A Low-Carb Diet for Beginners
Do you want effortless weight loss? Or type 2 diabetes reversal and other health benefits? Then a low-carb diet could be right for you.
You can eat all you need to feel satisfied – there’s no calorie counting required, ever. No products. No pills. No surgery. Just real food.
A low-carb diet restricts sugary foods, and starches like pasta or bread. Instead you’ll eat delicious real foods, including protein, natural fats and vegetables.
Low-carb diets just work, they’ve been used for over 150 years and there are tons of success stories. Dozens of scientific studies prove that compared to other diets, low carb is more effective.
This guide contains everything you need – what to eat, what to avoid, and exactly how to do it. Choose a topic or keep reading below.
Low Carb in 60s 
What to Eat 
Recipes 
Low-Carb Living Guides
Benefits and How to Maximize Them 
How it Works 
Side Effects 
Get Started Introduction
A low-carb diet means you eat fewer carbohydrates and a higher proportion of fat. This is often called a low-carb, high fat diet (LCHF).
Most importantly you minimize your intake of sugar and starches. You can eat other delicious foods until you are satisfied – and still lose weight.
Many high-quality scientific studies show that a low-carb diet makes it easier both to lose weight and to control your blood sugar. And that’s just the beginning.
Learn more about the benefits of low carb
The basics
- Eat: Meat, fish, eggs, vegetables growing above ground and natural fats (like butter).
- Avoid: Sugar and starchy foods (like bread, pasta, rice, beans and potatoes).
You do not need to count calories or weigh your food. And just forget about industrially produced low-fat products.
There are solid scientific reasons why low-carb diets works. When you avoid sugar and starches your blood sugar stabilizes and the levels of insulin, the fat-storing hormone, drop. This increases fat burning and makes you feel more satiated.
Is low carb right for you?
Most people can start any kind of low-carb diet right away. But in these three situations you may need extra preparation or adaptation:
- Are you on medication for diabetes, e.g. insulin? Learn more
- Are you on medication for high blood pressure? Learn more
- Are you breastfeeding? Learn more
If you’re not in any of these groups, you’re ready to go. Great!
Video Course
Do you want to watch a high-quality 11-minute video course on how to eat low carb, high fat? And about the most important things to think about? Sign up for our free newsletter and you’ll get instant access to it:
The newsletter arrives once a week with low-carb news, recipes and tips free from ads or industry influence. Your email is kept 100% private. To unsubscribe just press “unsubscribe” at the bottom of any newsletter.
What to Eat on a Low-Carb Diet
Here’s a quick visual guide to low carb. For details check out the links below. Let’s start with the foods you can eat all you like of, until you’re satisfied.
All the numbers are grams of digestible carbs per 100 grams (3.5 ounces). Fiber is not counted, you can eat all the fiber you want.
All the foods above are below 5% carbs, as you can see. Sticking to these foods will make it relatively easy to stay on a strict low-carb diet, with less than 20 grams of carbs per day.
More detailed low-carb foods list
So what do you drink on low carb? Water is perfect, and so is coffee or tea. Ideally use no sweeteners, and a modest amount of milk or cream if you like (beware of caffe latte!).
The occasional glass of wine is fine too (low-carb alcohol guide).
Avoid if you can
Here’s what you should not eat on low carb – foods full of sugar and starch:
The numbers are grams of digestible carbs per 100 grams (3.5 ounces), unless otherwise noted.
More detailed list of foods to avoid
Visual low-carb guides
Vegetables 
Fruits 
Nuts 
Snacks 
Alcohol How low to go?
The less carbohydrate you eat the bigger the effects on weight and blood sugar will be. I recommend following the dietary advice as strict as you can. When you’re happy with your weight and health you may gradually try eating more liberally (if you want to).
Here are three examples of how a low-carb meal can look, depending on how many carbs you eat per day:
Strict 0-20 
Moderate 20-50 
Liberal 50-100
A strict low-carb diet is sometimes called a ketogenic (or “keto”) diet.
Advice on LCHF in other languages
Advice on LCHF in other languagesArabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Bulgarian, (pdf) (another version), Chinese, Chinese (Taiwan), Croatian, Czech, Danish (Word), Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian (pdf), Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Korean, Latvian, Macedonian, Norwegian, Polish (pdf), Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Ruthenian, Serbian, Slovak, Spanish (Word), Swahili, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian and Uzbek.
Do you have another translation or a significant improvement of one of the earlier ones? E-mail me (more info).
Success Stories
Here’s inspiration: 100+ success stories. Slide image below horizontally to see more stories.
How to Reverse Diabetes and Lose 93 Pounds Without Hunger
What an amazing transformation! Read Peter's story
Women 0-39 
Women 40+ 
Men 0-39 
Men 40+ How Low-Carb Diets Works
What are you designed to eat?
Humans evolved over millions of years as hunter-gatherers, without eating large amounts of carbohydrates. We ate the food available to us in nature by hunting, fishing and gathering all the edible foods we could find. These foods did not include pure starch in the form of bread, pasta, rice or potatoes. We have only eaten these starchy foods for 5 – 10 000 years, since the development of agriculture. Only a limited adaptation of our genes takes place in such a relatively short time.
With the Industrial Revolution, 100 – 200 years ago, we got factories that could manufacture large amounts of pure sugar and white flour. Rapidly digested pure carbohydrates. We’ve hardly had time to genetically adapt to these processed foods.
In the 80s, the fear of fat gripped the western world. Low-fat products popped up everywhere. But if you eat less fat you need to eat more carbohydrates to feel satiated. And it’s at this time in history that our disastrous epidemics of obesity and diabetes started. The most fat-phobic country in the world, the USA, was hit the hardest and is now the world’s most obese country.
Today, it’s clear that the fear of real food with natural fat contents has been a big mistake.
The problem with sugar and starch
All digestible carbohydrates are broken down into simple sugars in the intestines. The sugar is then absorbed into the blood, raising the blood glucose levels. This increases the production of the hormone insulin, our fat storing hormone.
Insulin is produced in the pancreas. In large amounts it prevents fat burning and stores surplus nutrients in fat cells. After some time (a few hours or less) this may result in a perceived shortage of nutrients in the blood, creating feelings of hunger and cravings for something sweet. Usually at that point people eat again. This starts the process again: A vicious cycle leading to weight gain.
On the other hand, a low intake of carbs gives you a lower, more stable blood glucose, and lower amounts of insulin. This increases the release of fat from your fat stores and increases the fat burning. This usually leads to fat loss, especially around the belly in abdominally obese individuals.
Weight loss without hunger
An LCHF diet makes it easier for the body to use its fat reserves, as their release is no longer blocked by high insulin levels. This may be one reason why eating fat produces a feeling of longer-lasting satiety than carbohydrates. It’s been shown in a number of studies: When people eat all they want on a low carb diet caloric intake typically drops.
So, no counting or food weighing is necessary. You can forget about the calories and trust your feelings of hunger and satiety. Most people don’t need to count or weigh their food any more than they need to count their breathing. If you don´t believe it, just try for a couple of weeks and see for yourself.
Health as a bonus
No animals in nature need the assistance of nutritional expertise or calorie charts to eat. And still, as long as they eat the food they are designed to eat they stay at a normal weight and they avoid caries, diabetes and heart disease. Why would humans be an exception? Why would you be an exception?
In scientific studies not only is the weight improved on a low carb diet – the blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol profile (HDL, triglycerides) are also improved. A calm stomach and less cravings for sweet food are also common experiences.
Here are the most common benefits:
Lose Weight 
Reverse Your Type 2 Diabetes 
Calm Your Stomach 
Beat Your Sugar Cravings 
Normalize Your Blood Pressure 
Reduce Acne Problems 
Increased Physical Endurance 
Control Epilepsy Without Drugs Initial side effects
If you stop eating sugar and starch cold turkey (recommended) you may experience some side effects as your body adjusts. For most people these side effects tend to be mild and last a just few days. There are also ways to minimize them.
Common side effects in the first week:
- Headache
- Fatigue
- Dizziness
- Heart palpitations
- Irritability
The side effects rapidly subside as your body adapts and your fat burning increases. They can be minimized by drinking more fluids and by temporarily increasing your salt intake a bit. A good option is to drink some broth every few hours. Alternatively, drink a few extra glasses of water and put extra salt on your food.
The reason for this is that carbohydrate-rich foods may increase the water retention in your body. When you stop eating high-carb foods you’ll lose excess water through your kidneys. This can result in dehydration and a lack of salt during the first week, before the body has adapted.
Some people prefer to decrease their intake of carbohydrates slowly, over a few weeks, to minimize the side effects. But the “Nike way” (Just Do It) is probably the best choice for most people. Removing most sugar and starch often results in several pounds lost on the scale within a few days. It may be mostly fluids but it’s great for the motivation.
The most common problems on low carb
Leg Cramps 
Constipation 
Bad Breath 
Heart Palpitations 
Reduced Physical Performance
All low-carb side effects & how to cure them
The Food Revolution
This talk from 2016 summarizes the history and science behind the ongoing LCHF revolution.
More theory and practice
Here several of the world’s biggest experts on the subject explain the theory and practice of carb restriction:
Low-Carb Tips and Guides
Choose a topic below for a thorough low-carb guide on it.
Breakfasts 
Meals 
Dining Out 
Instead of Potatoes, Pasta, Rice 
Bread 
Snacks and Desserts 
Traveling 
No Cooking
How to Eat More Fat 
Low-Carb Cheating 
Low Carb for Kids 
Making Low Carb Cheap 
Low-Carb Living in a High-Carb World 
Questions & Answers Low-carb breakfast
Breakfast is a great time to eat low carb – think eggs & bacon with coffee. And there are many more great options. Below are a few of our most popular low-carb breakfast recipes.
No fan of eating breakfast? On low carb you may not feel hungry in the morning. If so it’s fine to skip breakfast – many people do.
Low-carb meals
There’s no end to the amazing food you could have for lunch and dinner on low carb. These are the currently most popular low-carb meal recipes:
Shopping list for beginners
Print this list and bring it to the grocery store:
- Butter
- Heavy cream (40% fat)
- Sour cream (full fat)
- Eggs
- Bacon
- Meat (minced, steaks, stew pieces, fillets, etc.)
- Fish (ideally fatty fish like salmon or mackerel)
- Cheese (preferably high-fat)
- Turkish yoghurt (10% fat)
- Cabbage (cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kale, etc.)
- Other vegetables that grow above ground
- Frozen vegetables (broccoli, wok vegetables, etc.)
- Avocados
- Olives
- Olive oil
- Nuts
Clean out your pantry
Want to maximize your chances of success? Especially if you have difficult cravings / sugar addiction, it is smart to throw out (or give away) sugary and starchy foods, low-fat products, etc. These include:
- Candy
- Potato chips
- Soft drinks and juices
- Margarine
- Sugar in all forms
- Bread
- Wheat flour
- Pasta
- Rice
- Potatoes
- Breakfast cereals
- Everything that says “low fat” or “no fat”
- Ice cream
- Cookies
The Serpent in Paradise
Be very skeptical of special “low-carb” products, such as pasta or chocolate. Unfortunately these products usually work poorly. They have prevented weight loss for loads of people. They’re commonly full of carbs once you see through the creative marketing.
For example, Dreamfields’ “low carb pasta” is almost pure starch, which is absorbed more or less like any pasta, albeit slowly:
- The Dreamfields Pasta Fraud
- The Dreamfields Pasta Fraud Finally Results in an 8 Million Dollar Fine!
How about low carb bread? Be careful: if it’s baked with grains it’s certainly not low carb. But some companies still try to sell it to you as a low-carb option. Here’s an example:
Low-carb chocolate is usually full of sugar alcohols, which the manufacturer does not count as carbs. But roughly half of these carbs may be absorbed, raising blood sugar and insulin. The rest of the carbs ends up in the colon, potentially causing gas and diarrhea. Furthermore, any sweeteners can maintain sugar cravings.
If you want to be healthy and slim, eat real food instead.
Learn More
Low Carb is Fantastic for Reversing Type 2 Diabetes and Normalizing Blood Sugar
Do you have type 2 diabetes? If not you most likely know someone who does. And low carb is fantastic for treating type 2 diabetes.
It only make sense that eating less of what turns into blood sugar (carbohydrates) makes it easier to keep the blood sugar down. Low carb may be so effective that people with diabetes need to reduce their medication – especially insulin doses – immediately.
Better blood sugar from day 1. Less need for medication. And weight loss as a bonus. Low carb is a fantastic treatment for type 2 diabetes.
Learn more about Low Carb and Diabetes
PS: People with type 1 diabetes can also benefit from a low-carb diet. Learn More
Losing Weight Effortlessly
on Low Carb
Some people lose weight fantastically well on low carb, immediately on the first try. Perhaps the weight even stays off forever.
For others it can be a more of a challenge. Do you want to lose more weight or lose weight faster? There are many things you can do to improve your chances.
Read more about How to Lose Weight
Normalizing Blood Pressure on Low Carb
An elevated blood pressure reliably drops on low carb. This can be clearly seen in scientific trials, and it’s a very common experience for people trying it.
In fact, this effect can be so marked that people on blood pressure medication may end up feeling dizzy and tired from too low blood pressure. They’ve basically become too healthy for their medication!
If this happens you’ll have to reduce the dose of your blood pressure medication, or stop taking it completely, with guidance from your doctor.
Avoiding Side Effects on Low Carb
Do you struggle when starting low carb? Do you get a headache, leg cramps, constipation or any of the 6 most common side effects? It’s usually possible to avoid them – and feel great while losing weight.
The main solution to most common problems when starting low carb is to increase the intake of water and salt. It’s even better to do it preventatively during the first week. If you do you’ll most likely not experience any of these problems, or they’ll only be minor.
Learn about the 6 common side effects on low carb – and how to cure them
1984 Fear of Fat →
2014 “Eat Butter”
Chances are you’ve heard that a low-carb diet will kill you. This as a low-carb diet normally means we eat a higher proportion of fat instead.
This old idea is based on the belief that natural fat is not good for us. Even though humans have always been eating fat, somehow it was supposed to mess up our bodies, raising our cholesterol and giving us a heart attack.
The good news is we now know this idea was simply wrong. Check out these two covers of TIME magazine. The first one is from 1984 – the start of the intense fear of fat. Instead of natural food we got lots of low-fat products, loaded with added sugar and starch. This, not so coincidentally, marked the start of the modern obesity epidemic.
The second cover is more current, from 2014. It says “Eat butter” and the story is about how scientists are now realizing they were wrong to fear fat. What a difference 30 years make!
Just about everybody already knows that low-carb works for weight loss (and some other things). The good news is we now also know it’s safe… and likely even a very healthy way to eat.
Learn more about the obsolete fear of fat
Cholesterol
The unnecessary fear of fat and cholesterol started the epidemics of obesity and diabetes. Modern science shows what the mistake was.
We thought that all cholesterol was harmful. That a low cholesterol was always good, and that a high cholesterol was always bad. This was wrong. The truth is – as usual – more complicated.
More important than having a low cholesterol is to have a good cholesterol profile. To have a lot of the good protecting HDL-cholesterol, for example. And how do you get that? Well, the easiest way is to avoid sugar and flour, and instead eat enough fat to feel satisfied.
Avoiding fat and instead eating a lot of easily digestible carbohydrates often causes a dangerous cholesterol profile: small, nasty, dense LDL particles and a shortage of protective HDL-cholesterol. This is probably why low-fat foods seem to cause more heart disease.
Read the science showing how low-carb high-fat improves the cholesterol profile
Read all blog posts on cholesterol
The Answers to Your Questions
Do you have questions about anything low-carb related? We have ready answers to all common questions – and more.
Next
Keep reading about What to Eat on a Low-Carb Diet
Learn How to Lose Weight Effortlessly 
Get Inspired by 100+ Success Stories 
Get Inspired by Delicious Low-Carb Recipes 
Get Updates on the Diet Doctor Blog Improve this page
Do you have any suggestion – big or small – to improve this page?
Anything that you’d like added or changed?
Comment below or e-mail me at andreas@dietdoctor.com.
Free Updates
Do you want updates with the latest news for your health and weight? Do you want to join the revolution? And get a free video course on how to eat LCHF? Subscribe to the free weekly Diet Doctor newsletter:
Press “Like” below to get tips on popular new posts and some insider tips:
4,295 Comments
In Peter Attia's blog, you can find a lot of interesting reading concerning matters that are related to ketosis and training.
http://eatingacademy.com
Cholesterol=8.67 mmol/L
LDL-C =5.60 mmol/L
HDL-C =2.78 mmol/L
Chol : HDL ratio = 3.12
Triglycerides = 0.65 mmol/L
Me & my doctor was alarmed by the rise as my results as per 10 June 15 was:
Cholesterol = 6.90 mmol/L
LDL-C = 4.40 mmol/L
HDL-C = 2.20 mmol/L
Chol : HDL ratio = 3.14
Triglycerides = 0.58 mmol/L
Back then in 2015, I ignored doctor’s advice for medication as I have confidence in lchf diet which I started end of 2011. Should I now change or modify my diet? Are too much fats a cause of cholesterol rise? My current diet is below 30g net carb (usually around 22g & rarely exceeds 25g) with lots of fats. Please share your thoughts. Thank
I would not worry so much, cholesterol readings can vary. Why not do a new check after the summer.
If you follow the link below then you will get some suggestion how to lower the values.
http://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/side-effects#cholesterol
Personally I also think that eating less dairies can help (if you are having a lot today?)
Sorry to say but it contains to much carbs.
https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/6483?manu=&fgcd=
What to eat with LCHF:
http://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb#advice
one of the biggest question I have is, "if your not in ketosis, and thus burning fat for energy, can you still lose doing low carb if your calories are the same?
Meaning if your not in ketosis is low carb just about calories then?
when i was in ketosis on atkins phase 1 i was eating more calores than on my normal crap diet, but i lost 90 lbs and cured BO, CHolesterol, MY eyesight, and other issues (yes i gained it all back and am worse now)
but right now i am doing MOSTLY low carb and am not in Ketosis, so can i lose weight this way if my calories are up
Great work!!
If you want further information and evidence, get yourself a copy of "The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance" written by two doctors (Jeff S. Volek PhD RD and Stephen D. Phinney MD PhD) who go into detail backed up by scientific evidence and studies. A great read, easy to understand.
And finally, if you look at Dr Ann de Wees Allen's credentials, there is further reason to ignore her comments given her background.
I emailed you yesterday about this, and I canceled your membership.
I did not read about it on the site. Am I the only one?
I m Asian from Singapore.
Using the information that I had read here, been able to lose 8 kg in 2 months and I m weighing 81.5 kg n standing at 1.83m.
Ideal weight is 75 kg and I believed I can do in another 4 Mths time.
Diet consist of coffee with butter for breakfast n sometimes eggs with cheese.
Lunch will be some mid joint wings 10 pcs
Dinner will have some meats.
First 3 weeks feel terrible and had flu with sore throat.
But right now totally felt normal again.
Been on diet which I believe less than 20 gms carbs which a lot of asian can't do as we need rice in our diet.
Going to change my clothes altogether when my idea weight of 75 kg is reached.
Tq lchf
Told him bout my high butter consumption and he was mentioning that butter does not increase cholesterol level
My presumption is that the meal plans have been developed to provide the greatest opportunity for both macro and micro nutrients. I am not a nutritionist and so a pre-provided meal plan would be very helpful in terms of designing post-challenge meal plans.
V/r,
Scott
Rice is not a part of a LCHF diet (it's OK only in very small amount), it contains a lot of carbs.
I see several individuals throughout the web posting that this does in fact seem to be the case but I do not see any literature explaining it. Can anyone offer a link to a reference preferably from a Dr (medical or a professor).
Very respectfully,
Scott
For one, Ketosis is when carb intake and fructose/glucose is low, correct? So how is it that two people I know went on a complete fruit in the morning and veggies in the afternoon with very restricted fat intake, lost about 20kg?
I started pretty well on the Ketogenic diet but now ive come to a grinding halt after losing 5kg, and i dont know if taking too much fat (using butter mostly) could be the culprit. Or should i try the fruits and veggies diet as they did to see real results?
One thing i know Ketogenic diet keeps me satiated and energetic. But i need to lost weight. thats my priority.
I've put on 25 lbs since my bottom 200 lb. I've recommitted to exercise, trainer 2week and hiking 1 hour - 1 1/2 hours a day on an intermediate trail first thing every morning before breakfast. I strength train early evenings, Tuesday / Friday. I've recently been giving an opportunity to work from home and discovered Keto. I've lost 10lbs in 6 days.
My question is: with my exercise regime, does it matter when I eat my carbs? I'm definitely in Ketosis, actually got the strips to make sure but my body was telling me after day 2. I'm eating around 25g of carbs (I don't count veggies) and 120g-150g of protein. Should I eat a little more ( protein/carbs) because of the exercise and when should I eat them?
My goal is to get down to 190 lbs and build more muscle. Not trying to be shredded, just healthy and fit.
If you don't lose weight the coming weeks then you could try to cut down on carbs and protein. A good idea is to eat just 2-3 times a day with no snacking in between, that's probably more important than when you eat.
Unfortunately, when on a HFLC diet, the ketones fight against the purines for excretion....and win.
One way to help the purines excrete is to up your potassium intake. I did this through bananas.
But, as you know, gout is a very personal thing and everyone is different. Good luck !
You probably have read our best tips regarding losing weight, but if not just follow the link below.
https://www.dietdoctor.com/how-to-lose-weight