Are you a weight-loss warrior? Are you a calorie-watching machine? If so, you are likely thinking of making particular substitutions to your meals so you won’t have to deal with the aftermath of overeating sometimes. Some substitutions work, while others don’t make sense.
Cauliflower rice is a powerful rice substitute that is common throughout the world for specialty dieting, and there is a good reason people are choosing the vegetable over the grain. If you are thinking of substituting grains for vegetables, the likely cause is you are struggling with controlling your intake, which results in a higher caloric intake per day.
Higher caloric intake causes weight gain as carbohydrates are often stored in the liver and the belly region as visceral fat. Well-meaning folks who want to lose weight have the most challenging trouble releasing or burning their belly fat and the thick visceral fat attached to the belly region.
Your physician may have also warned you of the possible health risks associated with having too much belly fat, which is why you are interested in eating cauliflower rice instead of regular cooked white rice. Well, today will provide a bird’s eye view of this rice substitute, so you can make an informed decision about what to eat during your mealtimes.
Is Rice Cauliflower Better Than Rice?
From a pure weight loss perspective, cauliflower rice is an attractive rice replacement because it provides just 25 calories per US cup. This means you are only getting ten to twenty percent of the usual number of calories every day for a single serving of cooked white rice. White rice is a calorie-dense food item, explaining why bodybuilders rely on rice for energy and faster recovery from strenuous and continuous training. The uptick here is that if you suffer from having a huge and uncontrollable appetite, you will enjoy this rice substitute because you can eat several cups of cauliflower rice and feel fuller without getting three times the calories from the usual energy you get from eating white rice.
In a big way, cauliflower rice provides a placebo effect on the person eating because it has a similar texture to the rice. You can pair cauliflower rice to different side dishes and more or less get the same experience while consuming the cauliflower rice. Another significant effect of eating more cauliflower rice is that it is very hydrating as it naturally contains ninety percent water. Food items that are very dense in water will help people who want to lose weight because they will feel fuller, half the battle. It’s challenging to maintain a weight loss regimen if you feel that you are always hungry. Many beginning weight-loss warriors are plagued by feelings of dissatisfaction and hunger simply because they can’t eat their favorite go-to food items and beverages they consumed before starting the diet.
Another benefit of eating cauliflower rice over white rice is the carbohydrate content. Cooked white rice has a moderate to high carbohydrate content, which means it’s not the best choice if you have metabolic syndrome or type 2 diabetes. The problem here is that the most common second choice for staples is white bread. With white bread, you get the same amount of energy equivalent to eating two cups of white rice from just two thin slices of white bread. This is a dietary nightmare for someone who wants to lose weight since white bread is very processed and doesn’t fill you up unless you consume something alongside the white bread.
Does Cauliflower Rice Taste Like Rice?
Cauliflower, in general, does not taste very much of anything at all, so it’s surprising that cauliflower rice would taste anything, either. If this doesn’t make any sense, it’s probably because you can’t imagine this type of vegetable being broken down to something that resembles rice.
The taste is very light and airy and tastes like a vegetable. We know – that’s not very interesting at all. What you have to do is to pair the cauliflower rice with something else, like a side dish, to make the cauliflower rice more enjoyable during the meal.
Is Cauliflower Rice Better for You?
From the perspective of weight loss and general health, yes, it appears that this rice substitute is a good choice, and you can probably shift to eating cauliflower rice for a long time to reap the long-term benefits of having a vegetable as your primary source of carbohydrates. Just imagine, you will be having 18 times fewer carbs when you eat this rice substitute, and you can go on with cooking other dishes that you love.
Rice is a huge source of calories, not because rice is terrible for you naturally but because people tend to fill their bellies with rice until they are satiated. If you do this regularly, your blood sugar level is probably very high, and not consuming a certain amount of rice per day will likely make you unhappy and unsatisfied.
The great thing about this situation is even though you will likely not be able to eat a lot of rice due to your weight loss efforts, you will still have something that resembles rice. From a psychological context, that is often enough so you can continue your journey with weight loss.
For people who are worried about the nutritional content of cauliflower rice, don’t be, because it contains a giant vat of essential nutrients, including folate, vitamin C, dietary fiber, carbs, fat, protein, and of course, it does still provide energy despite being a low-carb choice for weight loss.
On top of that, vegetables rich in dietary fiber are awesome for defending your body from type 2 diabetes and various heart diseases. You are going to be healthier in the long term.
