Rice and IBD AID

 

If you have IBD, you may have wondered if rice is a good food to eat.  If you follow IBD-AID rice and IBD is a hot topic.  Is rice a safe food?  Is it harmful or helpful?  How much rice is okay?

This article will clear up these questions, and more around rice and IBD.

I have collected information on rice and IBD from all over the internet.  There is a lot of conflicting information.  This article focuses of rice and IBD in the context of the IBD-AID diet.  Which is the diet I have used to get into remission.

 

We will discuss:

• Is rice allowed on the IBD-AID diet?

 

• Substitutions for rice

 

• The best way to prepare rice

 

• Do I eat rice?

 

Is Rice Allowed on IBD-AID?

 

The creator of IBD-AID, Barbara Olendzki has commented a few times about rice and IBD-AID.

Her response is that rice is a neutral food.  It does not provide any good or harm for some people with IBD. 

It is not a prebiotic food, so it does not feed the good bacteria in your gut.  But it may feed the bad bacteria for some people (see next section).

Most importantly, rice is a very filling food.  If you fill a portion of your plate with rice daily.  That portion of your plate is nutritionally vapid.  It does not provide any healing properties for the body.

When you are experiencing IBD and chronic inflammation.  You need high levels of nutrition to heal the disease.  High levels of healthy fats, pre and probiotics, and high levels of vitamins and minerals. 

Rice does not provide any of these.  Instead it fills you up with empty nutrition.

If you do not eat rice, your hunger will encourage you to eat other IBD-AID compliant foods.   Foods that are nutritiously dense, like fruits, and vegetables.

Basically rice is a placeholder.  And when you are healing, there is no room for placeholders.  Everything that you eat needs to be highly nutritious and healing.

In a couple of instances Barbara has said that rice is allowed once you are in phase-3 and in remission.  She says that in phase-3, only 80% compliance is required in IBD-AID. 

So we can deduct that once you are in phase-3.  And comfortably (not newly) in remission.  Some rice is allowed. 

But not during phase 1 and 2, when healing is still occurring, and you need high levels of nutrition to succeed.

 

For Some People Rice May Be Harmful

 

This is where some confusion begins to happen.  It seems that for some people rice and IBD can be harmful.

IBD-AID is based on the SCD.  According to the SCD diet, rice is harmful for people with IBD.  This is because it is not fully digested by the body.  And reaches the intestines in this undigested form.

It is then thought that rice ferments in the gastrointestinal tract.  This fermented food is a favorite food of some bad bacteria found in the gut.  If you have an overgrowth of bad bacteria in your gut.  Which most patients with IBD do.  Then eating rice only perpetuates the growth of these harmful, bad bacteria.

Although many people consider rice to be a safe food.  If you eat rice, you may experience short term gains, but long term pains.

This is because rice may bulk up your stool, when flaring.  But at the same time, it perpetuates the problem of gut dysbiosis.

Substitutes for Rice

If you eliminate rice from your diet to heal IBD.  You may find that there is a big empty space on your plate, where rice used to be.

Ideally, you fill this gap with fruits and vegetables.  This way you are eliminating a nutritionally vapid food.  And replacing it with highly nutritious foods.

Cauliflower rice and broccoli rice are great substitutes for traditional rice. 

Sweet potatoes are IBD-AID compliant in small quantities.  If you are craving carbohydrates.  Sweet potatoes are a nutritious substitute.

Groats are also an IBD-AID compliant food.  Groats are oats that have had the husks removed.  They can be cooked and substituted for rice in curries, stir fries and soups.

Rice flour can be substituted in baking with any other IBD-AID compliant flour.  These include

 

• Almond flour

 

• Coconut flour

 

• Chickpea flour

 

The very best thing to substitute rice for is more vegetables.  If you are having a curry, and missing the rice.  Just eat more of the curry.  For recipes where you cannot miss the rice, such as stir fry.  Try one of the above mentioned substitutes.

 

Rice Substitutes Not Allowed with IBD-AID

 

There are some rice substitutes that come to mind when trying to find a rice substitute.  These include:

 

• White potatoes

 

• Quinoa

 

• Couscous

 

• Other types of rice such as brown, or black

 

None of these substitutes are allowed with IBD-AID.  IBD-AID does not allow any grains, except for oats.  So quinoa is out.

Couscous is actually a type of pasta.  So it is out because ingredients containing gluten are not allowed.

Other types of rice such as brown, or black rice are also not allowed on IBD-AID.  They are excluded for the same reasons as white rice.  But in some cases they may actually be worse than white rice.  This is because brown and black rice contain a lot more fiber than white rice.  They can be difficult to digest for people with IBD.

 

The Best Way to Prepare Rice

 

If you are going to eat rice.  Either because you are in remission.  Or because you feel like you need rice to be a part of your diet.  There are a few steps you can take to make eating rice and IBD easier on your body.

The first is to buy organic rice wherever possible.  This reduces the number of pesticides and sprays that you will be eating along with the rice.

Make sure to rinse your rice really well before cooking.   This removes excess starches from the rice.  It also removes dirt, bugs, or excess particles that may be otherwise in the rice.  Just like all other plant foods, you should rinse your rice before eating it.

Once you have cooked your rice.  It is best to cool it, then reheat again before eating.  This can be done by cooking the rice the day before.  Placing it in the fridge overnight, and reheating it the next day.

Cooling and reheating the rice increases the resistant starches found in the rice.  These resistant starches have many health benefits.

If you are going to eat white potatoes.  It is also recommended that you cook, cool, then reheat the potatoes to change the staches in the potato as well.

Remember that IBD-AID, phase 3 requires 80% compliance.  So eating rice should be kept to a minimum.  And it should only be eaten when in deep remission.

 

Do I Eat Rice?

 

The short answer is no.  There is too much controversy over whether or not rice is harmful for IBD patients.  And I have given my dietary decision making power to IBD-AID.  If they do not recommend it while healing, than I will not eat it.

I have been following strict  IBD-AID since April 2022.  I am now in clinical remission, but only reached this stage in November 2022.

Once I am in remission for one year.  I will consider adding rice back into my diet.  But still only in limited quantities, probably only a small portion once a week.

I used to eat a lot of rice.  In fact, rice used to be one of my ‘safe foods’.  But then again, I used to be sick a lot.

Since following IBD-AID, I have eaten rice a few times.  Each time it increased my bowel movements.  And created more diarrhea, and bloating.  So for now, rice is a big no for me.

I am so looking forward to being able to add rice back into my diet.  I miss it more than sugary snacks, or processed foods.

 

From the research that I gathered online.  I would say that during phase 1 and 2 of IBD-AID rice is not allowed.   Once you have reached deep remission, and are eating phase 3.  Then only 80% compliance to the diet is required.  And some rice may be added back into the diet.