I grew up eating rice every day, and I'm sure you probably did too. But with time I learned that rice isn't really your figure's best friend. So I resigned myself to eating it only once in a while. But when I found out about this amazing trick, which is a way to cook it that will cut the calories in HALF, I incorporated it back into my diet. Now I eat it two or three times a week because I can. You have to find out what this trick is all about and try it for yourself!
Read more ¿Qué más?: Flat belly spinach smoothie (RECIPE)
A study done at the College of Chemical Sciences in Colombo, Sri Lanka, found that preparing rice in this way increased the "resistant starch" content in the rice, which lowered its calorie count, making it less likely to lead to weight gain. The method changes the rice's digestible starch to indigestible starch, which won't let it be converted to sugar and absorbed by the body. NICE!
With this new way, calories are slashed by 50 to 60 percent, which is great news to us rice lovers! If you're addicted to your arroz, your life is going to change with this recipe.
The secret lies in adding one teaspoon of coconut oil to boiling water; then mix in the rice and simmer at low heat for 20 to 40 minutes or until it's fully cooked. This step is crucial: You have to put the rice in the fridge for 12 hours to help finish the process of changing the starch. And that's it! Preparing your rice this way can cut calories up to 60 percent. I love this trick!
According to investigators, it's key to cool rice down because the amylose (the soluble part of the starch) is eliminated from the rice as it cools down. And the best part? This process doesn't reverse itself when you heat up the rice again. This study was done with non-fortified white rice and coconut oil.
Even though the study was done on just one type of rice and there are more than 10,000 varieties of the grain, investigators say they will test this same method in the future. So you know what that means! ¡A comer arroz! Now you can eat rice again if you cook it with this method!
Image via Thinkstock
