How would you like to sprinkle some arsenic on your dinner? Sounds crazy, I know. But you could be filling your body with this heavy metal without knowing it, every time you consume rice. Rice is known to contain 10 to 20 times more arsenic than other grains, as it tends to absorb more arsenic due to the way it's grown.
If you don't know what arsenic is… it's a powerful carcinogen that promotes the risk of several types of cancer. It's also linked to increased risk of cardiovascular disease, problems in pregnancy and infant development. Although it is naturally occurring in our environment and food, you definitely want to do what you can to limit exposure.
The good news? You don't need to completely avoid rice… But take these steps to protect yourself from arsenic:
- Soak uncooked rice overnight and discard the water before cooking. This has been shown to cut arsenic levels up to 80%.
- Thoroughly rinse your rice before cooking.
- Cook rice with 5x more water than required. After cooking, drain remaining water and rinse rice in hot water.
- Buy rice that's grown in areas where the arsenic contamination is known to be lower, such as California, India, and Pakistan. Contact the companies that you buy rice from and ask them if they test for arsenic and where their rice is grown.
- Choose basmati rice, as it's found to have the lowest levels of arsenic.
This is extremely important if you are on a gluten-free diet, because these diets are notoriously high in rice.
Scientists have found that people on gluten-free diets have DOUBLE the amount of arsenic in their body. That's because when people go gluten-free, their consumption of rice typically goes up. Even if you don't eat rice for dinner, almost all gluten-free breads, crackers, cookies, and tortillas are made with rice flour instead of wheat. So you could easily be eating rice every single day on a gluten-free diet.
I just published my favorite recipe for flourless, gluten-free chocolate chip cookies on the blog today - and they are utterly amazing. You'd never guess they're flourless - with absolutely no rice flour either! They have a texture and taste very similar to cookies made with regular flour. They won't crumble all over the place like other gluten-free cookies you may have tried, and are rich with flavor. Even if you eat gluten, you'll LOVE these cookies!
Get my new Flourless Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe HERE
If you've tried a million chocolate chip cookie recipes trying to find the best one, look no further. It's pretty amazing that you can make a crispy, chewy, tasty cookie without any flour, but you really can.
Please share this email about the arsenic in rice with everyone you know - especially if they're on a gluten-free diet. Who knows, maybe they'll bake ya these flourless cookies to say thank you!
Xo,
Vani
P.S. For tips on how to eat healthy on a gluten-free diet without going overboard on the rice consumption, check out this post.
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