Anyone tried living on just brown rice?

[Patrick Brown]

I've been tempted to give this a go although I'm concerned that it might be detrimental to my health. So anyone tried it?

[Kali Yuga]

I've been tempted to give this a go although I'm concerned that it might be detrimental to my health. So anyone tried it?

The Javanese Indonesian occultists practice this, in their terminology it is called "mutih". "Mutih" refers to the color white - which generally means that they only eat rice and abstain from everything that has any taste whatsoever. Of course they don't limit themselves to just brown rice though. they practice it to purify themselves and to summon spirits or djinni. They will do this for weeks on end until the success of a ritual, it's very hardcore. but just one of many difficult practices, another is keeping oneself in complete darkness meditating in a hole in the earth.

 

Why on earth would you want to have such a difficult diet though? That would be the only reason i'd think of attempting to do such a thing. it's very hard to live just on tasteless food.

[Patrick Brown]

Why on earth would you want to have such a difficult diet though? That would be the only reason i'd think of attempting to do such a thing. it's very hard to live just on tasteless food.

 

Well some books on macrobiotic diets have suggested than the aim is to get to a point where you can live on rice only. Now I wouldn't do this but I am tempted to try and live on brown rice for a week to see what the effects are. I see it almost like a contradictory form of fasting and imagine that it may be very beneficial to ones health.

[Junbao]

IDK about only rice. Do you have links about the benefits of this? It would be interesting to read. Seems like a lot of carbs and starch to me? Although brown rice is a lot better than white in that regard.

 

Now living on just berries and nuts.... that I could do! Right now I am just loving almonds and dried fruits.

[Patrick Brown]

Do you have links about the benefits of this?

 

No but there must be stuff on the web. I wouldn't consider it full time but rather every few months I'd take a week out and just eat brown rice. Err that's small bowls of rice not large plates full!

 

 

 

[Shen Chi Jing]

There's a book (forgot the title) that talks about a diet of organic brown rice with grated organic Japanese radish (daikon I'd assume) with organic toasted green tea on the side, that sounds worth a try. Seems like to do it for a few weeks or so would be a good cleanse.

 

I would add organic orange juice to that mix though. Apparently Vitamin C is very important, and you can't really get it from most vitamin supplements because they don't have the necessary bioflavanoids like OJ has. However maybe the sugar-content of OJ would lessen the effectiveness of the other positive aspects of such a diet (even though it is a natural "good" sugar) ? And it would be better to drink the tea and orange juice at different times of the day.

Edited October 21, 2011 by Shen Chi Jing

[Harmonious Emptiness]

If I was going to live on only one grain I would choose millet. If your only eating brown rice, choose organic short grain, and google for nutritional info.

 

I've heard of monks living on millet for months when escaping the Red Flood, but they probably ate dandelion leaves at least too.

[Aaron]

I've been tempted to give this a go although I'm concerned that it might be detrimental to my health. So anyone tried it?

 

Being a reformed vegetarian, I lived on a diet that included brown rice for years and years. I was told early on that brown rice alone didn't provide a complete protein, so you had to add something else to the mix, for me it was beans. I can't tell you how many times I ate beans and rice. I still eat them today a couple times a week, but I usually have white rice and beans now, with a lot of hot sauce. (I love hot sauce... Tapatio and Sriracha are the best you can buy off the shelf of your local grocery store... I eat Tapatio with my american and latino cuisine and Sriracha is kept around for my asian cuisine, though I've found it's good on nearly everything as well. Man I want to start a thread on hot sauce now.)

 

Anyways, my suggestion is that you research any diet changes like this before making a concrete decisions. I wish you luck. Brown rice, in my opinion, is probably the most important grain in any vegetarian diet (at least palatable). It takes awhile to get used to the taste, but the increase in complete proteins is worth the acclimation.

 

Aaron

Edited October 21, 2011 by Twinner

[phore]

I think quinoa is a complete protein.

I eat a lot of brown rice combined with beans to make a whole protein. Oats with almond milk is a good combo too.

 

I eat vegetarian food but i combine different foods to make complete proteins.

Edited October 21, 2011 by phore

[zanshin]

jinx, I just mentioned quinoa on his other thread

[suninmyeyes]

A flatmate of mine was always talking about brown rice 'fasts'and would do it for no longer than day or so, mainly becouse he would get fed up of just brown riceing.

As far as the protein is concerened as mentioned quionoa is definetly great.

Personally (from expirience of eating very little of it for a while now) I think that we dont need as much protein as we are thought to believe.

[Shen Chi Jing]

[Vanir Thunder Dojo Tan]

Hold on... let's look at the key substance here, the primary ingredient...

 

Protien?

or just something material for the stomach to grind on?

 

 

In any case, i think the idea could work on a wide array of grains, oats, herbs, and other roughage.

A single bite of the right kind of plant and the chi cultivation practices might be enough to last a long while on, otherwise, nothing.

 

'cept water. water seems like a good idea

[Aaron]

Keep in mind I said palatable. I don't eat quinoa because of the taste. Cost wise it's about the same as brown rice.

 

Aaron

[Birch]

I haven't tried it. Too much of a - er, a something.

 

Anyway, IMO/IME this eating idea is up there with the breathing idea. Does the life come from the food? Does the life come from breathing? What happens if you stop doing either of those very much? What happens if you do lots of them all the time?

 

That's some hardcore experimentation! I got to a certain point in practice where I figured 'huh, why bother breathing at all?'. But I couldn't really tell what the best thing was (hint, possibly not that thought) so I gave the breathing (mostly) back to my body. I'm still concerned I'm not 'doing it right' but hopefully things will have balanced out...

 

Anyway, from what I've read in various places, current theories (and I can't go google them:-) discuss whether 'nutrients' are 'in' the food. Or are created by the human system.

 

I don't know where they're at now (the theories). The stuff I read mentioned that researchers who were surprised to see no 'vitamin C' deficiencies in Northern populations who only seemed to eat meat had to conclude that that "either" meat contained vitamin C or that the people's bodies were able to metabolize it from the meat. Same with Masaai who only eat cattle.

 

But who knows?? Who even knows what 'vitamin C' is? I don't.

[konchog uma]

Keep in mind I said palatable. I don't eat quinoa because of the taste. Cost wise it's about the same as brown rice.

 

Aaron

 

you could go on an oatmeal and raisins diet

 

oats have 12 of 13 aminos, they are almost complete. you won't get malnourished if you eat oats and raisins for a week.

 

or if you take an amino suppliment, or eat braggs liquid aminos, you can do what you like (rice)

[Birch]

Keep in mind I said palatable. I don't eat quinoa because of the taste. Cost wise it's about the same as brown rice.

 

Aaron

 

Aaron, it tastes much better if you rinse water through it before cooking. I used to think that it tasted like cr$p too until I got that hint. The texture is fun

[Aaron]

you could go on an oatmeal and raisins diet

 

oats have 12 of 13 aminos, they are almost complete. you won't get malnourished if you eat oats and raisins for a week.

 

or if you take an amino suppliment, or eat braggs liquid aminos, you can do what you like (rice)

 

Oh man I loved organic oatmeals and fruit as a vegetarian, but when I went back to meat I rarely ate it. Strange. I might have to pick up some and rekindle the old flame. Keep in mind I only eat chicken and fish these days. I try to limit my chicken consumption to boot. I do eat way too much Ramen, not the cheep kind, but the bowls you buy. I LOVE those things. Spicy is the best.

 

Aaron

[Aaron]

Aaron, it tastes much better if you rinse water through it before cooking. I used to think that it tasted like cr$p too until I got that hint. The texture is fun

 

I think I was rinsing it, but I'm always up for a second go. I don't really mind it, as in if it was served to me at a friend's house I'd eat it, but if I had my choice I'd choose long grain brown rice (which is about the same price).

 

Aaron

[idquest]

I've been tempted to give this a go although I'm concerned that it might be detrimental to my health. So anyone tried it?

Before going for this sort of diet do some research on lectins in rice, not very pleasant stuff. This can be alleviated soaking rice for a day though. The other thing to think about is complementing rice with some fermented food the way Japanese do, so that digestion is easier. As I've read they eat rice with miso or natto but rarely do they eat rice alone. Natto, if you don't know, is soybeans rotten by means of bacillus Natto, very tasty BTW.

[zanshin]

Don't put quinnoa in soup. I tried to use it as substitute for rice or barley in a soup and it basically disintegrated.

[konchog uma]

Before going for this sort of diet do some research on lectins in rice, not very pleasant stuff. This can be alleviated soaking rice for a day though. The other thing to think about is complementing rice with some fermented food the way Japanese do, so that digestion is easier. As I've read they eat rice with miso or natto but rarely do they eat rice alone. Natto, if you don't know, is soybeans rotten by means of bacillus Natto, very tasty BTW.

 

mmmm stringy and delicious!

 

if you like the taste of old socks! hahaha j/k i actually like natto, but i also like stinky cheese etc

[idquest]

mmmm stringy and delicious!

 

if you like the taste of old socks! hahaha j/k i actually like natto, but i also like stinky cheese etc

Natto is one of the best sources for vitamin K2, a critical vitamin for bone health and de-calcification of soft tissues (muscles and blood vessels). Stinky cheese is on my list as well.

[konchog uma]

Natto is one of the best sources for vitamin K2, a critical vitamin for bone health and de-calcification of soft tissues (muscles and blood vessels). Stinky cheese is on my list as well.

 

big up fermented foods!

 

gonna go drink a kombucha now

[billb]

Just living on brown rice is a bad idea and I believe you will feel terrible. I think it is called the #7 or stage 7 in macrobiotics and this gave it a bad reputation. My mom was a nurse at a college back in the early 70's and had all these kids feeling sick and looking sick and pale from this diet of solely brown rice. Till this day she still thinks macrobiotics is bad because of all the kids getting sick but it was not really macrobiotics. It may be very cleansing and these were cleansing symptoms but I think you would feel much better on a juice fast and get more strength and cleansing done.

Edited October 26, 2011 by billb