Carb With Carbs: What Your Indian Diet Is Lacking For A Balanced Diet

Recent nationally-representative analyses show typical Indian meals still get the majority of their calories from carbohydrates, mostly cereals such as white rice and milled wheat, while protein, fibre, fruits and vegetables often lag. This pattern helps explain part of India's twin burden: persistent under-nutrition in some groups and rising overweight, diabetes and heart disease in others. Does this sound familiar to your daily diet? To help you bridge this gap and achieve a balanced diet, we discuss why are Indian diets carb-heavy and how you can make your daily Indian diet more balanced.

Why India's diets are carb-heavy?

1. Cultural staples and meal structure: Indian food culture centres on rice, rotis, idlis, dosas and parathas. A typical “thali” is designed around a grain which is the main, filling element and everything else is built around it.
2. Affordability and the public food system: Cereals are cheap, filling and widely subsidised under the public distribution system (PDS), which makes them the obvious calorie source for low and middle-income households.
3. Processing and convenience: Milling like white rice, refined wheat flour removes fibre and micronutrients but retains calories and extends shelf life, making refined grains the default for many.
4. Income and supply changes: As incomes rise in some states, diets shift sometimes toward more fats and sugars but staples remain central in most households.

How carb-heavy are Indian diets?

A large, recent analysis of nationally representative dietary data reported that a very large share of energy which is around 60+% of calories in many Indian diets comes from low-quality carbohydrates, that is, refined cereals and added sugars and that protein intake is below recommended levels for large parts of the population. In short: many Indians are getting more than half their calories from carbs, and much of that comes from refined grains.

Here's how to make your Indian diet more balanced:

1. Shift grain choices, not just portion sizes

Swap some white rice/maida rotis for millets (ragi, bajra, jowar), brown rice or multi-grain rotis. Even one meal a day with a millet or mixed grain reduces glycemic load and raises fibre. Use existing recipes like millet dosas, ragi rotis to keep taste familiar.

2. Pulse power: make dal and legumes the star

Increase the portion of dal or add a second pulse dish in a week (chana, moong, masoor). Pulses are cheap protein, high fibre and have shown benefit when they replace refined carbs as per Indian studies such as ICMR. Combine cereals with pulses for better protein quality.

3. Add small, everyday protein boosts

An egg a day, a glass of milk/curd, roasted peanuts or a spoon of paneer in sabzi, these are affordable and raise protein without much disruption. For non-vegetarians, modest fish/egg/meat inclusion can help.

4. Colour on the plate

Aim for half the plate to be vegetables and fruit across the day. Frozen or seasonal vegetables, chutneys with raw grated carrot / cucumber, and fruit as dessert are practical steps. Micronutrient gaps respond quickly to such changes.

5. Cook smarter, not more expensively

Use whole lentil and grain blends in khichdi, add greens to sambhar, and bulk up sabzis with peas/soy/chopped nuts. Soaking and pressure-cooking pulses improves digestibility and reduces cooking time/costs.

6. Limit polished or refined items and sugary drinks

Reduce polished rice, maida sweets and sugar-sweetened beverages. Replacing even 5% of energy from refined carbs with protein (especially plant/dairy protein) has measurable metabolic benefits in population studies.

Balance means getting the right mix: quality carbohydrates (whole grains, millets), adequate protein (pulses, dairy, eggs, fish), healthy fats in moderation, and plenty of vegetables and fruit. For India, this means preserving cultural staples while nudging composition: less refined grain, more pulses and millets, and routine small servings of protein and greens. The science is clear that such shifts cut the risk of diabetes and other diet-related diseases while improving nutrition status.

Disclaimer: This content including advice provides generic information only. It is in no way a substitute for a qualified medical opinion. Always consult a specialist or your doctor for more information. NDTV does not claim responsibility for this information.

References

Dietary profiles and associated metabolic risk factors in India — Nature Medicine, Nature (ICMR/NIN data analysis), 2025.

White Rice Intake and Incident Diabetes (CARRS / urban South Asia analyses) — NCBI / PMC, National Institutes of Health, 2020.

National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5), India: India Report — Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (NFHS/DHS programme), 2019.

Recommended Dietary Allowances & Nutrient Requirements for Indians (ICMR-NIN) — Indian Council of Medical Research — National Institute of Nutrition (ICMR-NIN), 2020.