Use discount code “MAMAVATION” for 10% off your order!) (Or purchase on Amazon here.)
• Lotus Foods Organic White Jasmine & Forbidden Rice for Microwave: 0.056 ug/g total arsenic, 0.04 ug/g estimated inorganic arsenic, 0.003 ug/g cadmium, non-detect lead. (Use discount code “MAMAVATION” for 10% off your order!) (Or purchase on Amazon here)
• Lundberg Family Farms Jasmine White Rice Regenerative Organic Certified: 0.036 ug/g total arsenic, 0.026 ug/g estimated inorganic arsenic, 0.005 ug/g cadmium, non-detect lead.
• Lundberg Family Farms Long Grain White Rice Regenerative Organic Certified: 0.048 ug/g total arsenic, 0.035 ug/g estimated inorganic arsenic, 0.006 ug/g cadmium, non-detect lead.
• Lotus Foods Organic Buckwheat & Brown Soba Rice Noodles 100% Organic Whole Grains: 0.07 ug/g total arsenic, 0.05 ug/g estimated inorganic arsenic, 0.01 ug/g cadmium, <MRL lead. (Use discount code “MAMAVATION” for 10% off products!) (Or purchase on Amazon here)
• Ocean’s Halo Organic Ramen Noodles: 0.01 ug/g total arsenic, 0.01 ug/g estimated arsenic, 0.01 ug/g cadmium, 0.012 ug/g lead.
• Lundberg Family Farms Regenerative Organic Certified White Rice Sushi: 0.056 ug/g total arsenic, 0.041 ug/g estimated inorganic arsenic, 0.004 ug/g cadmium, non-detect lead.

Full results are at MamaVation’s rice guide: https://mamavation.com/food/rice-lead-arsenic-guide.html.

Please note that we are not affiliated with MamaVation. The links here are MamaVation’s referral links. The products won’t cost you any more if you use those links but MamaVation gets a tiny bit of money from each sale. The money they earn from those links helps pay for more independent testing. We support their work by posting their links here.

Putting It Together

Choose lower-arsenic rice when you can. Rinse it thoroughly. Use the five-minute parboil method. Cook the finished rice with a little coconut oil or ghee. Immediately put it in the fridge for 12 hours or longer, then eat it cold or reheated.

These steps lower arsenic exposure, blunt the blood-sugar spike, and give your gut bacteria something useful to work with.

Yes, it takes a bit more work and planning, but the rewards are well worth it! Good health and bon appétit!