Social Workout

Practical Eating

Brown Rice Good, Barley Even Better

Swapping brown rice for white rice decreases your odds of developing diabetes, shows new research conducted at the Harvard School of Public Health. The study, which examined the diets of about 40,000 men and about 160,000 women showed that replacing 50 grams of white rice daily with the same amount of brown rice lowered the risk of type 2 diabetes by 16%. But before you stock up on brown rice, check this: Replacing the same amount of white rice with other whole grains, like barley and wheat, dropped the risk even more, by 36%. So bulgur, barley, and bran to the rescue. Five of our favorite scientifically-proven-to-be-awesome-for-you whole grain recipes after the jump.

Workout

Stair climbing with the Ladies of the View

I watched "The View" and used the stair machine for 30 minutes on the Weight Loss program (I had to take the set level down one notch in the middle).  Then I cooled down for 5 minutes and did 20 minutes of pilates for my hamstrings. 

Workout

SWeATing out toxins: rice and hams

Still sneezy and overall blah, but had fortuitously made brown rice and mushroom soup late week, so ate that for lunch and came home to do a living room workout rather than spread my germs over the gym.  Sorry cats and roommate.  So I did the integrated strength training workout in the trainer's edge series-- 40 minutes of mostly arms and back but a good amount of bridge poses and fly

SW-e-AT

Food-Ex Pairing: Brown Rice and Hammies

Today's food-ex pairing needs no introduction. One of them supports, in a nutritional sense, well over half the world. The other supports, in a literally sense, you.

Let's talk about your hamstrings. They're not super visible in most people, and they're kind of awkward to exercise. (Yogis, think standing split. Weightlifters, think prone thigh curls.) This makes them easy to ignore, but that would be a mistake. Your hamstrings are responsible for minor things, like allowing you to flex your knee, and also to extend your hip. As in: walking, running, jumping, and lifting things off the floor. And they're also responsible for important things, like Moonwalking, and/or doing that other Michael Jackson move, where he lifts one knee and taps the lifted heel with his hand.) OK, I bet you're wondering where the term hamstring came from. Not to be a shameless Wikipedia quoter, but check this out:

Another commonly accepted origin is that legs of ham used to be hung by a hook through the space between the thighbone and the tendons behind the knee. Ham/pork used to be more common in England than beef and lamb.

Who knew!

If you're curious about how to work your hams in a kind of Western-weight-lifty way, I recommend this page on Project Swole. These people seem smart. Dancers and yogis might can try almost any of the exercises demonstrated in this very jazzy Pilates promo video. These people seem funny. Take your pick, but remember the old Chinese proverb: "Talk does not cook rice." 

Oh snap! Let's talk about brown rice. Did you know that in some languages "to eat" translates directly as "to eat rice." This according to the food geeks at WHFoods, who also point out what you already know: Whole grain brown rice is very good for you, while stripped and polished white rice is a lot less so. Eat the brown rice, and you'll be thinner, have lower cholesterol, and be less likely to develop Type 2 Diabetes. How should you do it? TheKitchn.com has your back with its normal Five Ways to Eat... post, one of which would seem particularly appropriate as it includes some delicious hammy: "Fried with onions, ginger, and an egg."

Enjoy you SW-e-AT-ers....

Practical Eating

Shhh: Brown Rice For Dummies

[Belated welcome to Rebecca Ulanoff, a new contributor to our Practical Eating beat. She's a professional foodie who lives in Brooklyn (by way of Detroit,  Kansas, and Massachusetts) who admits to reading cookbooks while she eats. ~The Eds.]

Until recently, cooking rice well was a mystery to me. Should be simple, right? And I'm a decent home cook. But I struggled. This made me sad, especially as I knew that brown rice is very good for you. It's got your fiber, and magnesium (promotes energy), and a ton other good stuff. It's a whole grain for crying out loud! Then a friend let me in on a secret: You can cook rice just like pasta. Huh? Yes, just boil and strain. I was amazed, but the rice cooked up perfectly. Separate -- not gluey -- grains full of fluffy, nutty brown rice ready to be paired with just about anything. Here's all you do...