Dr. Davis didn’t mention in his interview but he claims on his blog that Vitamin D in tablets doesn’t actually raise blood levels, only the gelcaps do. I don’t know if this is true, I haven’t seen it elsewhere, but if it is true it’s important. When i went shopping for D I noticed the tablets were cheaper than the gelcaps and bought some. I suspect a lot of people take the tablets and imagine they are getting enough of the vitamin whereas they may not be.

I personally use the gelcaps on Dr. Davis’ suggestion and it would be a shame if so many people opt for the cheaper tablets that are not as effective. But the same goes for other supplements in tablet form, too.

–Jimmy

1) Does not provoke blood sugar rises to any significant degree
2) Does not stimulate appetite
3) Does not trigger metabolic abnormalities, such as increased triglycerides, drop in HDL, increased small LDL particles, or inflammatory responses.

I believe that wild rice fits this bill and we do include it.

White rice, I believe, does provoke these abnormalities. My mother was Japanese and I am therefore no stranger to eating rice daily. But I believe that white rice should be eaten sparingly. I believe that Japanese people are slender despite the inclusion of white rice due to the overall character of their diet.

Brown rice is intermediate between white and wild. I also advise everyone to use it sparingly and only on occasion.

I think whole grain rice is far better than white polished rice, although whether it’s “good for you” is almost a metaphysical question more than a scientific one — i.e., if you replaced, say, 400 calories of your daily consumption of fish or meat or fowl everyday with whole grain rice, would you live a longer/healthier life. I very much doubt it, but it could be so. It might also depend, for instance, on whether you’re of Asian heritage and your ancestors have been eating rice for generations or of Scandinavian heritage, say, and they haven’t. Another factor to consider is your level of obesity or predisposition to fatten. If you fatten easily, than replacing white rice with whole grain rice might not provide much benefit. Getting rid of all the rice would be the solution. If you’re naturally lean, than eating whole grain rice (in my opinion) is much healthier for you than polished white rice. Regarding the Asian diet, I think, as I’ve said often, that the most important factor is the relative absence of sugar (at least until recently) in Asian diets. So the whole grain rice/polished rice factor might play a role, but I’d bet it’s not nearly as significant as the relative absence of sugar. Along these lines, you probably saw this new study concluding that physical activity is not a factor in weight loss based on a comparison of African-American women in Chicago with women in rural Nigeria.

Yikes! So what about sugar and refined carbs being the culprits? No mention because the researcher either is unaware that this hypothesis exists or doesn’t care. My comment, naturally, would be that what they witnessed in their study is what has been consistently observed and discussed in the literature for 100 years, and is explained by the relative refinement of the carbs and the amount of sugar (sucrose and HFCS) consumed, not the relative presence or absence of fiber and/or fat. If you want to contact the researchers and provoke them into reading my book, I’m all for it. I don’t think i can do it myself.

And Davis tells people not to eat wheat or constarch, recommends slow cooked oats, but doesn’t mention rice. I’m curious there too. I couldn’t find anything about rice, pro or con, on his blog.

Enjoyed the interviews tremendously. Listened in a small town in Mexico where the water isn’t safe to drink but the whole town has wireless internet!

Buenos dias, Peter! I’ll ask them both your questions.

–Jimmy