If you are a diabetic and you must have rice on the table, 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 cargo rice is not as soft as cooked long grain or white rice imported from Thailand. But if they are cooked right, you will find them quite palatable and 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. By the way, 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 300mg/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? Place 3 cups of rice and 5 cups of water in a pot, stirring occasionally until much of the water is reduced, lower the fire and then let stand for 15 minutes. Steam the cooked rice in a steamer for 20 minutes to finish the cooking of the 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 Thai Jasmine rice. Or, you can mix some red Cargo rice with some red Jasmine rice and cook them that way, adding more or less water as you like in a cooking pot while stirring occasionally. Once the water in the pot is reduced you can place the rice in a steamer and steam them for a few minutes more until they are soft.   

Enjoy your nutritious red cargo rice.