Is Roti Better Than Rice for Weight Loss? What Should You Choose?
Whenever trying to lose weight, you must have went through a tough question in mind. And that is whether to choose rice or roti for your diet. This is actually a very common question that every person often get confused over. Especially in Indian households, because roti and rice are the common food items which are paired with almost every meal. Based on personal preferences or cultural preference, many people may consume either roti or rice more.
For weight loss, it is important to understand that which one these is better option for you or which one should you switch to for more benefits. Besides that, this blog will also help you in understanding that how much quantity you must include in your meals. All the practical and nutritional ways to make your roti or rice choice compatible to be consumed in meals are mentioned too. So make sure that you read till the end.
Roti vs Rice for Weight Loss: Nutritional Comparison
When comparing roti and rice, comparing only the calories in not enough. You must opt for the one which yields the maximum health benefits to you. Other components like fiber and protein should be checked too to have a better comparison. Apart from the nutritional components, controlling own portion size is important too. This is because eating too much or too less will definitely impact your diet.
On comparing white roti to white rice, you will find out that both of these are rich in carbohydrates, low in fat, low-moderate in protein and almost everything in their nutritional factor is similar except for one thing. And that is fiber content. Studies report that roti contains about 5 times more dietary fiber as compared to rice. Fiber has a significant role in weight management. More the fiber means more the amount of fullness or satiety it provides after a good meal. This makes roti more healthy to consume and gives a little more significance to roti consumption. But this alone does not suggest that rice is unhealthy or unfit to eat in weight lose journey.
Why Whole-Wheat Roti Can Support Weight Loss
Whole-wheat based roti are considered a good option to be consumed in weight loss because it contains fair amount of dietary fiber in it. Fiber is very useful in keeping you full for a longer time and prevents frequent snacking. Roti can easily incorporated in your balanced diet by pairing well with vegetables, dals etc.
Calorie intake is what matters the most for controlling weight and this time you must consume limited amount of calories. This can be possible only when your roti are moderate in size and the number of roti you eat are within your calorie intake range. Any surplus in calories can cause gaining of weight. So make sure that you avoid eating large sized roti or ghee applied rotis because these are capable of adding additional calories.
Can You Eat Rice While Trying to Lose Weight?
You can definitely eat rice while focusing on weight loss but only if you can limit yourself from eating in excess by controlling own portion size. It is difficult for quitting rice completely and even more difficult to do so if your daily meal is dependent on rice only.
You must understand that it is not rice itself which causes weight gain but the ignorance in calorie intake amount is the main cause of it. For balancing out your meal, you must include vegetables for vitamins, fiber, minerals and a protein rich item be it dal, beans, eggs, fish or meat.
White Rice vs Brown Rice for Weight Loss
A good replacement for white rice would be brown rice. As compared to white rice, brown rice contains more amount of fiber which makes it suitable to be included in meal. The more fiber content in brown rice is because it contains the retained outer layer of the grain which lacks in the white rice.
Eating brown rice makes you full and contributes to the nutritional content. Though it is healthy to eat but consuming a lot of brown rice is still not to be encouraged because it can increase the calories too. So be it white or brown rice, you must keep a control on the portion size. If you don’t want to switch to brown rice and want to continue eating white rice, then i would suggest you to eat white rice in moderation only.
Portion Size Matters More Than Roti vs Rice
You can’t really say that roti is better than rice or vice-versa. This is because to say an item is healthier to eat depends entirely on the serving amount you consume in the meal. Just by considering that roti has more fiber and is safer than rice, it does not mean that you can eat as many rotis as you want. A bowl of rice is healthier than a lot of rotis, considering the portion size. You must keep a control on the number of rotis you eat or the amount of rice you eat.
To balance out the meal, you must consider vegetables, dal or other protein source like paneer, fish or meat. These together will make a nutritious and healthy balanced meal. So instead of planning to avoid rice or roti completely, you must think about to balance the meal with the required nutrients.
How Many Rotis Can You Eat for Weight Loss?
To think of the number of rotis to consider while eating to keep a control on weight loss is not fixed at all. This is because someone’s one roti can be of a normal or medium-sized but the other person’s roti can be a large one. Both the rotis are different in size and so is the amount of calories they hold.
Also to consider that every person has a different nutrient and calorie requirement. Depending on that, the meal should be paired with a reasonable amount of protein source like dal, eggs, meat, paneer, fish etc. This together will make balanced and nourishing meal.
How Much Rice Should You Eat for Weight Loss?
There no fixed quantity of rice which is defined for people to consume. Every person has a different meal size because of their underlying energy requirements, physical activities you perform, eating habits and body composition.
But for adding rice into your diet, you should consider protein-rich item with it too. Never try to rely on only rice for the meal because that alone is not enough for you and your body.
Roti or Rice for Dinner During Weight Loss?
As for the dinner, there is not hard or fast rule to what eat at dinner. Also, choosing whether to eat rice or roti can’t automatically guarantee you weight loss. You can easily choose to eat rice or roti depending on your eating preference.
You can choose rice if that’s what you usually eat for dinner and same applies to choosing rotis. Both have almost similar nutrient composition except for dietary fiber. But if you want to feel fuller for a longer time than you can even choose whole wheat-based rotis. Just make sure that you have enough protein-rich item in your plate along with rice or roti.
Healthy Ways to Eat Roti for Weight Loss
When preparing the whole wheat-based dough for roti make sure that you use plain water for it. Also, you should prepare medium sized roti in order to keep an idea about the calorie intake or size.
You can even consider other whole wheat grain flours which can provide you more dietary nutrients and fiber while being ease at digestion. Avoid using ghee, butter or other calorie based item which can disbalance the calorie intake.
Healthy Ways to Eat Rice for Weight Loss
While cooking rice, keep the preparations simple. You should have a control on the portion size of rice you eat. Make sure that you pair it well with protein rich dal like rajma, chole, paneer, fish etc and with nutritious healthy vegetables as it completes the meal.
If you want to have an alternative or a better option then white rice than you can even switch to brown rice. Brown rice is considered fiber-rich and healthier than white rice. Avoid adding ghee or butter to the rice in order to keep the meal on a healthier and calorie-controlled side.
Conclusion
You can consider rice or roti for everyday meals. But to balance out the calories, you should add vegetables, dals and salad to with roti or rice. But whatever you choose, you need to have a control over your portion-size because that’s what matters the most.
Apart from eating habits, you must consider your lifestyle healthy which can be considered by having proper sleep, daily exercising and managing stress levels. These things will definitely help you to work out on yourself for establishing a sustainable and prolonged healthy weight management.