Hello, Welcome to Healthcare Magic. I have read your question fully and understand your concerns. I would agree that eating raw, unwashed rice is detrimental to health. Firstly, raw rice is not easy to digest. It has a substance called cellulose covering it; this prevents the rice from getting digested. Thus, you do not derive any nutrition from eating raw rice. Once you boil and cook the rice, this cellulose covering gets eliminated and thus it is easily digested and you can then derive the important nutrients from it. Secondly, unwashed rice is not free from contaminants. The rice may be contaminated right from the harvesting time in the fields (fields do have lot of contaminants in them right from microscopic organisms like bacteria to mice/rats/rodents and various other birds) to up to storage in the vast godowns. Bacteria are mainly harmful. When you eat raw unwashed rice, these harmful micro-organisms may enter into your body leading to infections. Eating raw rice can be considered as a form of Pica – pica is the urge to eat non-food materials like chalk, mud, wall paint etc. or to eat food in a form that is not eaten (for e.g. eating flour, raw grains etc.). It is thought Pica occurs due to nutritional deficiencies. Eating raw rice can lead to anaemia, abdominal pain, constipation, nausea, vomiting etc. I think eating raw rice has become a habit for you, and you get the urge to it even though you are aware of its harmful effects. What happens when you get the urge to eat raw rice and the rice is not available to you – like for e.g. when you are at work/study or travelling? How do you stop the urge? Can you do the same when you are at home too (surrounded by rice)? Is it possible not to have raw rice at all in your home? May be you could switch over to eating chapattis/roti etc.? When you get the urge to eat raw rice, can you shift your mind to something different like going out for a walk so that you are away from the source of rice? If you are still having the urge then maybe you could get some counselling. I feel you would benefit from Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. It is a type of psychotherapy whose main goal is problem solving. It is based on the theory that thoughts and feelings lead to behaviour. So, the elimination of negative thoughts and feelings would lead to positive behaviour. Here the therapist will help you to identify the reasons behind eating the raw rice; this would then translate into positive behaviour of avoiding it. You could search for a therapist who is skilled in CBT. I wish you recovery from this habit. I hope this answer has helped you. Thank you Regards Dr Sunita Sayammagaru