Low-carb foods
– what to eat

1. Low-carb foods list

Foods to eat

• Meat: Any type: Beef, pork, lamb, game, poultry, etc.³ Feel free to eat the fat on the meat as well as the skin on the chicken.⁴ You may want to choose organic or grass-fed meats.⁵ Top meat recipes
• Fish and seafood: All kinds: Fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel, sardines or herring are great, and might even have health benefits due to high amounts of omega-3 fatty acids.⁶ Avoid breading. Top fish recipes
• Eggs: All kinds: Boiled, fried, scrambled, omelets, etc. You may want to choose organic eggs, if possible.⁷ Top egg recipes
• Natural fats and high-fat sauces: Using butter and cream for cooking can make your low-carb foods taste better and can make you feel more satisfied. Try a Béarnaise or Hollandaise sauce. If purchased pre-made, check the ingredients for starches and vegetable oils. Better yet, make it yourself. Coconut fat or olive oil are also good options. These are all healthy fats.⁸ Learn more
• Vegetables that grow above ground: Cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage and Brussels sprouts, kale, collards, bok choy, spinach, asparagus, zucchini, eggplant, olives, spinach, mushrooms, cucumber, avocado, onions, peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, other kinds of leafy greens etc. These are lowest in net carbs and can be enjoyed at all levels of carb restriction. However, if you are following a keto diet (< 20 grams of carbs per day), you may need to limit your portions for certain types, like bell peppers and Brussels sprouts. Low-carb vegetables guide
• Dairy products: Feel free to choose full-fat options like real butter, cream (40% fat), sour cream, Greek/Turkish yogurt and high-fat cheeses, which can help you stay full and satisfied.⁹ Be careful with regular milk, reduced fat and skim milk as they contain a lot of milk sugar.¹⁰ Avoid flavored, sugary and low-fat products.
• Nuts: Great for a treat (in moderation) instead of popcorn, candy or chips.¹¹ Learn more
• Berries: Okay in moderation, if you do not need to be super strict with carbs. Great with whipped cream. Learn more

Read the nutrition label in the grocery store.
No more than 5% of carbohydrates in any food item is a good rule of thumb.

2. Do not eat high-carb foods

• Sugar: The worst choice, period.¹⁸ Soft drinks, candy, juice, sports drinks, chocolate, cakes, buns, pastries, ice cream, breakfast cereals – avoid them all. Sugar can also be addictive. Read our complete guide to sugar
   
  Preferably avoid artificial sweeteners as well¹⁹ (here’s why). Check out our full low-carb sweeteners guide
• Starch:

  Flour, wheat products or other refined cereal grains, even if labelled “gluten free.”²⁰ This means bread, buns, pasta, crackers, porridge, muesli. Whole grains are included here too – on a low-carb diet they are just less bad.²¹ Also potatoes (sweet potatoes too), potato chips, French fries, corn products and popped corn, rice. Do check out, however, some of the low-carb versions of these foods:
  – Low-carb bread
  – Low-carb “mashed potatoes”
  – Low-carb “rice”
  – Low-carb porridge
  – Low-carb “pasta”

  Beans and lentils are also relatively high in carbs, so they’re not good low-carb options. Moderate amounts of certain root vegetables may be OK (unless you’re eating extremely low carb).

• Beer: Made from fermented grain and hops, beer is basically bread in liquid form. Avoid. Lower-carb beers (typically called “lite beer” in the US) are available, but keep in mind that they still contain more carbs than dry wine or pure liquor.
• Fruit: While berries like blueberries, raspberries and strawberries are fine in small to moderate amounts, be careful with other fruit. They are fairly high in carbs and sugar, which can raise blood sugar, may slow down weight loss and can possibly worsen metabolic issues.²² Consider it nature’s candy: fine for a special treat, but probably not something to consume daily on a low-carb diet.²³ Learn more 

Watch out

Be very skeptical of special “low-carb” products, such as pasta or chocolate. Unfortunately these products often work poorly and may have prevented weight loss for many people. They’re often full of carbs once you see through the creative marketing.

There are many companies that use deceptive advertising to entice you into buying their “low carb” products that are full of starch, flour, sugar alcohols and other sweeteners, and strange additives.²⁴

One of the largest of such companies was fined 8 million dollars for lying about the carb content of their products.

Two simple rules to avoid this junk:

1. Don’t eat “low carb” versions of high-carb stuff – like cookies, bars, chocolate, bread, pasta or ice cream – unless you are SURE of the ingredients (ideally by making it yourself).
2. Avoid products with the words “net carbs” on them. That’s usually just a way to fool you, and they are rarely good low-carb foods.

Read more about fake low-carb products

Also, preferably avoid margarine. It’s a solid form of industrial seed and vegetable oils. Why eat imitation butter when real butter is probably tastier and better for you?²⁵ Like industrial vegetable oils, margarine contains high amounts of omega-6 fat, which have been linked to inflammation in some studies.²⁶

Learn more about vegetable oils

Important: It’s low-carb, HIGH-FAT

After years of being told to avoid fat and eat low-fat foods, many people find the hardest part of adopting the diet is adding back in more fat. A low-carb diet needs the fat. Get it from using butter, coconut oil, high fat cheese, olive oil, avocado oil, even beef and bacon fat. Here are some easy tips.

Like a hybrid car engine, the body can burn two fuels for its energy needs. 1) glucose, from the breakdown of carbohydrates and 2) fats.³⁶ When you are no longer consuming a lot of carbs, the body’s engine will convert to burning fats.³⁷ It will either burn the fat you have eaten or the fat stored on your body in your adipose tissue (e.g. belly fat).

The body will only switch to fat as the primary fuel when its carb supply is low. The diet is sometimes called the low-carb, high-fat (LCHF) diet – because that is exactly how you eat.³⁸

At the start, do not deny yourself fat. Eat enough so that you are satisfied and you do not feel hungry. That way you will soon become what is called “fat adapted” — burning fat for fuel efficiently.³⁹ You will know that you are fat adapted when you do not need to eat every few hours and you no longer feel the highs and lows (“hangry” episodes) of the blood sugar roller coaster.

Once your body is fat adapted, you can then consume a little less fat at every meal and let your body burn what it needs for energy from your fat stores.⁴⁰ This can help you lose weight. If at any time you feel deprived, unsatisfied or have cravings, add fat back into your diet. Listen to your body. If you consume more fat than your body needs, it will slow down your fat loss. If you eat too little fat, however, you may feel tired, grumpy and hungry. Your body will tell you what it needs. Learn to listen to its cues again.

In short eat as much fat and low-carb food as you need to feel satisfied, healthy and full. You don’t need to count calories.⁴¹ Eat when you are hungry.⁴² Stop when you are full. Easy peasy!

Learn more