Are Rice and Chicken Good for Weight Loss? Dietitian Explains (Avoid This Mistake)

People on their weight loss journey know that consuming nutritious foods and following a balanced diet aid in weight loss. When planning to lose weight, you have to include foods in your diet that helps to maintain your daily nutritional requirements. Considering the nutrients in chicken and rice, eating these foods may aid in weight loss.

While many diets have gained popularity on an occasional basis, the rice and chicken diet has been alleged to promote weight loss for a long time. Before adopting any diet, it is essential to determine whether it suits your weight, height, goals, age, and health. Athletes and bodybuilders include rice and chicken in their diets in optimal portions to manage their weights and boost their performances.

This makes people wonder whether the intake of rice and chicken help to lose weight. When you include chicken and rice as part of a healthy meal, you’ll be able to lose weight steadily. Various factors influence the weight loss effects of rice and chicken. This article will help you assess whether chicken and rice are beneficial for weight loss and how to incorporate rice and chicken into your diet for better results.

Can Eating Chicken Help You Lose Weight? 

Chicken is loaded with protein, essential vitamins, and minerals. Because of its high-protein content, chicken can help you burn calories and lose weight. A high-protein diet can promote fat loss and lead to a significant reduction in body weight.

Lowers Appetite

As protein is a long-lasting source of energy, eating protein-rich foods like chicken curbs your appetite and modulates calorie consumption. Chicken is packed with protein, a macronutrient that increases the sensation of satiety and promotes fat loss. 

When you have a fuller feeling, you consume fewer calories, which is effective for weight loss. The consumption of unhealthy snacks, which may result in weight gain, is reduced when appetite is reduced. A 2020 study published in the Journal of Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome found that a high-protein diet increased satiety by boosting levels of appetite-suppressing hormones. 

According to this study, protein intake is associated with increased energy expenditure and decreased blood triglycerides and blood pressure. Chicken, which is high in protein, can thus suppress your appetite and regulate calorie intake, thus promoting weight loss.

Increases Muscle Mass

Eating protein-rich foods, including chicken, helps to build and maintain lean muscle mass. When you have lean muscle mass, your body can burn more calories even without much exercise. This is due to the fact that muscle is metabolically active. When you lose muscle mass, your metabolism slows down over time. A slow metabolism stalls your weight loss efforts.

Because of the high protein content in chicken, it can boost muscle mass and encourage fat loss. Studies show that muscle mass is nearly four times more metabolically active than fat. But dieting with a lack of nutrients can make you lose muscle mass.

This is why it is vital to include protein-rich foods in our diet for weight loss. Consuming chicken aids in muscle growth and boosts fat loss.

Thus, chicken consumption can help you lose weight by curbing your appetite and increasing muscle mass.

Is Rice Good for Weight Loss?

A cup of cooked brown rice contains 3.5 g of dietary fiber. When planning to lose weight, it is better to include foods in your diet that can fill your stomach to prevent overeating. Fiber is a carbohydrate that absorbs water and fills your stomach, thereby increasing fuller feelings and modulating calorie consumption. 

Since rice is loaded with fiber, it can make you eat fewer calories, which promotes weight loss. It is widely recommended to consume 19 – 38 g of fiber per day to maintain daily nutritional needs. Rice consumption in moderation can increase feelings of satiety and help you lose weight.

How to Consume Chicken for Weight Loss?

Eating chicken in an optimal way helps you lose weight steadily. When you consume chicken for weight, you have to pay attention to three main factors that influence the nutritional value of chicken.

• Choose leaner cuts: The part of the chicken you eat has an impact on your weight. It is best to choose leaner cuts that contain fewer calories and more protein content. You can select chicken breast because it has few calories and a lot of protein.
• The method of cooking: How your chicken is cooked has an effect on its nutritional information. It is best to avoid fried chicken or processed chicken because of its high-calorie content. You can consider grilled, stir-fried, roasted, or baked chicken to lose weight. Adding low-calorie veggies to chicken can enhance its nutritional value and promote weight loss.
• Portion control: Even though eating chicken can aid in weight loss, you need to have portion control. Eating chicken in moderate quantities can support your weight loss goals. The recommended portion size of chicken varies based on your goals and weight. If you consume 1,200 calories per day, you can meet your daily protein needs with 3 ounces of chicken breast and lose weight consistently.

Avoid cooking chicken for weight loss at high temperatures for an extended period of time to get its health advantages without experiencing any adverse effects.

Which is Better for Weight Loss, White or Brown Rice?

As rice is a valuable source of carbohydrates, it can be consumed for energy during intense exercises. People in different countries have rice as their staple food. The rice variety you choose to eat has a considerable impact on your weight.

White rice is commonly used in various recipes around the world. But it is less nutrient dense than brown rice. Although both types of rice taste identical, it is preferable to switch from white rice to brown rice for weight loss.

Brown rice is a rich source of dietary fiber, which makes you feel fuller for a long time and supports weight loss. Another advantage of brown rice is that it has a lower glycemic index. When you add brown rice to your diet, you can keep your blood sugar levels under control. This is crucial because high blood sugar levels could lead to insulin spikes, which impedes your weight loss.

White rice contains gluten, a nutrient that adds calories and sugars to your diet. Even though white rice lacks many nutrients, it can be incorporated into a healthy diet. As white rice can be easily digested by your body, it can be consumed as a post-workout meal to sustain energy. Consuming white rice in limited quantities on an occasional basis, in addition to nutritious foods, can help to preserve health.

Having said that, brown rice is more suitable for weight because of its high fiber content. Replacing white rice with brown rice and consuming it at least twice per week is found to reduce the risk of diabetes. Since brown rice is packed with fiber, and essential vitamins and minerals, it can help you burn fat and preserve muscle mass.

Are Chicken and Rice a Good Diet?

A chicken and rice diet is suitable for your weight loss goals when followed in an optimal way. This is due to the fact that chicken and rice contain an appropriate amount of complex carbohydrates, protein, and fiber. Unlike other diets, the chicken and rice diet is easy to follow and helps to balance your daily macronutrient intake. 

Chicken is packed with nutrients, such as vitamin B6, vitamin B12, niacin, biotin, zinc, iron, phosphorus, riboflavin, and protein, whereas rice is loaded with vitamins B1 and B6, selenium, magnesium, phosphorus, and fiber. Even though chicken and rice can be healthy additions to your diet, you may wonder if you can eat chicken and rice every day. 

If you plan your meals based on your daily nutritional needs, you can eat rice and chicken every day to lose weight without any adverse effects. But you should avoid eating chicken and rice for every meal to prevent nutritional imbalance. 

Adopting a chicken and rice diet can be a great way to lose weight if you choose chicken breast and brown rice and consume them in moderate portions. Including a variety of nutritious foods in your diet can help you meet your daily nutritional requirements and stay consistent.  

The Bottom Line

Chicken and rice are relatively low in calories but contain other nutrients like fiber, protein, vitamins, and minerals. When you follow a high-fiber, high-protein diet, you can lose weight significantly. Brown rice and chicken diets can be a healthy diet to lose weight because they contain a lot of fiber and protein. 

Studies have shown that fiber-rich foods can lower appetite and promote weight loss. A protein-rich diet is found to promote fat loss and boost muscle mass. Consuming protein-rich foods like chicken can increase your metabolism because of the thermic effect of food. 

The preparation and portion size of chicken and rice have a major impact on your weight. Incorporating chicken and brown rice into a balanced diet can help you achieve better weight loss results.  

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