Tag transformation

How White Rice Ruins Me

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I grew up on glutinous white rice as a result of my Japanese heritage and never thought twice about it. Then when I began competing in 2009, I had to cut out the white food and actually went through a bit of separation anxiety. In a sense I was probably feeling more guilt than anything else, but I eliminated it from my daily meal plan and suddenly noticed that my physique leaned out rapidly. It’s not like I had started out with a weight problem, but I certainly did not have the chiseled appearance of someone who stepped on a bodybuilding stage regularly.
Oh no cellulite
Though it has been relatively easy to avoid regular bread, sweets, and other contest prep busters, I still find myself pining for sticky white rice, because it is the bosom buddy of the lovely raw fish slices that characterize sushi. I absolutely love sushi and sashimi but only indulge in it on rare occasions when I can afford it and when I know I can have a fun meal. What drives me nuts is the fact that all-you-can-eat sushi places require you to eat all the rice you are served, which means that you are almost force fed a large quantity of high glycemic index starch. It’s wild to think that people frequently negate the health damaging effects of the rice, only concentrating on the fish being served. Truth is, the insulin-spiking effects of white rice can wreak havoc on general health and can certainly set one back on contest prep. So if you consume sushi frequently, you may be setting up your body for insulin resistance over time.

Another thing I have noticed personally whenever I eat sticky white rice is that my hamstring region holds water. The following morning is always disappointing because I wake up to waves and ripples, and sadly, they aren’t the kind you would see in the ocean. It takes 24 to 48 hours to get rid of that too, and also requires me to hydrate aggressively to flush everything out. It’s dramatic and it’s very upsetting. My body has actually gotten more sensitive over time too, and my body struggles to digest white rice. To be honest, I am not sure it’s really worth indulging in the white rice I used to love to much because it sets me back so much health-wise.

Craving Protein

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eating meatEver since I can remember, I have been a protein craver. As a child, I looked forward to consuming beef, lamb, chicken, tuna, eggs and turkey. While other children were begging for sweets, I would happily gnaw on a lamb shoulder bone at dinner, never thinking that dessert was something I was supposed to want after I had filled my belly with meat. I regarded chocolate as something other kids liked, but never went nuts trying to get to it. The sweet treats I preferred were always fruity and sugary, like fruit gems and Sweet Tarts, yet I never really craved those items either.

It’s funny to me how people just assume that women are carb cravers. Not this woman! As an adult, my protein cravings are stronger than ever. When I say that protein food sources are the foundation of my daily diet, I mean it. Given the choice between pasta, sweets or meat, I will pretty much always go for the meat. A common scenario is for me to suddenly crave chicken breast or egg whites while I am doing work on my computer at night. This can hit me like a ton of bricks in as little as 30 minutes after I have eaten my last meal. My body also responds very well to a high protein intake so I make sure to eat a considerable amount for my size (currently between 150 to 200 grams per day).

Even before I began competing, I was never the type of person who would go on a donut run or make huge bowls of pasta. However, the one carbohydrate source which was a staple in my diet was glutinous white rice, but it was always accompanied by a solid protein source. The primary reasons why I kept this in my diet were 1. my Japanese heritage almost required an adherence to daily consumption of white rice, and 2. it stretched my food budget. Once I began competing, sticky white rice was banished from my kitchen. I literally did a sweep through every cupboard in my kitchen and threw out every single white and processed food I owned, then never looked back.

I have seen patients, clients and friends who had previously craved carbs who, when bumping up their protein intake and cutting out sugars and processed foods, suddenly began to appreciate and crave protein. Without getting into the physiology behind such a dramatic shift, suffice it to say that protein rich diets can indeed do a body good.