The Most Nourishing Type of Rice

The Most Nourishing Type of Rice
Mango and Sticky Rice Coconut Cream. (Samira Bouaou/Epoch Times)
4/4/2022
Updated:
3/21/2023

Despite the way its name sounds, glutinous rice does not contain gluten. Also known as “sticky rice,” these milky white grains instead contain amylopectin, which easily turns into a glutinous paste. This versatile grain is can be used for cooking porridge, steaming cakes, stir fry, mochi, brewing wine, and Asian rice wrap dishes. It is also very nutritious, and has a sort of healing effect on the stomach and spleen.

Glutinous rice can be fermented and simmered together with wheat sprouts to make maltose, which is good for digestion, invigorating the spleen, and replenishing qi, or energy, as it is known in traditional Chinese medicine. The lees, or hongzao, which are sediment from glutinous rice and red yeast, is a tonic remedy in traditional Chinese medicine for invigorating blood. Many traditional Chinese medicinal prescriptions use glutinous rice in the ingredients.

Besides medical functions, glutinous rice paste is mixed with mortar to make glutinous rice mortar, a high-strength binder commonly used in ancient construction. The Great Wall still stands today thanks to glutinous rice paste.

Dr. Yeh Chi-Min, the attending physician of Taiwan Weixin Clinic of Chinese Medicine, said that the rice that is regularly cooked for food (the long grain, medium grain, and short grain) is sweet in flavor and “neutral” in nature according to traditional Chinese medicine, while glutinous rice is sweet in flavor and “warm” in nature with higher nutritional value.

Glutinous rice can warm the spleen and stomach and nourish the qi. It also has an astringent effect, which is used to treat diarrhea and frequent urination. For example, if the cause of diarrhea in the elderly is caused by cold due to a weak stomach and intestines rather than a bacterial infection, glutinous rice can be used to make porridge, which has good healing results. For the elderly people who have nocturnal urination due to bladder weakness, it is recommended that they take porridge with lotus seeds, glutinous rice, and jujube, which is also of good healing results.

But although glutinous rice is more nourishing than ordinary non-glutinous rice, people should not eat it for every meal. The sticky nature of the rice makes it difficult to digest, and it should be eaten in moderation.

In addition, glutinous rice has a high glycemic index, moreso than white rice, which means makes the blood sugar rise faster, Dr. Yeh said.

Not Everyone Should Eat It

Dr. Yeh said that four types of people should eat glutinous rice with caution—children, those who are sick or who have just recovered from illness, people with weak spleen and stomach, and people with diabetics.

Children, people who are ill, or people who have just recovered from illnesses will have weak digestive function of the stomach and intestines. If eating sticky rice, one should eat only a small amount, and chew slowly and thoroughly.

Patients who are usually prone to flatulence, acid reflux, burping, gastritis, gastroesophageal reflux, and other poor spleen and stomach functions should not eat glutinous rice.

Diabetic patients should also take caution and should eat sticky rice with other grains, vegetables, or meat, if at all. Dr. Yeh recommends eating in the order of meat, vegetables, and then sticky rice so that the blood sugar rises slowly. But diabetic patients with poor blood sugar control should not eat sticky rice at all.

This is not the kind of food one should eat for breakfast, Dr. Yeh said, unless you have a really good digestive system.

In addition, there is a difference between old and new glutinous rice, Dr. Yeh said. Newly harvested glutinous rice is in effect stickier, and harder on those with weak digestive systems.

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