What's the verdict on rice as part of a healthy diet?

[Epicurus]

I'm playing Judo and lifting weights, plus jogging on the side this year. I'm (still) trying to add mass, so I've been eating a lot of chicken, lean beef, nuts, yogurt, etc.

Recently I bought myself a rice cooker because cooking rice in a pot sucks monkey scrotum. Rice cooker = absolutely perfect rice for no effort 100% of the time. I usually make myself a stirfry with lots of chicken or beef plus veggies - which always goes great with rice. I figure by adding an equal amount of rice to each bowl of stirfry, I almost halve my food expense - and rice is good for you, right?

That's my question: Is rice good for someone who is looking to add lean mass? I do enough exercise to burn all my fat (I have very little fat right now) so I'm trying to up my caloric intake. Is rice a good way to do this? It's cheap and easy and I love eating it, but I heard that it has questionable effects on one's midsection when it becomes a big item in a diet.

For reference I eat parboiled rice, which is nutritionally pretty much identical to white rice. I still can't get into brown rice, it's like eating dried **** that came from an alien's syphilitic ass.

[pauli]

white rice is fairly worthless. brown rice is not easy to get used to, but it's a lot easier if you season it. cook it in broth instead of water, add some wild rice, make a pilaf, whatever... the cooker will do all the work, just find recipes.

[Epicurus]

How about if I switch to just wild rice?

[M.C.]

I like brown rice with apple sauce, easy to make, easy to eat and you can have it with you at training or something when you get hungry. Other than that I only eat it in combination with meat and sauce. Also if you add rosins (let them stay in hot water for 45 min, then heat the water again) and a more or less "juicy" sauce to the rice it makes it more enjoyable.

[DerAuslander]

There's a reason why the Atkin's Diet failed in Asia.

[Torakaka]

white rice is fairly worthless. brown rice is not easy to get used to, but it's a lot easier if you season it. cook it in broth instead of water, add some wild rice, make a pilaf, whatever... the cooker will do all the work, just find recipes.

Personally I vastly prefer brown basmati rice to white rice for both taste and texture. I generally add extra water to soften it up some since it can be a little dry otherwise, but I love the stuff.

[Neildo]

Same here. Brown basmati kicks ass.

[Little Lamb]

Here's a list of the best grains based on "total nutrients."

1. Amaranth
2. Rye
3. Oats
4. Wild rice
5. Millet
6. Barley
7. Quinoa
8. Buckwheat
9. Whole wheat
10. Brown rice
11. White rice
12. Corn

As you can see, this list ranks white and brown rice near the bottom. Only corn is worse. If you must eat grain for energy, why not aim a little higher.

CAVEAT: As it said in the article, it's tough to simply rank grains because the rank depends on the person's particular nutrient needs. Here is the link to the article.

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/4/T042700.asp

PS: I recently read an article touting whole oats as this fantastic anti-heart attack grain, far better than whole wheat. I'll post it if I can find it again.

[HappyOldGuy]

Note, wild rice isn't exactly rice. It's actually quite good for you.

[Nihonto]

White rice isn't bad for you, it's just complex carbs. Long grain brown rice is probably better, but someone explain why white rice is so horrible.

I eat white rice every day with fish. Sometimes I sub beef or pork for the fish, but most of the time it is sushi. This has been my lunch ever day for the past year and has been working out very well for strength gain, weight control and energy. It's my biggest meal of the day: White sticky rice + lots of raw fish. I know lots of mercury, but so far it's done wonders.