Rice

FloridaFatty345
FloridaFatty345 Posts: 32 Member
edited December 19 in Recipes
Why does rice have to have so many darn calories?? Ha. I usually cook up the microwave Uncle Ben ones but the calories are so high. Any alternatives you use?

Replies

  • Cahgetsfit
    Cahgetsfit Posts: 1,912 Member
    I use normal rice from a 5kg bag. Basmati rice. I don't think the calories are that terrible. Better than for pasta!!

    Pasta is just sad sad sad.

    Are you logging cooked rice or just "rice"? coz cooked rice and raw rice end up being different as once you cook the rice the weight changes.

    I eat 100g of rice every single day and it's only 107 calories. the entry is "Basmati Rice White Cooked, Tilda"
  • Cahgetsfit
    Cahgetsfit Posts: 1,912 Member
    BTW I just do absorption method on the stove - a pot full of the stuff and we cook it every 3-4 days ish (we all eat heaps of rice at my place)
  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
    Eating less rice. And adding other foods which are high volume, such as vegetables.
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,179 Member
    edited January 2019
    Less often. Sorry. For my starch I most often just bake a potato.

    Oh, oh, oh! For pasta I've started using high protein pasta made with various beans. Other than a different texture and taste from semolina pasta, they are compatible with life.
  • Cahgetsfit
    Cahgetsfit Posts: 1,912 Member
    JeromeBarry1 wrote: »
    Less often. Sorry. For my starch I most often just bake a potato.

    Oh, oh, oh! For pasta I've started using high protein pasta made with various beans. Other than a different texture and taste from semolina pasta, they are compatible with life.

    Yeah - i LOVE pasta so now I have spelt pasta - better in calories than normal pasta and tastes GREAT!

    Still... I still need to eat way LESS of it than I normally would or normally used to.

    Back in the good olden days when I never got fat my brother and I would cook a whole packet of pasta and make carbonara sauce and eat the entire thing between us. In one sitting. Gone are those days...
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
    I fill half my plate with veggies. My carb is a smaller side, about the same size as my protein.
  • IsETHome
    IsETHome Posts: 386 Member
    1/4 cup to 1/2 cup is reasonable - cooked. Check the dry size vs cooked, is different.
  • stricklee11
    stricklee11 Posts: 218 Member
    FloridaFatty345 wrote: »
    Why does rice have to have so many darn calories?? Ha. I usually cook up the microwave Uncle Ben ones but the calories are so high. Any alternatives you use?

    I know! Being from the Caribbean, it makes it especially hard as rice is used in so many meals. It's just not worth it.
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,966 Member
    How do you people flavor your rice? I know rice is a staple for a lot of people but I just don't get the appeal. My husband likes just plain white rice! I'm like, what? Why would you eat that?
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 8,005 Member
    I stretch rice and pasta with vegetable substitutes. I don't like pure spiralized courgette instead of pasta or raw cauliflower blitzed in the food processor for rice, but a half and half combination I find palatable.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    hesn92 wrote: »
    How do you people flavor your rice? I know rice is a staple for a lot of people but I just don't get the appeal. My husband likes just plain white rice! I'm like, what? Why would you eat that?

    The only time I eat rice is beans and rice or coconut beans and rice or Spanish rice at a New Mexican restaurant. I've never considered just eating plain white rice. I have had wild rice and brown rice as a stand alone side, but not white rice.
  • slappy01uk
    slappy01uk Posts: 12 Member
    Have you tried Quinoa as an alternative to rice.

    I am currently taking this to work to have for lunch

    https://skinnyms.com/quinoa-shrimp-paella/
  • lilithsrose
    lilithsrose Posts: 752 Member
    I sometimes mix cauliflower rice with regular white rice. Like a 50/50 mix
  • French_Peasant
    French_Peasant Posts: 1,639 Member
    hesn92 wrote: »
    How do you people flavor your rice? I know rice is a staple for a lot of people but I just don't get the appeal. My husband likes just plain white rice! I'm like, what? Why would you eat that?

    I like plain white rice with a good slab of raw tuna or shrimp wrapped over the top! (aka, maguro or amoebi at a sushi restaurant). And I like it with an Indian or Thai curry.

    I am also obsessed with New Orleans dishes (dirty rice, red beans and rice, gumbo, etouffee, etc.) and Cuban/Caribbean dishes (rice dressed up with coconut, mango salsa, cilantro, etc.)

    And I have recently discovered dulce de leche rice pudding. Yeah, I am going to be in trouble with that one.

    For the OP, rice pretty much plays out like bread or any other carb for that matter as I try to tetris it into my calories--you can have some, carefully measured, but not too much. Stretch it with a lot of vegetables, or just keep tight rein on it with portion size (and be careful of getting into even more trouble with rice fried in oil).
  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
    hesn92 wrote: »
    How do you people flavor your rice? I know rice is a staple for a lot of people but I just don't get the appeal. My husband likes just plain white rice! I'm like, what? Why would you eat that?

    Consider yourself lucky! Rice isn't nutrient dense and if you don't like it you can skip it. Eaten by itself it does have a flavor, though it's a subtle one, and since I have had to mostly give it up after becoming diabetic I have become much more aware of the flavor. I can smell different varieties of rice now, it's crazy! Good basmati rice and good short grained sushi rice smell and taste totally different from each other. So your husband isn't nuts, he is just more sensitive to this particular flavor.
  • FloridaFatty345
    FloridaFatty345 Posts: 32 Member
    IsETHome wrote: »
    1/4 cup to 1/2 cup is reasonable - cooked. Check the dry size vs cooked, is different.
    IsETHome wrote: »
    1/4 cup to 1/2 cup is reasonable - cooked. Check the dry size vs cooked, is different.
    The idea of only eating 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup makes me sad. Haha. Oprah needs to invent a low cal rice I guess. 😆
  • BreadLady41
    BreadLady41 Posts: 10 Member
    I love rice, but as others have noticed - not really a lot of nutrients. White rice is basically nothing but starch. So if you are on a restricted calorie diet already, it isn't a good choice. Brown rice will be a better option. I visited China when I was in college and the girls there told me that when they go on diets they stop eating the rice altogether!

    If it helps - regular potatoes are MUCH healthier - and sweet potatoes are better yet (lower calorie than potato and more nutrition). I prefer to sub those in instead of rice for most meals. If you really want a grain, take a look at couscous (not really a lot better, but similar in some ways and a little more nutritious) or quinuoa (I hate it - but some people think it is awesome.)

    Oh - and if your goal is authentic Asian style food - my Indian friends rarely serve rice -they use Naan and only a small piece of that AFTER the rest of the food, which is vegetable based with yogurt, and for some, meat. And when I was in China the meal was the veggies and the meats and the steamed dumplings. Rice was served after the meal - about an ice-cream scoop worth in a clean bowl - it was used to "cleanse" the pallet - like a dessert and no one ate the whole amount.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 49,030 Member
    FloridaFatty345 wrote: »
    Why does rice have to have so many darn calories?? Ha. I usually cook up the microwave Uncle Ben ones but the calories are so high. Any alternatives you use?
    Uncle Ben's ISN'T real rice. ;) This coming from an Asian who cooks and eats rice just about everyday.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
    9285851.png

  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,986 Member
    Nothing wrong with rice. And as it's mostly carbs it's not high in calorie either. I usually cook about 70-80gr of rice, about 100gr of meat and the rest is veggies, seasoning, oil. This gives me a big, very tasty and filling meal.
This discussion has been closed.

Categories