White and Brown Carbs: Which is the Right Thing to Eat?

 

The staple foods we eat every day have a definite impact on the microbiome in our bodies.

In Asia, in addition to the staple food, a rich variety of foods are on the table, such as vegetable side dishes and seafood soups.

There are thousands of recipes, but can you guess what is the only thing that has never changed its appearance?

Yes, rice.

Since long ago, rice has been harvested, cooked, and eaten. This style has remained consistent.

Rice is a carbohydrate that efficiently produces the energy needed for our daily activities.

And with a few tricks, we can change rice to be converted to Microbiome-Care specifications!

Today, we will introduce some special tricks and secrets of brown rice.

 

 

Why are white carbs bad?

What kind of carbs do you eat every day?

Bread for the morning, pasta for lunch, and cut back on carbohydrates for dinner?

We assume that you chose what to eat depending on your lifestyle and moods.

 

Carbohydrates are one of the three major nutrients (carbohydrates, fat, and protein). When digested by the body, they are converted into sugars, which provide the body with energy and we even should say they are the most important nutrients for our survival.

There are two main types of carbohydrates: white carbs and brown carbs.

White carbs are for example; white rice, white bread (wheat only), pasta, ramen, and other kinds of noodles.

As you can see, many of them are somewhat white.

White carbs are tasty and popular, but eating them every day requires some caution.

 

White rice has its bran and germ component removed by milling, as it only has the endosperm part.

The absence of the germ and bran allows the white rice to be digested and absorbed more quickly, but this means that blood glucose levels rise rapidly. 

When blood glucose levels spike, insulin, a hormone secreted by the pancreas that lowers blood glucose levels, causes glucose to be taken into the body's cells and used as an energy source.

When insulin is properly functioning, eating white carbohydrates is not much of a problem.

However, if you eat lots of sweets regularly and your blood sugar remains high, the speed at which insulin is secreted may slow down, or you may continue to have high blood sugar levels that are not being lowered properly.

This causes significant damage to the blood vessels as well as various other negative effects on the body. 

In the next section, we will tell you how a spike in blood glucose levels affects the body.

How a spike in blood sugar affects the skin

The aforementioned discussion of blood glucose levels may be familiar to those concerned about diabetes and weight loss.

In this chapter, we will explain how a spike in blood glucose level can affect your skin from a Microbiome Care point of view.

The major effect of a blood glucose spike on the skin is the overproduction of sebum.

The overproduction of sebum causes acne and rough skin.

Also, if you are concerned about your body odor, excessive sebum may be the cause.

In addition, excessive sugar intake also leads to the proliferation of bad bacteria in the intestines.

For example, Staphylococcus aureus, one of the bad bacteria, does not do anything bad when the bacteria are in balance, but when the good bacteria are low or the bacteria are out of balance due to excessive sugar intake, it can cause itching, rough skin, and atopic dermatitis.

Moreover, when the amount of bad bacteria increases, toxic gasses are produced, causing various physical ailments.

 

 

How to Choose Good Carbs for Microbiome Care

The only and simplest way to choose carbs that are good for Microbiome Care is to change "white carbs" to "brown carbs.

Brown rice and miscellaneous grains for rice, and whole grains and rye for bread are brown carbs. Quinoa, which is considered a superfood, is also a brown carb.

 

Among brown carbs, we at KINS especially recommend brown rice.

Brown rice has the skin, germ, and bran still intact, and is packed with vitamins, minerals, fiber, and other important nutrients that aid in our digestion and metabolism. 

Switching from white rice to brown rice even allows us to supplement our staple diet with dietary fiber that feeds the microbiome. It sounds like a waste to remove such a bountiful nutrient, doesn't it?

The shortcut to Microbiome Care is to receive nature's bounty as it is, without any extra process.

 

Brown Carbs for a Little More Fulfill Life Than Usual

Lastly, I will tell you about my own story of switching from white carbs to brown carbs.  I hope this helps and provides you with inspiration.

I used to love bread and eat them every morning.

At that time, even though I went to a dermatologist and tried many kinds of popular cosmetics, my acne just kept coming back. No matter how much I tried, I couldn't get anywhere. I had no idea about the microbiome then, and I was only approaching the skin troubles from the outside, not from the inside.

But one day, I decided to switch to brown carbs.

I didn’t like brown rice at that time, so I first switched from white rice to five-quarter-grain rice. I also got some "rice bran"(Nuka) from the rice shop for free.

Rice bran(Nuka) is an excellent product that can be used for cleaning and for removing lye from foods, and there is also a traditional Japanese method of using this bran to make pickles(Nuka pickles). I started making them on that very first day and continue to do so to this day.

Nuka pickles are rich in lactic acid bacterium and are a very good Microbiome Care-food. Just by soaking vegetables in the bran overnight, you can make a dish for Microbiome!

These days, I also bake bread, too. Making bread by myself is not only fun, but it also leads to various discoveries, such as "I didn't know there was so much flour and sugar in it! or "It's hard to make 100% whole wheat flour puff up," or "It must be delicious to make bread with rice bran, too" , etc.

I have my share of failures of baking, but the joy I feel when I succeed is priceless.

By enjoying the process, my staple food has become brown carbs and my gut has become healthier and my acne, which had been recurring, has settled down.

Since carbohydrates are an important part of our daily diet, why not choose brown ones to make your life a little more rich and fulfilling?