A low-carb diet is one that limits carbohydrates, primarily found in sugary foods, pasta, and bread. Instead of eating carbs, you eat whole foods including natural proteins, fats, and vegetables.
Studies show that low-carb diets can result in weight loss and improved health markers.1 These diets have been in common use for decades and are recommended by many doctors.2 Best yet, there’s usually no need to count calories or use special products. All you need to do is to eat whole foods that make for a complete, nutritious, and filling diet.3
Learn more about low carb and how to use it for your personal goals here.
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A low-carb diet means that you eat fewer carbohydrates and a higher proportion of fat (with adequate amounts of protein as well). This can also be called a low-carb, high-fat diet (LCHF) or a keto diet.4 However, not all low-carb diets result in ketosis.
For decades we’ve been told that fat is detrimental to our health. Meanwhile, low-fat “diet” products, often full of sugar, have flooded supermarket shelves. This has likely been a major mistake, that coincided with the start of the obesity epidemic. While this doesn’t prove causation, it’s clear the low-fat message didn’t prevent the obesity increase, and it is possible it contributed.5
Studies now show that there’s no reason to fear natural fats.6 Instead, on a low-carb diet fat is your friend. Simply minimize your intake of sugar and starches, make sure you are getting adequate protein, and you can eat all the fat you need to feel satisfied.7
When you avoid sugar and starches, your blood sugar tends to stabilize and the levels of the fat-storing hormone insulin drop.8
This helps increase fat burning and may make you feel more satiated, thereby naturally reducing food intake and promoting weight loss.9
Studies show that a low-carb diet can make it easier to lose weight and to control your blood sugar, among other benefits.10
Avoid: Sugar and starchy foods (like bread, pasta, rice, beans and potatoes).
Eat when you’re hungry and stop when you’re satisfied. It can be that simple. You do not need to count calories or weigh your food.11 You don’t need low-fat products.12
Below are examples of what you could eat, alternatively check out our 1000+ low-carb recipes.
If you’re not in any of these groups, and don’t have other severe chronic medical conditions, you’re good to go! You can read more in our post about contraindications to keto diets.
Disclaimer: While a low-carb diet has many proven benefits, it’s still controversial. The main potential danger regards medications, especially for diabetes, where doses may need to be adapted (see above). Discuss any changes in medication and relevant lifestyle changes with your doctor. Full disclaimer
This guide is written for adults with health issues, including obesity, that could benefit from a low-carb diet.
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In this section you can learn exactly what to eat on low carb, whether you prefer visual guides, detailed food lists, delicious recipes or a simple get started guide.
Let’s start with a quick visual guide to low carb. Here are the basic low carb food groups you can eat all you like of, until you’re satisfied:
The numbers above are grams of digestible carbs per 100 grams (3.5 ounces). Fiber is not counted, you can eat all the fiber you want.14
All foods above are below 5% carbs. Sticking to these foods will make it relatively easy to stay on a moderate low-carb diet (less than 50 grams of net carbs per day) or even a strict low-carb diet, with less than 20 grams of net carbs per day.
What drinks are good on a low-carb diet? Water is perfect, and so is coffee or tea. Preferably use no sweeteners.15 A modest amount of milk or cream is okay in coffee or tea (but beware of caffe latte!).16
Browse our over 1,000 delicious low-carb recipes or head over to our 14-day low-carb meal plan for inspiration. You can always find our recipes under “Recipes” in the top menu. Here are a few popular ones:
Use our premium meal planner tool to access tons of weekly meal plans, complete with shopping lists. You can adapt the diet plans to your liking, skipping any meal, choosing how many people you’re cooking for, and the shopping lists adapt. You can even start a new plan from scratch (of from pre-existing ones), tailor them completely and save them.
The meal plans below is available through Diet Doctor Plus. Not a member? Sign up for a FREE 30-day trial to get all our meal plans and many other membership benefits. After the free trial ends, it’s only $9.99/month or $99/year.
Don’t feel like much of a chef but still want to serve and have healthy homemade meals? This is the meal plan for you! Boost your confidence in the kitchen with these delicious and easy-to-make recipes that help you stay below 25 grams of carbs per day.
This is a varied low-carb meal plan filled with delicious meals. If you’re in need of new inspiration or just curious to see what low-carb is all about, this meal plan is for you. It will help you stay below 25 g of carbs per day.
The lower your carbohydrate intake, the more powerful the effects on weight and blood sugar appear to be.17 For that reason we recommend initially following the dietary advice fairly strictly. When you’re happy with your weight and health, you may carefully try eating more carbs if you want to (although we find many people don’t want to).
Here are three examples of what a low-carb meal can look like, depending on how many carbs you plan to eat per day:
Do you have another translation or a significant improvement of one of the earlier ones? E-mail us.
3. Health benefits of a low-carb diet
Why would you consider eating fewer carbs? There are many potential benefits, proven by science and supported by clinical experience, like these:
Lose weight
Most people start eating fewer carbs to lose weight. Studies have shown that low-carb diets are often more effective than other diets.19 Low carb makes it easier to lose weight without hunger, and without having to count calories.20
According to recent studies, a low-carb diet can even result in burning more calories than other diets.21Learn more
Low-carb diets can help reduce or even normalize blood sugar, and thus potentially reverse type 2 diabetes.23 Since the data to date have focused on very strict low carb diets, we do not know if more liberal low-carb diets will also result in type 2 diabetes reversal. However, as the American Diabetes Association notes, carbohydrate reduction of any level is likely an effective tool for blood sugar control.
Low carb might help settle a grumpy gut, often reducing symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome such a bloating, gas, diarrhea, cramps, and pain.25 Indigestion, reflux and other digestive issues can sometimes improve, too.26
For some, this is the best part of going low carb and happens usually within the first few days, or first week, of starting the diet.27Learn more
Reduce sugar cravings
Are you struggling to stay away from sweet foods, even though you try to eat them in “moderation”? Many people do.28
Weight loss, shrinking fat stores, lower blood sugar, improved mental clarity, and a calmer digestive system are the most frequently cited benefits of low-carb eating.30
To make a low-carb diet truly simple and enjoyable requires a few new skills. For example, how do you cook low-carb breakfasts that you love? How do you eat more healthy fats? And what’s important to think about when dining out?
Here are all the guides you need.
Breakfast
Breakfast is a great time to eat low carb. Who doesn’t love bacon and eggs? In the unlikely event that you answered “I”, there are even great options with no eggs at all.
Another strong option is to just have a cup of coffee, as many people get less hungry on a low-carb, high-fat diet and may not need breakfast at all.36 This can save you plenty of time.
So, What’s for lunch and dinner on a low-carb diet? You could have mouth-watering, delicious dishes full of meat, fish, chicken, vegetables and full-fat sauces. The options are nearly limitless as you will see by our variety of recipes and meal plans.
In short, we can show you plenty of great low-carb alternatives that are both tasty and healthy. You may even end up liking them better than their carb-heavy predecessors.
Eating out
It’s very possible to eat low carb even when leaving your house, for example at restaurants. Just avoid starchy foods and ask for some extra natural fat (e.g. olive oil or butter).
You may not have to. Just be aware that there are good and bad low-carb bread options. Spoiler: you’ll probably want to stay away from “low-carb” bread from the grocery store! Here’s why, and what to do instead
How to eat more fat
Fat can be both satiating and an amazing flavor enhancer. But how do you get enough of it in your diet? And how much fat should you really eat? Hint: enough to feel satisfied and not hungry.
Many who are eating a low-carb diet can get seduced by creatively marketed “low carb” products — cakes, cookies, candies, chocolate, pastas, breads, ice cream and other substitute foods.
Unfortunately this rarely ends well, especially not for weight loss. These products are usually lacking beneficial nutrients and are often higher in carbs than their labels imply. We recommend avoiding them entirely if possible. Learn more
How to make low carb cheap
A low-carb diet doesn’t have to be expensive. In this guide, you’ll learn how to make it cheap.
If you stop eating sugar and starch cold turkey (recommended) you may experience some side effects as your body adjusts. For some people these side effects are mild, while others find the transition more difficult. It usually lasts a few days, up to two weeks, and there are ways to minimize it (see below).38
Another option is to decrease the intake of carbohydrates slowly, over a few weeks, to minimize side effects. But the “Nike way” (Just Do It) may be the best choice for most people. Removing most sugar and starch often results in several pounds lost on the scale within a few days. This may be mostly fluids, but it can still be great for motivation.39
Here are side effects that may occur when you suddenly start a strict low-carb diet.
Induction flu
By far the most common short-term side effect is called the induction flu. It’s what makes some people feel really poorly for a few days (up to a week) after starting low carb.
These side effects rapidly subside as your body adapts and your fat burning increases. Within a week or two, they are usually gone.41
The primary reason for this may be that carbohydrate-rich foods can increase water retention in your body.42 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, resulting in the symptoms above.
You can minimize the induction flu by drinking more fluids and by at least temporarily increasing your salt intake. A good option is to drink a cup of bouillon/broth one or two times a day. This usually keeps the induction flu minor or even non-existant.43
Alternatively, drink a few extra glasses of water and put more salt on your food.
Beyond the induction flu, there are six more relatively common side effects on a low-carb diet. It seems like many of them can also be mostly avoided by getting enough fluid and salt.44
There are also more things you can do to minimize any problems, click to read more if you’ve experienced one of these issues:
Beyond the mostly transient side effects that may occur on a low-carb diet (see above) there are many controversies, misunderstandings and a few pure myths that simply don’t hold up to closer scrutiny. For example, your brain is supposed to stop working unless you eat carbs. We’ll, that’s simply wrong.45
Here’s the sixth and final section of this low-carb page. Do you want to truly understand low carb, and get answers to your remaining questions? Or do you want extra inspiration for yourself or for people you’re trying to help?
Find it here, and start becoming a low-carb expert.
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How low carb works
What are you designed to eat, and why can sugar and starch be a problem? Essentially, how does a low-carb diet work?
A lot of people still fear natural fat. But really, the whole idea that we should fear fat is based on low quality science that does not support the broad sweeping conclusion. Recent research and many open-minded experts now agree.46
Do you want a summary of the ongoing food revolution? From failed low-fat diets and an epidemic of obesity and diabetes, through a growing realization of our mistakes, and towards a potential health revolution.
Watch this talk by Dr. Andreas Eenfeldt, the founder of Diet Doctor:
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While calories count, you probably don’t have to count them for good results. Low-carb diets tend to result in more weight loss, even though most studies of it do not advocate counting calories:
A keto diet is a common name for a very strict low-carb diet, containing very few carbohydrates, generally below 20 grams of net carbs per day. This usually results in a metabolic state called “ketosis”, hence the name.
A low-carb diet is always relatively low in carbohydrates. But not necessarily so low that people end up in ketosis. Here at Diet Doctor we consider anything up to 100 grams of net carbohydrates per day a low-carb diet. ↩
While this is still controversial, repeated modern systematic reviews find no benefit from avoiding saturated fats, and minimal if any benefit from replacing them with unsaturated fats:
Hormones play a role in regulating our weight. Eating fewer carbohydrates lowers blood glucose, which in turn lowers insulin, also known as the fat-storing hormone. This makes it easier to access and burn excess body fat, without hunger or calorie counting.
The reason could be that people’s appetite tends to be somewhat suppressed on low-carb diets, so that people can eat fewer calories and still be satisfied:
The main fear about low-carb, higher-fat diets has been potentially increasing the risk of heart disease. But modern studies do not support that theory, and many risk factors even improve on low carb:
Fiber does not directly affect blood sugar levels, though it can indirectly slow down the absorption of digestible carbohydrates that you eat.
Fiber can have both beneficial and some potential negative effects on gut health, but it usually has no major impact on the effects of a low-carb diet. ↩
Even zero-calorie sweeteners may have some negative effects, including maintaining a preference for sweet tastes, and increased reward, potentially increasing the risk of overeating and even food addiction. This is mainly based on clinical experience [weak evidence].
There is one RCT showing weight loss from avoiding artificial sweeteners:
A modest amount could for example be a tablespoon. But these add up quickly if you drink multiple cups per day.
Also avoid other coffee drinks with lots of added milk or sugar. ↩
This is mainly based on the consistent experience of experienced practitioners, and stories from people trying different levels of carb restriction [weak evidence].
One trial showed that diets of 20-grams and 50-grams of carbs equally helped healthy volunteers maintain ketosis. However, we don’t know if the same is true for people with obesity, insulin resistance or diabetes. In addition, there is not yet an RCT that tests the health benefits of two low-carb diets of varying strictness head-to-head. But RCTs of strict low-carb diets appear to often show better results, compared to RCTs of more moderate or liberal low-carb diets.
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Scientific studies show that compared to other diets, low-carb or keto diets are often more effective for weight loss (even when many of the studies do not recommend counting calories):
Some disagree with the use of the word “reverse” when it comes to type 2 diabetes. The concern is that it may imply the disease is completely gone, never to return. At Diet Doctor, we use the term “reverse” to indicate that the diagnosis of diabetes is no longer present at that moment. However, we acknowledge that the diagnosis of diabetes will likely return if a patient goes back to their prior high-carb eating habits. Therefore, “reverse” does not imply a forever cure. ↩