If you are a diabetic and you must have rice on the table, then eat red cargo rice instead of long grain white rice.

Red cargo rice is a good source of Thiamin (Vitamin B1), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), fibre, iron and calcium.

However, if you don't know how to cook your red rice, or if you are not accustomed to eating red rice you may not like them. The coarse texture of cooked red rice is not as soft as cooked long grain or white rice imported in this country from Thailand. But if they are cooked right, you will find them fairly soft to chew. 

Red cargo rice is also imported from Thailand. The current retail price of red rice at Oriental stores is still quite high compared to white rice. Incidentally, red cargo rice is not the same as red yeast rice.

I know a friend who must eat rice. She is a diabetic for over 40 years. Anytime she eats white rice for lunch and dinner she must give herself extra insulin shots or otherwise she feels sick or dizzy. It was not uncommon for her blood sugar to rise dramatically up to 350 or 400 mg/dl after dinner. But now she says she feels "normal" when she eats red rice for lunch and dinner. Her blood sugar rarely shot up over 140 mg/dl. But remember even when you eat red cargo rice you must also watch what else and how much do you eat.

How do you cook them? First soak them overnight in water. The following day cook the rice in a rice cooker adding a little more water to your rice cooker than you normally would when you are cooking regular white rice.

Another variety of red rice is Red Jasmine rice. You would cook red Jasmine rice the same way as you would when cooking white rice in a rice cooker.

Enjoy your nutritious red cargo rice.

                                                                   
  Red Rice                                          1 Kg (2.2lbs) Red Cargo Rice