Rice better than Bread for Clear Skin
There’ve been a number of studies done linking high-glycemic foods with acne. Unfortunately, these foods make up a large part of our diet in the west, with the highly-processed breads we eat at the top of the list. In contrast, many eastern countries is replace our bread-based diet with a rice-based one. Switching up a few of your bread-based meals with rice may be the ticket if you’re looking to move to a more skin-healthy diet.
High-glycemic foods refer to foods which result in a high level of blood sugar. Metabolizing all that sugar can potentially put a drain on your body’s supply of coenzyme-A and result in excess skin oil, which leads to acne. High-glycemic foods also lead to increase in your body’s levels of insulin and the growth-factor IGF-1 - resulting “hormonal cascade” and the over-production of sebum. Basically, some of our most common foods may be among the worst things you can eat as an acne sufferer.
Around the world, regions with rice-based diets have been found to have much lower instances of acne in their populations. Even in some European countries where processed breads are less common, acne follows the same trend. Although there are plenty of processed rice-based foods, rice is most commonly eaten with minimum processing - usually refined, but with few additives. Unrefined brown rice is even healthier in many respects, as the nutrient-rice outer layer or bran (which is removed in the process of refining white rice) is left intact. The glycemic index ranks brown rice as higher in sugar than white rice, but the fiber in brown rice slows the absorbance of carbohydrates, which actually helps control your blood-sugar levels.
Rice is easy to make and goes with many dishes - plus it’s cheap! So whether it’s white rice or brown rice, lowering your intake of highly-processed grains and making the switch to rice instead is a healthy start to a clear skin diet.
