Rice is consumed a lot, and it has more things than "a lot of simple sugars". In fact, any "veggie" book would include many of recipes with rice, rice flour or rice noodles, as they are usually based in Asian cuisine. Also, as the current hell is gluten, some recipes suggest replacing wheat with rice.

It is common knowledge in the vegan world to pair lentils with rice, as they complement (rice is low lysine, high in methionine, lentils the other way). Lentils includes fiber that lowers the glycemic index of the overall meal, but also rice eases the otherwise heavy digestion of lentils. They both pair in other micronutrients (iron, zinc, selenium, magnesium, potassium).