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Do I need to give up on rice, and what can I replace it with ?

TheMiziko

Active Member
Messages
33
Location
Poland
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Hi guys ! I've recently switched from rice to Pearl barley, and my sugar level is much more stabilized,. Usually, after a meal I had around 260 sugar, and in 1hour it lowered to 180. After trying out barley, I have stable 180 sugar.
Should I just give up on eating rice, and what other foods are good for normal lunch for diabetic ?
 
You can make cauliflower rice by grating the head of the cauliflower into a pan then cooking gently with butter until it resembles rice. Why not go onto the low-carb forum and read what everyone eats, find recipes and encouragement. And, no, not many of us ever eat rice
 

Because we are all so different, it's not easy to answer questions like this.For me personally, I find that not all rice is equal!

Sticky white rice, and the white jasmin rice that often accompanies Chinese takeaways will send my blood sugars soaring very quickly and my insulin seems unable to cope with it. But (with insulin) I can keep the sugar spike that results from eating pilau rice, and Tilda wholegrain rice under control. I'm not eating huge portions though.

You don't neccessarily have to give up. Experiment and see what does and doesn't work for you -eat to your meter.
 
I agree with this. Patna or Basmatti rice have less starch, and tend to be better than most. One trick my mum (T1D) used was to put the cooked rice into a collander, then wash through with boiling water from the kettle to remove excess starch (the gloopy white gunk)
Another tip I have seen is to cool the rice after cooking, then reheat it again, but this can be dodgy since one should not reheat rice,
Another tip is to do stirfry in light oil, which lowers the GI value.
 
Yes I find Basmatti not too bad in small amounts had not tried Patna but will.
 
Rice is a total no go for me
So I have switched to cauliflower rice (had it last night), and after a period of adjustment, I actually prefer it.
 

I always used to do this too - it was part of the way I learned to cook and serve rice long ago when I was still a "normal" person. Basmati used to get rinsed and soaked (in cold water) before cooking as well.

Robbity
 
Well, i'd love to switch to cauliflower, but I'm afraid I will be instantly hungry, and I will have lower sugar level :/
 
You'd be surprised how filling cauliflower is and below 180 would be a good thing.
 
Hi @TheMiziko I'm guessing from your name and your question that you live in Japan? My diabetes was diagnosed when I still lived in an Asian rice-with-everything culture, and I did find rice very hard to give up. I didn't try brown rice (it wasn't available as far as I could find out), but long-grain, short-grain and basmati, whether steamed, boiled or fried, by the bowl or in the form of congee, nian-gao, wontons or rice noodles - ALL raised my blood sugar.

In the end I tried the mind experiment of substituting salad for rice - I mean, I thought about salad whenever I used to think of rice, I ordered accordingly at restaurants and I asked my helper to serve salad instead of rice or noodles.

It was a bit odd at first, but surprisingly quickly I got used to having, say, sesame chicken or stir-fried beef or ma-po beancurd served on a green salad. And my blood sugar came down beautifully.

That's pretty much what I still do, though now I've moved to England I have to resist potatoes, bread, spaghetti, etc. instead of just rice and noodles. But salad is still the staple of my diet and my blood sugar is still under control.

Kate
 
Test before you eat a measured portion if your choosen rice, then 2 hours after. my system is ok with rice, but pasta is a no, no, we are all different and you have to do what works for your body
 
For an alternative to pasta I bought a spiralizer and am now into courgetti and the rest of the family like it too but I have found most of the alternatives to rice such as quinoa,couscous,bulgar wheat, and so on are almost if not more carby as rice it's self, though Amaranth is fairly low in carbs I believe.
 
Basmati rice is worth a try.
Grated cauliflower is grated cauliflower.
 
SunnyExpat said:
Basmati rice is worth a try.
Grated cauliflower is grated cauliflower.
Click to expand...
That's the problem. I was eating basmati, It just didn't work for me. Now, I have stable 180 sugar, but I can't eat Pearl barley forever I'll try to experiment, but I'm stil not convinced to grated cauliflower. I just don't know if I will eb able to calculate my insulin for it. is there any place I can post my whole diet, and get some feedback on it ?
 

If you post, I'm sure you'll get feedback.
You may have to duck though.
 
TheMiziko said:
Usually, after a meal I had around 260 sugar, and in 1hour it lowered to 180. After trying out barley, I have stable 180 sugar. ?
Click to expand...

As a type 1 you do have some other tools to consider when it comes to rice. You could experiment with pre-bolusing - so taking your fast acting 10 or 20 or 30, maybe 40 minutes before your meal so that it has a chance to start working as you start digesting your food and help to avoid the spike.

I was dubious about cauliflower rice, but having tried it I'm totally sold. It works well.

As to how to calculate your insulin for cauliflower rice - do you carb count? Cos a normal portion of cauli rice (150g) contains about 3g of carbs. So you just add that to the rest of your meal and work out your dose according to your ratio as normal. If you don't carb count, that's probably not that helpful...
 
I just finely chopped carrot, cucumber, red, green, yellow peppers, onion, courgette, celery and boiled it with seasoning. Drained it well and had that with home made curries etc. Any veg with stock over I added chicken and vegetable stock cubes and made an alright chicken and vegetable soup.
 
Nice to hear someone else found quinoia didn't work for them! I stocked up on it because so many diabetics swear by it, but I found it just as bad as rice. Ditto bulgar wheat. In the end, I find that portion size and what it's eaten with is the key. Small spoonful of basmati rice as part of meal with lots of low-carb others doesn't spike me. But all pasta doesn't like me at all -- ****.
 
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