Rice and wheat difference: Is Rice Healthier Than Your Wheat?

In this record, I’m going to uncover which food is healthier, rice, or wheat. A major burning question came out of both of them, and that is; Is rice healthier than wheat? 

That’s what we’re going to break down in this record. We’re going to talk about white rice versus white bread, we’re also going to talk about wheat bread versus brown rice. 

We’re going to be breaking that all down, and at the end of this blog what I’ll do, I’ll teach you about the healthiest options for both of them.  So let’s go ahead and dive in here, let’s talk about which is healthier. 

White Rice VS White Bread

When we look at white rice vs. white bread we’re just going to talk about traditional white rice and traditional white bread. 

I know there’s going to be variations about which brand makes the bread, etc. But [We’re going to be talking about] just your traditional white bread.

White Rice

Let’s start with the white rice though. First of all, when we look at white rice, it’s going to be stripped of the Bran & Germ. 

As a result of being stripped from the Bran & the Germ, it essentially is going to have a lack of vitamins and minerals. 

There’s not going to be much nutritional quality to speak of in white rice. Another thing that we’re going to look at when it comes to white rice is that it has a Glycemic Index is very high, it is 73. 

White rice is something that is considered healthier by most people. When we look at people who are feeding their kids food, we have rice crackers, rice cakes, rice cereal for kids, and many adults are also making the rice switch too. 

They are eating more rice flours, and it's perceived to be a healthier option in the health community. But when we look at the real statistics behind it, it’s not much healthier.

White Bread

Now let’s go ahead and talk about white bread. We’re dealing with a bread here that is bleached, it lacks vitamins and minerals, and when we look at white bread there’s just not much going on as well. 

It has a glycemic of 75 so we’re slightly higher than the rest here, and of course, it has gluten which is something that many people react negatively to. 

So, looking at white bread, there’s not much to offer to you. Looking at white rice, not much to offer. Now the other thing about them is that they both are linked to diabetes and obesity. Diabetes Type 2, and Obesity. 

There are many study’s that find if you consume a lot of white bread, you consume a lot of white rice, you are more likely to have this issue. 

The other thing I want to mention about them is because white bread and white rice are so stripped down and there’s nothing really in there to react to, many people who have immune conditions typically find out that they do better with white bread over a wheat bread. 

Simply because there are hardly any reactants in it. That’s something that many people find. If you ever have somebody who has an immune condition and says, “well I don’t do well with wheat bread, the ‘healthier bread’ but I do better with the unhealthier bread, the white bread, then essentially there’s a good chance it’s just because it's stripped-down, there’s not much there, there aren’t any reactants.

Brown Rice VS Wheat Bread

 Let’s go ahead and move on to brown rice vs. wheat bread. These are considered healthier alternatives

Brown Rice

Let’s talk about brown rice first. It contains vitamins and minerals, so when we look at brown rice, it has Fiber-Rich Bran in it. 

Because it has the Bran & Germ in it, essentially what you’re going to find is that it has some vitamins and minerals. 

It has a somewhat decent nutritional quality to it. It also is going to have that fiber in it, remember that white rice is going to have that fiber stripped from it, the brown rice has the fiber in it. 

It’s going to help stabilize your blood sugar a little bit, as you’re eating it. It has a Glycemic Index of 68, it also is high in arsenic.

 

This is where the other shoe drops, you thought we were heading down a healthier path here but one of the things that you have with brown rice is that because it has the Bran in it, it has high Arsenic in it. 

Arsenic is considered one of the most toxic substances on earth, it is up there on the list, and it is not good for us to consume. 

The brown rice has a lot of Arsenic in it because the Arsenic is in the Bran, which it contains, vs. the white rice which does not. 

It is also because it is grown in very saturated ground and a very wet environment. It has a lot of Arsenic in it and that is not very healthy for us by any stretch of the imagination. 

This is a big problem with brown rice. The other thing is it has Phytic Acid which is considered an anti-nutrient. Stick around to the end of the blog because I’ll teach you how to get rid of that.

Wheat Bread

Now let’s go ahead and talk about wheat bread. Wheat bread is going to have some vitamins and minerals over the white bread and I stress ‘some’ here, because it’s not much. 

When we look at white bread and wheat bread, the nutritional content Is the same. A lot of people think that they’re doing themselves a big favor by going with wheat and they are not. 

One of the things that you are getting is a little bit more fiber, it's going to help bring down that Glycemic Index by a whole whopping one point. 

There’s a Glycemic Index of 74 here, but it also has Gluten in it. Now a lot of people have gluten sensitivity. 

When we look at gluten there are a lot of people who have celiac disease, this is a very harsh reaction and immune condition that is linked to gluten. 

The thing is, a lot of people think if they don’t have celiac disease then they don’t have a gluten problem, and that’s not true. 

You can have a gluten sensitivity in which you still have a negative reaction to it. It robs you of your energy, you can’t think, you don’t feel well, it gives you an upset stomach. 

You still have a gluten sensitivity, but it’s not Celiac which could send you in a downward spiral and mess you up for a day or two. 

It’s something that doesn’t benefit anyone at this point. It’s a protein in bread that many people react harshly to, and even those who don’t still are having some sort of very mild, light reactions. 

It also has Phytic Acid in it which is considered an anti-nutrient. One of the things that I wanted to mention while we are here talking about the Glycemic Index, we see brown rice has a Glycemic index of 68, and wheat bread has one of 74. 

Generally, the rice is coming in at a lower glycemic index. These glycemic numbers came from Harvard. A lot of people ask me where I get these because they’ll find different facts based on where they come from. These came from Harvard if you want to look them up. When we look at brown rice vs. wheat bread,

The question is, which should I choose?

If I was handed a bowl of brown rice and a plate of wheat bread, I would consume the brown rice, and here’s the reason for that. 

When we look at the wheat bread it has gluten in it, there’s a chance that most people, in general, are going to react to the gluten. 

When you look at that, it’s good chance gluten is going to be an issue. Here [Brown Rice] we are dealing with the arsenic issue, but depending on how it's cooked, maybe it’s not that much of an issue. 

I would go with the brown rice over the wheat bread, just because I would want to avoid the gluten. I think that not only myself but many people out there have a mild gluten sensitivity even if they’re not having a harsh reaction. 

I’m going to have the brown rice for the win, and the brown rice is going to have a little bit better nutritional quality. 

I don’t want the Arsenic but I told you I would give you my opinion even though I don’t think either of these options is great, I’m giving you my opinion on which I would choose. 

Everybody is faced with that decision at some point in their lives. You may go to a friend’s house, you go to a restaurant and maybe you’re pinpointed down and you have to make a choice, and so, that’s how you make it.

Best Rice VS Best Bread

Next, we’re going to talk about the best bread and the best rice. We’ve talked about all the negatives and the things you need to avoid, let’s talk about what are going to be healthy options for both of these.

Best Rice

Basmati or Jasmine rice is generally considered to be a good, healthy option. We wanna make sure that we are choosing Sprouted or Germinated, and the reason for this is when it is sprouted essentially it makes the nutrients more bioactive. 

You’re able to digest it better, you’re able to absorb the nutrients better, and also it reduces the Phytic Acid content just like we’re going to find in the bread. If we have sprouted it will reduce the Phytic acid content.

It’s also best to choose organic whenever possible, and the problem is we still have an arsenic issue. These better options still have arsenic in them. 

The good news is these options are considered to have less arsenic which is a very good thing. One of the things that you can do to reduce the arsenic content is, first of all, to wash the rice before actually cooking it. 

The other thing that you can do is, you can cook the rice in a big pot of water. Almost like you would cook a portion of spaghetti or something like that. 

So instead of cooking your rice with very minimum water, cook it in a big pot of water so that you can boil that and get as much of the arsenic out of it as possible. These are better options.

Best Bread

Now let’s look at a better option when it comes to bread. Ezekiel is a good option. This is an example of a sprouted whole grain bread that is going to have a lot of good, different grains in it. 

We didn’t even get into GMO and spraying the wheat with glyphosate and all of that stuff, we didn’t go there. 

When we look at Ezekiel bread, it’s going to have some better grains in it, it’s going to be sprouted so it’s going to have decreased phytic acid content, and easier to digest, nutrients are more bioavailable, so this is a better option for bread. There are probably going to be other ones out there, Ezekiel is going to be my example.

Sourdough bread is also a better option. The reason why sourdough bread is typically the better option is that it's fermented so it’s going to almost be predigested. 

It’s going to be easier for you to digest, it’s going to have the more bioactive nutrients, just like when we look at Ezekiel bread. 

Some would consider Sourdough to be one of the healthiest bread out there. We enjoy sourdough bread in our house as well. 

We also want to choose organic whenever possible, and gluten of course is an issue here. Gluten just doesn’t go away. 

My Personal Opinion Which Is Better 

When we look at both of these right here, which would I choose as the better option? If I were to have the bread handed to me, if I were to have the rice handed to me, at the end of the day I would choose the rice. 

My reason for that is, we’re going to get some good nutritional quality out of it, we’re going to do methods that reduce the Arsenic in it. 

We’re going to just have some good benefits coming from that rice. Whereas when you look at the bread, you still have a problem with gluten. 

As I said, I think I have a mild gluten sensitivity, it’s something that I need to just stay away from for the most part. 

If I have to break it down, if I have to make a choice, we’re going to go with the rice over here as the better option.