Can You Lose Weight Eating Rice Every Day? The Truth Sri Lankans Have Been Waiting to Hear

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Cutting down on rice is common advice given to Sri Lankans who have tried to lose weight. This is what your colleague has told you. Perhaps you’ve heard it in a health article you’ve read online. Like most Sri Lankans, you attempted to do away with the rice; you stuck with that for, say, four days, before secretly experimenting with rice in all its forms.

What you do not hear. But you’re not gaining any weight from rice. It’s not a diet that you have to sacrifice your taste to be a good weight loss diet. All you need to know is what’s really going on in your body and then make some small changes that suit your life.

The question is, why does everyone blame rice?

Rice is a member of a group of nutrients known as carbohydrates. Carbohydrate foods increase your blood glucose. It is regulated by insulin secreted by your body. Upon hearing this, people think of rice as an obesity cause.

It is a simplistic statement that is not to be taken at face value and has caused a lot of needless guilt and unsuccessful diets in Sri Lanka.

The reality is that weight gain occurs when you eat more calories than you burn (over time) (more calories in than out). If you consume lots of rice, you can definitely add to this surplus. Rice, however, is not a special food. Cooked white rice is about 200 calories per cup. This is approximately 2 medium bananas or a glass of juice or about 20 small cashews.

It’s not about rice; it’s about most Sri Lankan meals. It’s the bulk, a big pile of rice, along with low protein, low vegetables and frequently a sweet tea or soft drink too. If you subtract the rice and use the same amounts of the other foods, you have deleted 200-300 calories, and not enough protein.

Why are people gaining weight in Sri Lankan Food?

There are 3 reasons why most Sri Lankans have adapted to gain weight, and only one of them is for rice.

The first is the intake of food and the portion. The Sri Lankan lunch plate has two to three cups of rice, rather than one. Without curry, a pair of cups of white rice contains 400 calories. You save the rice and 200 calories per meal by reducing the portion of rice to 1 cup per meal.

The second is the lack of protein. Sri Lankan meals are rich in rice and carbohydrates, and low in protein. Without enough protein, your body will be less hungry after eating, have a decreased metabolism, and will be even hungrier when it’s time to eat again. By adding more dhal, fish, chicken, or eggs to each meal, your hunger is reduced, which means you lose a lot more fat than if you were to eliminate rice!

The third is liquid calories. But sugar and calories that most Sri Lankans are oblivious to are sweet tea made with two teaspoons of sugar, lunchtime soft drinks, and juice in the morning. If someone goes to the trouble to cut out rice but continues to drink 2 sweet teas a day, they haven’t made much of a difference in their calorie intake. The step that any Sri Lankan can take to cut down the consumption of liquid sugar or other beverages from the daily diet would be one of the most important steps.

This is the actual swapping of rice

There is no need to take out rice. No exchange and no decrease are allowed.

White rice for weight reduction is quite unhealthy compared to red rice. It possesses a lower glycaemic index and thus gradually raises blood sugar, satisfies for longer and the “hungry stomach” after eating white rice is reduced. When the choice is given at school, always choose red rice, or at home.

But there is another very convenient secret that many Sri Lankans are unaware of. Rice is chemically changed by cooking and then refrigerated for several hours prior to eating. The cooled rice contains resistant starch, which is more like fibre and therefore has less rise in blood sugar. Literally, the rice that is cooked the previous day is better for weight loss than the freshly cooked one. This is really great for a culture in which breakfast rice is considered a normal leftover.

An easy and practical method for losing weight in Sri Lanka

Red rice – 1 cup at meal instead of 2 or 3. This is the only thing you can do for the rice that will have a significant impact.

The other half plate should be the dhal (vegetable curry), fish, or chicken curry. These are the healthy ingredients of the meal and most of the Sri Lankans eat less than their rice.

Include protein in all meals. For lunch, dhal and for dinner, fish and two boiled eggs. This one change will make it easier to lose fat and to control your hunger more than any rice elimination diet.

Take an ample amount of plain water and tea. Drink 1 cup of sweet tea. Simply eliminate carbonated beverages. Just this one change can take off 200-400 calories per day without any changes to your meals.

Do 30 minutes of exercise daily. Not running. Not the gym. Just walking. Add on slightly lower serving sizes and increased protein and you’ll have enough to shed pounds over the course of a few months.

The Bottom Line

You don’t have to compromise on your health with your culture. Sri Lankan rice has been consumed by the people for thousands of years and you can still consume rice in your weight loss diet.

Less rice, more curry, more protein and fewer liquid calories. This is the point of the whole thing! It’s fairly simple. Consistency is the key.

“Rice isn’t bad. Portion size is. That’s one thing that must be addressed and all other things that make Sri Lankan food good to eat must remain.”