On the matter of rice, yeah white rice isn't that great for you. Yes brown is better but most of the time it tastes like shit. This isn't because of the rise but because of how it was made. I have one of those fancy japanese rice makers that cooks perfect brown rice for me and it tastes fantastic. It takes like 2-3hrs to cook but man it is really good.
Brown rice is better for you because it's not hulled like white rice is, making it higher in fiber and lower in calories. But yeah, brown tastes like shit. I can't stand it. Nothing improves it for me.
One carb food you can eat without worry is barley. It's high in fiber and low in calories. Cooking it for a long time makes it soft and thickens the soup, and it tastes pretty good. Here's my recipe for low carb/low fat/low calorie barley vegetable soup:
One half raw chicken, skinned, cut into quarters
or
1 quart of chicken stock
1 chopped onion
1 large soft tomato, chopped (canned is ok)
2/3 cup of barley
2 sliced carrots
2 stalks of sliced celery
1 cup sliced mushrooms (fresh works best)
1 TB chopped parsley (dried is ok)
2 TBs chopped dill (fresh or skip it)
1 crushed garlic clove
2 quarts of water (use 1 quart if using chicken stock instead of fresh)
1 TB vegetable oil (skip the oil if using fresh chicken)
salt and pepper to taste.
Throw it all in a big soup pot and cook for and hour or more. Remove the chicken if you're using fresh, and cut some chicken into the soup. Cooking the barley for a long time improves the flavor.
I'm doing pretty good diet-wise before, during and after-Vegas.
