Carbohydrates get blamed for a lot. Cut the carbs, people say, and the weight will follow. But carbohydrates aren’t the problem — they provide the glucose your brain runs on, and your brain cannot function without it. The real issue isn’t carbohydrate itself. It’s excess, and more specifically, it’s monotony.
Most of us build our plates around one or two grains — usually rice and wheat — meal after meal, year after year. That narrowness is where the trouble starts, not in the carbohydrate itself. Different grains bring different nutrients, different fibre profiles, different effects on the body. When you eat the same grain constantly, you don’t just risk excess calories — you miss out on everything the grains you’re not eating would have offered.
The fix isn’t elimination, it’s variety. Oats, quinoa, millets, rice, wheat — rotate through them rather than anchoring your diet to just one. Even mixing different millets together is perfectly fine; there’s no rule that says you must pick one and stay loyal to it. One caution worth knowing: heavy, exclusive reliance on ragi in particular can interfere with iron absorption, which is exactly the kind of problem that variety naturally prevents. And if you’re looking for a grain that does more per serving, quinoa is worth knowing about — it’s one of the few with a genuinely complete protein profile, unlike most other grains or dals.
Timing matters too, though less rigidly than people assume. Whether to eat carbohydrates at night isn’t a universal rule — it depends on your own routine and how much carbohydrate you’re already getting across the day. As a general guide, lighter carbohydrates like vegetables and lentils tend to suit the evening better, since your energy needs are winding down and undigested carbohydrate late at night is more likely to show up as water retention the next morning.
So before you eliminate carbs from your plate, ask a different question: how many different grains did I eat this week? If the answer is one or two, that’s the actual fix — not less carbohydrate, just more variety in it.
From the Wellness Wisdom lecture series at Mystic Yoga.
About the Author
Abhishek Maheshwari is a yoga teacher, author, and the Founder of Mystic Yoga. His work integrates Yoga, Meditation, Ayurvedic Nutrition, and Spiritual Philosophy to promote holistic health and well-being through classes, retreats, and corporate wellness programs.