Carbohydrates: an essential macronutrient.
Some food for thought and information sources to consider.
Some food for thought and information sources to consider.
What is the purpose of carbohydrates?
Below information is quoted from 2 Australian sources: the Heart Research Institute (HRI), and Hospitals Contribution Fund of Australia (HCF), Australia's largest not-for-profit private health insurance provider. They agree on a definition of carbohydrates as one of 3 macronutrients and an essential player in providing your body with energy. Read more below.
from the Heart Research Institute (HRI)
From their article: All about carbs. access their website (last accessed 4 July 2026)
Carbohydrates are one of three large energy-yielding nutrients known as macronutrients. The other two are fats and proteins. [...]
In fact, carbohydrates are the body's primary source of energy [...] the body will prioritise burning carbohydrate first (over fats and proteins) if it's available.
When a nutritionist talks about carbohydrates, he or she is talking about three main sub-groups of nutrients: sugars, starches and fibres. These three are all naturally occurring nutrients that originate in plant-based foods.
It's important to remember that unless we're eating a processed food, such as a lolly or soft drink, we rarely eat carbohydrates in isolation. Food is more often than not a mixture of different nutrients. The combination of nutrients in the whole food is what we use to create a healthy eating pattern, not the individual nutrients themselves.
From their article: All about carbs. access their website (last accessed 4 July 2026)
Carbohydrates are one of three large energy-yielding nutrients known as macronutrients. The other two are fats and proteins. [...]
In fact, carbohydrates are the body's primary source of energy [...] the body will prioritise burning carbohydrate first (over fats and proteins) if it's available.
When a nutritionist talks about carbohydrates, he or she is talking about three main sub-groups of nutrients: sugars, starches and fibres. These three are all naturally occurring nutrients that originate in plant-based foods.
It's important to remember that unless we're eating a processed food, such as a lolly or soft drink, we rarely eat carbohydrates in isolation. Food is more often than not a mixture of different nutrients. The combination of nutrients in the whole food is what we use to create a healthy eating pattern, not the individual nutrients themselves.
from the Hospitals Contribution Fund of Australia (HCF)
The second article comes from HCF, one of the largest not-for-profit private health insurance in Australia: Are carbs bad for you? . Published date: January 2018 access their website (last accessed 4 July 2026)
Carbohydrates are 1 of the 3 important macronutrients in our diet, the other 2 being fats and proteins. Your body uses most of the carbohydrates you eat to make glucose, which is your body’s main energy source.
The second article comes from HCF, one of the largest not-for-profit private health insurance in Australia: Are carbs bad for you? . Published date: January 2018 access their website (last accessed 4 July 2026)
Carbohydrates are 1 of the 3 important macronutrients in our diet, the other 2 being fats and proteins. Your body uses most of the carbohydrates you eat to make glucose, which is your body’s main energy source.
Which carbohydrates are to be considered?
Below information is quoted from 3 Australian sources: the Heart Research Institute (HRI), the Hospitals Contribution Fund of Australia (HCF), Australia's largest not-for-profit private health insurance provider, and eat for health, an Australian Government website. They emphasize the importance of eating a variety of healthy food fitting your lifestyle. Read more below.
From the Heart Research Institute (HRI) article: All about carbs.
access their website (last accessed 4 July 2026)
How do we eat them healthily?
Knowing that carbohydrates are important for long-term health is all well and good, but plenty of carbohydrate-rich foods aren’t healthy. In addition, the environment we live in means many people have sedentary, inactive lifestyles, and we’re surrounded by processed, high-energy, low-nutrient foods. Choosing which foods to eat isn’t as simple as it used to be. This is why it’s important to think about the quality and quantity of carbohydrate-rich foods that you consume each day.
Quality
As mentioned earlier, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds are all carbohydrate-rich foods and also contain many other nutrients. It’s these whole foods that you want to build your diet out of first. When we choose a whole food, not only do we eat carbohydrate in a more appropriate amount, but we also get the whole combination of nutrients that the food contains. It’s this combination, delivered to the body as a whole food, that promotes health in our bodies.
Quantity
Because we spend a good deal of our days sitting and not being active, even when we’re choosing whole foods we can still consume more energy than our body needs. In fact, the overconsumption of carbohydrate in excess of the body’s needs is where we fall into ill health. Excess carbohydrate intake places a large metabolic load on the body. When the body constantly has high levels of blood sugars (the end point of food sugar and starch) to deal with over time, this leads to weight gain, poor metabolic health and an increased risk of heart disease.
Understanding a healthy portion size that’s right for you is a really important part of the process. Everybody has slightly different energy and carbohydrate needs. Advice from a qualified nutrition professional will come in very handy at this point. A trained professional will take into account your goals, your metabolic health, your activity levels and your food preferences before making recommendations. They shouldn’t give you a one-size-fits-all approach – if they do, please seek a second opinion.
A good place to start is to fill ¼ of your dinner plate with carbohydrate-rich foods like brown rice, sweet potato, quinoa, rolled oats, wholemeal pasta, grainy bread, lentils, chick peas or corn on the cob. Fill the rest of your plate with vegetables and protein-rich foods. Then tweak it up or down depending on your energy levels, appetite and goals.
access their website (last accessed 4 July 2026)
How do we eat them healthily?
Knowing that carbohydrates are important for long-term health is all well and good, but plenty of carbohydrate-rich foods aren’t healthy. In addition, the environment we live in means many people have sedentary, inactive lifestyles, and we’re surrounded by processed, high-energy, low-nutrient foods. Choosing which foods to eat isn’t as simple as it used to be. This is why it’s important to think about the quality and quantity of carbohydrate-rich foods that you consume each day.
Quality
As mentioned earlier, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds are all carbohydrate-rich foods and also contain many other nutrients. It’s these whole foods that you want to build your diet out of first. When we choose a whole food, not only do we eat carbohydrate in a more appropriate amount, but we also get the whole combination of nutrients that the food contains. It’s this combination, delivered to the body as a whole food, that promotes health in our bodies.
Quantity
Because we spend a good deal of our days sitting and not being active, even when we’re choosing whole foods we can still consume more energy than our body needs. In fact, the overconsumption of carbohydrate in excess of the body’s needs is where we fall into ill health. Excess carbohydrate intake places a large metabolic load on the body. When the body constantly has high levels of blood sugars (the end point of food sugar and starch) to deal with over time, this leads to weight gain, poor metabolic health and an increased risk of heart disease.
Understanding a healthy portion size that’s right for you is a really important part of the process. Everybody has slightly different energy and carbohydrate needs. Advice from a qualified nutrition professional will come in very handy at this point. A trained professional will take into account your goals, your metabolic health, your activity levels and your food preferences before making recommendations. They shouldn’t give you a one-size-fits-all approach – if they do, please seek a second opinion.
A good place to start is to fill ¼ of your dinner plate with carbohydrate-rich foods like brown rice, sweet potato, quinoa, rolled oats, wholemeal pasta, grainy bread, lentils, chick peas or corn on the cob. Fill the rest of your plate with vegetables and protein-rich foods. Then tweak it up or down depending on your energy levels, appetite and goals.
From the HCF article: Are carbs bad for you? . Published date: January 2018
access their website (last accessed 4 July 2026)
Carbohydrates get a bad rap – but choosing the right type can actually boost your health and aid weight loss.
Know your carbs
Being able to recognise healthier carbs can help you make better food choices. Dr Alan Barclay, consultant dietitian and research associate at the University of Sydney and co-author of The Good Carbs Cookbook, describes healthier carbs as “foods that are minimally processed, good sources of dietary fibre and have a low glycaemic index”.
Examples include:
access their website (last accessed 4 July 2026)
Carbohydrates get a bad rap – but choosing the right type can actually boost your health and aid weight loss.
Know your carbs
Being able to recognise healthier carbs can help you make better food choices. Dr Alan Barclay, consultant dietitian and research associate at the University of Sydney and co-author of The Good Carbs Cookbook, describes healthier carbs as “foods that are minimally processed, good sources of dietary fibre and have a low glycaemic index”.
Examples include:
- fruit
- vegetables
- legumes like lentils, kidney beans and peas
- nuts and seeds
- whole grains (such as oats, brown rice and barley)
From the eat for health Australian government website: The five food groups.
access their website (last accessed 4 July 2026)
Guideline 2 recommends we enjoy a wide variety of nutritious foods from the five groups every day
The key to eating well is to enjoy a variety of nutritious foods from each of the five food groups.
access their website (last accessed 4 July 2026)
Guideline 2 recommends we enjoy a wide variety of nutritious foods from the five groups every day
The key to eating well is to enjoy a variety of nutritious foods from each of the five food groups.
In our experience...
I have written similar words to these in one of the other pages and I think it is worth repeating especially as I am definitely not an expert on carbohydrates.
Basically one can find any answer one seeks with all the information on the internet. I chose however three sources from Australia which I believe to be reasonably reputable sources.
It is a good starting point to understand the importance of carbohydrates and healthy eating in general.
In my experience there has been a lot of contradictory information pushed to consumers. For example the food pyramid from the 1990s featuring the amount of serves and types of food we ought to eat daily has been revisited in Australia after being totally inverted in the USA in 2025.
As consumers we need to find a balance: on the one hand we need to eat carbohydrates such as potatoes, on the other hand, eating too many potatoes together with a sedentary lifestyle sees an increase in body weight.
So I am hoping to inspire you to do your own research starting with the above three sources and to find a balance in your diet which suits your body, your lifestyle, and/or medical conditions.
If in doubt about what you should eat and how much, always consult your medical team.
Basically one can find any answer one seeks with all the information on the internet. I chose however three sources from Australia which I believe to be reasonably reputable sources.
It is a good starting point to understand the importance of carbohydrates and healthy eating in general.
In my experience there has been a lot of contradictory information pushed to consumers. For example the food pyramid from the 1990s featuring the amount of serves and types of food we ought to eat daily has been revisited in Australia after being totally inverted in the USA in 2025.
As consumers we need to find a balance: on the one hand we need to eat carbohydrates such as potatoes, on the other hand, eating too many potatoes together with a sedentary lifestyle sees an increase in body weight.
So I am hoping to inspire you to do your own research starting with the above three sources and to find a balance in your diet which suits your body, your lifestyle, and/or medical conditions.
If in doubt about what you should eat and how much, always consult your medical team.