Brown rice pasta is made from ground brown rice, instead of wheat. This makes the noodles gluten-free and perfectly suitable for you if you have celiac disease. Brown rice pasta is a nutritious alternative to regular white or wheat pasta. It fits in perfectly in your favourite pasta entree or pasta salad.
Calories and Carbs
Brown rice pasta provides about 200 calories per 2-ounce portion of dry pasta. In order to get the perfect 2-ounce serving, weigh your pasta before you cook it. If you're making brown rice spaghetti noodles, 2 ounces is about the size of a quarter when you stand the pasta noodles up on one end. About 85 percent of the calories in brown rice pasta come from carbohydrates. You need carbs in your diet to provide energy to all cells. Around 45 to 65 percent of your total calories should come from this macronutrient. Following a typical 2,000-calorie diet requires you to get 225 to 325 grams of carbs each day. A 2-ounce serving of brown rice pasta contains 40 grams of carbs, which have 4 calories per gram.
Protein and Fat
Just like carbohydrates, protein also provides 4 calories per gram. Protein builds muscle tissue, but it also helps repair other tissues and is a structural component of cell walls. Between 10 to 35 percent of your diet should come from protein. Eating around 2,000 calories per day requires 50 to 175 grams of protein. Brown rice pasta provides 4 grams of protein per 2-ounce portion. The final macronutrient you need in your diet is fat, which helps absorb several vitamins and regulates your core body temperature. Around 20 to 35 percent of your calories need to come from fat, explains the Mayo Clinic. For a 2,000-calorie diet, you need 44 to 78 grams of fat. Your 2-ounce serving of brown rice pasta offers nearly 3 grams.
Fiber
Brown rice pasta is high in fiber, particularly insoluble fiber. This type of fiber, which comes from grains, vegetables and brown rice, does not break down in your digestive tract. Insoluble fiber stays intact and pushes out waste. It is responsible for keeping you regular and makes your stools soft and easy to pass. Women need to get 22 to 28 grams of total fiber each day, but men need up to 28 to 34 grams. A 2-ounce portion of brown rice pasta offers about 4 grams of dietary fiber.
Celiac Disease
Having celiac disease does not require you to eliminate pasta from your diet. You can eat brown rice pasta, which is naturally free of a protein called gluten,according to the Tufts University reports. Wheat, barley and rye are all grains that contain gluten, and you have to eliminate these foods from your diet if you are gluten sensitive. Celiac disease is a condition in which your body is unable to break down gluten. If you have celiac and you consume foods containing gluten, you may have severe gastrointestinal upset. This can further damage the lining of your intestines. Over time, you might become severely malnourished, since your intestinal walls become unable to absorb nutrients. There is no treatment for celiac disease, so you have to follow a strict diet and eliminate gluten foods. Although brown rice pasta does not contain gluten, read the label to make sure it is gluten-free. Some manufacturing processes may cross-contaminate foods and leave a trace of gluten in a normally gluten-free food.
Health Benefits of Brown Rice
Brown rice has:
- Twice the manganese and phosphorus as white.
- 2 ½ times the iron.
- 3 times vitamin B3.
- 4 times the vitamin B1.
- 10 times the vitamin B6.
- It is a great source of manganese which is essential for energy production, antioxidant activity, and sex hormone production.
- Brown rice has high fiber and selenium content which reduces colon cancer.
- The fiber in brown rice reduces the time cancer-causing substances spend in the colon. Selenium has been shown to substantially reduce the risk of colon cancer. White rice has very little fiber.
- Brown rice assists weight loss and reduces metabolic problems.
- Eating whole grains with lots of fiber, like brown rice, helps with maintaining optimal weight while refined grains have been linked to weight gain, type-two diabetes and metabolic syndrome.
- It lowers cholesterol.
- A study at Louisiana State University showed that rice bran and rice bran oil reduced LDL (bad) cholesterol.
- Brown Rice is Gluten Free. As more and more people enjoy the benefits of gluten free, rice is an obvious healthy choice.
- It balances your energy.
- In macrobiotics, brown rice has been shown to have balanced energy in terms of yin and yang.
Unique Phytonutrients:
All whole grains have bound phytonutrients which are released by the action of intestinal bacteria.
These unique substances have the same health-promoting activity attributed to the free form phytonutrients found in vegetables and fruits. One example is a lignin called enterolactone thought to protect against breast cancer and heart disease.
Cautions:
The main reason brown rice is processed is to increase its storage time. The essential oils in brown rice go rancid after 6-8 months while white rice lasts up to 10 years.The protein in white rice is more available to the body. This is important in parts of the world where rice is the main source of calories, particularly since rice is not high in protein to begin with. White rice is easier to digest because its lack of fiber. It may be superior for weak and convalescent persons or someone with weak digestion
Brown Rice Vs. White Rice
Which is better, brown or white rice? Brown rice is the whole rice grain with just the first outer layer (husk or hull) removed
through milling. It retains its fiber and germ which contains vital nutrients.White rice is brown rice that has been milled to remove the bran and much of the germ, reducing fiber and nutrient content. The grain is further polished to take away the remaining layer of germ (called the aleurone layer) which contains essential oils. These oils are what oxidize and go rancid, so removing them makes white rice keep longer.
Sticky rice: Short grain rice has a higher starch content which makes it sticker. Long grain is lighter and so is more separated.
Other Alternatives to brown rice are the following:
Parboiled Rice
In India, where millions depend on rice, the process of parboiling rice was discovered. Uncle Ben’s later copied this process and termed it “converted rice.” This process involves steaming the rice before the final stages of processing. This drives some of the vitamins and minerals into the inner layers before the outer layers are removed. The result is ‘white rice,’ but with more nutrients.
Sprouted or Germinated Brown Rice
Germinated brown rice is easier to digest and the sprouting process adds certain nutrients.Germinated brown rice has twice the GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) of regular brown rice, and ten times the GABA of white rice.GABA promotes fat loss by stimulating the production of Human Growth Hormone (HGH). HGH increases the sleep cycle, giving deeper rest, boosts the immune system, lowers blood pressure, inhibits development of cancer cells, and assists the treatment of anxiety disorders.




