White rice has no nutritional value. The husk, which contains the vitamins and protein, has been entirely stripped, leaving only the soft kernel inside which has almost no nutrients. Thus minerals and vitamins are added back to white rice during the packaging process to make it somewhat healthy.
Opt for parboiled rice (closest to white once cooked) which is also similarly priced to white, or go wild – literally – and get what is called wild rice, which is just how rice should be. I’m also partial to black rice which can be quite more expensive for rice, but it’s really fragrant and tasty (but be careful with the water, it stains easily).
All of these have a higher protein content than white rice, lower calories, and the nutrients didn’t have to get added back in, they come from the rice itself.
They’ll work, but they’re not great. When I used to do crossfit everyone told me to eat rice before a class but lentils worked much better. But different people will react differently to them, “bare” carbs like white flour (which is also reinforced, it goes through the same process as rice) and white rice leave me still feeling hungry most of the time
Yeah, bare carbs aren’t enough on their own for me either. Lentils are really great!