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Rice - Natural Benefits and Curative Properties

Botanical Name :: Orya Sativa

Indian Name :: Chawal

Description

Rice is much revered oriental food and the most important tropical cereal. It is the staple food of about half the human race and is often the main source of calories and the principal food of many millions of people.

Rice from which only husk has been removed, but layers of bran and most of the germ retained. is known as brown rice. Rice from which husk. germ and bran layers have almost completely been removed by power machinery is known as milled rice. Rice milled to a high degree is known as white rice. Rice from which husk. germ and bran layers have been partly removed without the use of power machinery is known as hand-pounded rice.

Rice milled to a high degree and then coated with some foreign substance such as glucose or talcum is called polished rice. Paddy specially processed by steaming or soaking in water. then heated and dried. is called parboiled paddy. It can then be milled to various degrees or home pounded. It is called parboiled milled or parboiled home pounded.

Origin and Distribution of Rice

Rice has been cultivated in south eastern Asia since ancient times where it is one of the oldest of food crops. The date or place of its domestication are not known with certainty. One of the earliest mention of rice dates back to 2800 BC. when a Chinese emperor established a ceremonial ordinance for the planting of rice that would later be used by the royal physicians for healing purposes. Il was grown in ancient India as far back as in 3000 BC. when it appeared as a plant called 'Newaree'. The general consensus of opinion is that rice was domesticated in India or Indo-china and probably in southern India. Enormous quantities of rice are now grown over 90 per cent of the total area of 100 million hectares in southern and eastern Asia.

Food Value of Rice

Raw Hand pounded Rice*

Raw Milled Rice*

Natural Benefits and Curative Properties of Rice.

Rice has always been considered a magical healer in the East. Il was originally believed to have medicinal values that could restore tranquility and peace to those who were easily upset. It has been mentioned in earth Oriental writings that natural whole grain brown rice is a perfect healing food. In the ancient literature of Thailand, Burma, Malaya and Indo-China rice is mentioned as a source of health. It was also revered as a food of divine health and used in religious offerings.

Modern researches have confirmed the beliefs of ancient oriental folk physicians that the eating of brown rice is a source of serenity and tranquility. It has been shown to contain all the elements needed for the maintenance of good health.

Rice is about 98 per cent digestible. It is one of the most easily and quickly digested of all foods - being fully digested in an hour. Rice starch is different from other grain starches as it contains 100 per cent amylopectin which is most completely and rapidly digested grain starch. This makes rice in ideal health food for those who seek speedy and healthy assimilation.

Internal Rejuvenation

Rice protein, which comprises up to eight per cent of the grain, has a special benefit as it has eight of the essential amino acids in a delicately balanced proportions. A complete internal rejuvenation takes place when rice protein is metabolized into health-building amino acids. These amino acids build resilient muscles which comes back to its original form after stretching and bending, healthy skin and hair and clearer eyesight and nourish the heart and lungs, tendons and ligaments, brain, nervous system and glandular network.

• High Blood Pressure :- Rice has a low-fat, low-cholesterol ,md low-salt contents. It makes a perfect diet for those hypertension persons who have been advised salt-restricted diets. It has been noted by modern researchers that wherever-rice is used as the main food, there is a corresponding benefit of youthful vitality and a very low rate of hypertension. Calcium in brown rice, in particular, soothes and relaxes the nervous system and helps relieve the symptoms of high blood pressure.

• Body Balance :- The rice diet, in combination with milk, creates a marvelous body balance. In this regimen, natural brown rice is used as the only solid food throughout the day. Fresh milk is taken with each of the rice meals. The rice may be cooked in any manner but no salt should be used. The milk 'should he comfortably cool. The nutrients in the rice,form a unique balance with those in the milk. The two notable amino acids, isoleucine and lysine in the milk are greatly strengthened by rice protein, thereby enabling them to form stronger body-building blocks: The naturally lactic acid in milk works with rice protein to aid in the absorption of iron.
• Digestive System Disorders :- Rice has a very low fibre content, and is therefore extremely soothing to the digestive system This makes rice an ideal food for digestive system disorders. Thick gruel of rice mixed with glassful of butter milk and a well-ripe banana given twice a day is a very nutritious diet in typhoid, gastric ulcer, stomach and intestinal cancer, colitis, diarrhea, dysentery, piles, rectal fissure, indigestion, in acute febrile diseases related to fever, hepatitis or inflammation of liver, jaundice, morning sickness, acute dilatation of the stomach, burning and indigestion due to hiatus hernia, excessive accumulation of the gas in the intestines, and all the diseases where the mild and light diet is indicated.
• Diarrhea in Children :- Rice is useful in treating diarrhea in children. A teaspoonful of powder of charred par-boiled rice mixed with a glassful of butter-milk should be given in doses of an ounce every half an hour in this condition. This will bring excellent results.
• Skin Inflammation :- Rice may also be used externally in the form of powder or poultice. The rice flour, dusted thickly over the surface, has a very cooling and soothing effect in small-pox, measles, prickly heat and other inflammatory affections of the skin including burns and scalds. It allays heat and irritation. Rice powder should be used soon after the occurrence of injury in case of burns and scalds and it should be dusted thickly over the whole of the affected surface

Uses of Rice.

Rice is usually cooked by boiling in water, or by steaming, and is eaten mostly with pulses, vegetables, fish or meat. There are two varieties of rice, the long grain rice and the short and medium grain rice. When cooked, the grains of long variety soften but do not stick to each other. This variety is especially good for consuming it with curries, stews or as a side dish with a sauce or gravy Short and medium varieties have short, plump grains which cook tender and moist, with the particles tending to cling together. They are especially good for making puddings.