Rice cakes; your friend who lost 50 pounds in six months swears by them.
You can’t buy them without the ‘GLUTEN FREE’ label screaming at your face, telling you just how healthy they are.
Anyone who has been on some kind of a diet in recent years claims rice cakes were a big part.
But you dear reader, you’re not on just ‘some kind of diet‘; you’re on the Paleo diet, and in a perfect world, you’re better than everyone.
But since we’re not living in a perfect world, being on Paleo only means you can’t eat most food other diets allow or even recommend.
That brings us to the topic of this article called – can you eat rice cakes on paleo?
We’ll go a bit more in-depth about paleo, rice cakes, and if they go together.
Let’s get into it.
Can You Eat Rice Cakes On Paleo?
The answer to this one is pretty straightforward; you can’t eat rice cakes on paleo, or rather, you shouldn’t.
But let’s not end it there; let’s see why that’s the case and if there are any alternatives to this popular food.
The Paleo Can’ts(Ts)
As we said, the paleo diet tends to be quite restrictive but in the right way.
The philosophy behind this is that our ancestors in the paleolithic era were able to withstand some pretty harsh conditions.
Since we aren’t faced with surviving below zero temperatures in the wild every day, we reap another benefit of this diet; feelin’ and lookin’ good.
That’s why things like dairy, legumes, artificial sweeteners, sugar, grains, soft drinks, vegetable oils, trans fat, wheat, etc., arent allowed on this diet.
What most of these foods have in common is that they get your blood sugar to go up too quickly, but more on this a little later.
Since we’re against eating rice cakes on paleo, you might think we feel the same about rice.
We’d suggest you read our article Can you eat rice on paleo, the answer might surprise you.
Today, On How It’s Made (Rice Cakes)
Rice cakes can be made from white or brown rice.
The process involves exposing that rice to high heat and creating something similar to popcorn.
The high heat also destroys all the healthy nutrients that rice contains.
Let’s look at the nutrition chart in order to understand this point better.
One cake (9g) contains:
| Calories: | 35 |
| Carbs: | 7.3 grams |
| Fiber: | 0.4 grams |
| Protein: | 0.7 grams |
| Fat: | 0.3 grams |
| Niacin: | 4% of the RDI |
| Magnesium: | 3% of the RDI |
| Phosphorus: | 3% of the RDI |
| Manganese: | 17% of the RDI |
The thing that stands out the most is definitely carbs.
One rice cake has 7.3 grams of carbs, which means 83% of it is just carbohydrates.
It’s common to see claims that the paleo diet is a low-carb diet; this isn’t necessarily true.
Not everyone in the paleolithic era had access to the same food as we do today.
Some of our ancestors ate meat primarily; others depended more on gathering plants.
Neither of them had an advantage per se, but there was a difference.
That being said, rice cakes didn’t exist back then, which means nobody ate them, and they’re definitely not paleo.
But carbohydrates aside, fiber and protein are also fairly low here.
In addition to that, vitamins and minerals that are usually found in rice are also lost in the process of making rice cakes.
In the end, we end up with food that breaks the most important rule of the Paleo diet, which is to be rich in nutrients.
How Did My Friend Lose So Much Weight Then?
One advantage of these is their low-calorie count.
One of the golden rules of dieting is: “you wanna lose weight, eat less calories.”
That and the air in rice cakes can make you feel satiated for longer.
In addition, if your friend followed some good advice, they probably ate rice cakes with other more nutritious food.
So something like hummus or peanut butter, with veggies or fruits, would make those rice cakes a whole lot more blood sugar friendly.
Spiked blood sugar is what gets you to put on weight in the first place.
Fiber and protein help your body digest sugar more slowly and naturally.
Sure, fruits have a decent amount of sugar in them, but they also have a fair amount of fiber to help your body break down the sugar properly.
Processed foods are notorious for completely removing these.
They strip the food from all of its healthy nutrients, like fiber, protein, vitamins, and minerals, and put more sugar in it.
By doing this, the food is a lot tastier and a lot more addictive, making you crave for more and, ultimately, you end up putting on extra weight.
In this article, we’re covering regular rice cakes made out of brown rice.
But there are rice cakes that are loaded with sugar and additives that make eating these almost as bad as eating Doritos.
The Alternatives
Rice cakes appeared in the 80s as an alternative to bread.
The ‘gluten-free, fat-free craze’ was at an all-time high back then, and rice cakes gained popularity fairly quickly.
They’ve been advertised as healthy, gluten-free, and less caloric than bread.
The ironic thing is looking at bread and rice cakes gram for gram, bread has less calories but more fiber and protein; talk about false advertising.
But, here on theuskitchen.com, we aim to give you no-nonsense answers, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do.
If you’re looking for an alternative to rice cakes, paleo bread is hands down the best choice.
There are countless recipes online, and they’re fairly reliant on personal preference, so we suggest you do a bit of research yourself.
As with anything on paleo, it can cost a bit more than usual, but if you’ve been on this diet for a while, that shouldn’t be a surprise.
But a lower-cost alternative and a less tasty one would be celery sticks.
It might sound weird at first, but spreading a little peanut butter on a celery stick will emulate the crunchy feel and leaps and bounds healthier.
Celery sticks are literally what rice cakes should have been.
A decent amount of vitamin C, almost no calories, and above all, it’s a vegetable, doesn’t get better than that.
Don’t Worry; They’re Paleo.
If you’re thinking ‘who has time to make paleo bread’ or ‘Celery?? I hate celery!’; on this diet, you really don’t have much choice.
The reason you’re looking for an alternative is that you just love sandwiches.
Anyone who grew up in the 20th or 21st century does.
But that’s what this diet is all about, not eating what you’re used to.
Rice cakes probably provided you with the false notion you were eating healthy, and making sandwiches with them is pretty straightforward.
But let’s be honest here unless you’re willing to spend time on actually baking that paleo bread we mentioned, sandwiches are the thing of the past.
Can You Eat Rice Cakes On Paleo – Conclusion
We find ourselves not giving you the green light for yet another popular ‘healthy’ food.
You can’t eat rice cakes on the paleo diet.
They gained in popularity back in the 80s, which means that our paleolithic ancestors didn’t have them as a snack.
The way they are made more or less destroys their nutritional value and is considered processed food.
Those two things combined, and you have food that is definitely not paleo.
Sure they are considered low in calories, but that’s if you eat only a few; otherwise, they’re just as bad, if not worse, than bread.
Plus, they’re full of carbs, which means they will spike your blood sugar, a sure way to make you cry when you step on a scale.
The first alternative we mentioned was paleo bread; with countless recipes online, we’re confident you’ll find one to your liking.
The second, easier alternative, would be celery sticks. They’re just as crunchy and a lot healthier.
All in all, we strongly recommend you stay away from these.
When eating paleo, you want to avoid processed foods at all costs.