Foods Low in Carbs

Unprocessed low carbohydrate foods

Whenever possible eat completely unprocessed low carb foods. Eat organically grown foods. Eat non-allergenic vegetables and fruits.

Since modern fruits and fruit juices are high in carbs and you can get all the phytonutrients necessary from vegetables, it is best to avoid them or to limit intake to just some berried.

The greater the variety of vegetables eaten, the less likely you'll be to develop food allergies and intolerances.

Eating your favorite foods daily can lead to food intolerance and addictive or masked allergy. This can seriously interfere with your ability to lose weight.

Especially if you have a leaky gut (abnormal intestinal permeability), it is much better to rotate foods, in other words, wait at least four days after consuming a kind of food before having it again. This also helps to promote variety in the low carb foods you consume.

When digested, all carbs are sugars. So, think of eating carbs as eating sugar.

Moreover, think of eating refined (processed) carbohydrates (we list these further down this page) as eating concentrated sugar.

Your body can make everything it needs from proteins and fats. The only carbs you should consume are the natural carbs that are in plants such as fresh vegetables. If you don't eliminate all processed carbs, at least seriously restrict them (apart from the occasional treat).

List of Low Carb Foods: Rule 1

Pick foods low in carbohydrates.

The task is to find good low carb foods that work best for you.

Some selections from the favorable (recommended) list of carbohydrate foods may not work well for you, and some selections from the less favorable (questionable) list of carbohydrates foods may not hinder you.

The following lists of foods low in carbs are initial guidelines.

You are unique. What works well for someone else make not work best for you. Even if only for a few weeks, keeping a written record of exactly what you eat and how you feel can be extremely helpful.

If you do that and follow the program presented here , you'll quickly be on the way to real weight loss.

The first goal is to get your daily intake of carbs down to 25 grams or lower and keep it there in order to lose body fat.

Once you are where you should be in terms of body composition (in other words, your percentage of body fat), you may raise your carb intake slightly but continue to restrict or eliminate all processed carbs.

It is important that you get all or nearly all of your carbs from natural foods such as vegetables and not from processed grains.

It is neither necessary nor usually desirable to eliminate dietary carb intake or to reduce it much below 25 grams daily.

Even from natural sources, always limit calories from proteins to a maximum of 40%. Keep your total daily grams of carbs at 25 or less. Get your remaining calories from fats from natural sources.

List of Low Carb Foods: Rule 2

Recommended foods low in carbs

In general, the best low carb foods from plants are non-starchy vegetables.

Especially important are the leafy green vegetables like spinach. Other good foods low in carbs are asparagus; lettuce; mustard greens; beet greens; turnip greens; parsley; kale; collard; bok choy; broccoli; cauliflower; celery; cucumber; green, red, or Chinese cabbage; mushrooms (unless you are following an anti-candida diet); sweet or hot peppers; yellow summer squash; and zucchini.

Other foods low in carbs are beets; carrots; red or yellow onions; watercress; kohlrabi; turnips; avocados; pumpkin; radish; and brussel sprouts. The stems and leaves of vegetables may often be used in salads.

If you can afford the carbs, other possibilities from plants are:

Seeds or fresh olives.

Tea, especially green tea.

Coffee (without sugar or cream), but not over 4 cups daily.

Fresh fruits (unless you are in the initial weeks of an anti-candida diet) such as melons, bananas, tomatoes, figs, lemons, limes, apples, pears, kiwis, plums, and all kinds of berries as well as citrus fruits like oranges, grapefruit, pineapple, and tangerines.

Fresh coconut and unsweetened coconut milk.

Fresh garlic, ginger, turmeric, cinnamon and other antioxidant, anti-inflammatory culinary spices.

Oregano, dill, thyme, and sage and other herbs.

Soy foods and soy protein powders (but not allowed on an anti-candida diet or, of course, if you are allergic to them).

Brown rice and rice protein powder (but only if you can afford the carbs).

Foods from animals:

Eggs (but not more than 1 yolk daily) and egg whites.

Fresh fish two to five times weekly—especially wild caught salmon, Alaskan halibut, orange roughy, sardines, anchovies, Chilean sea bass, trout, and mackerel. Shellfish (such as shrimp, crab, clams, oysters, and lobster) is fine about once a week (although shellfish are common allergens and may also accumulate toxins).

Lean red meat (such as grass-fed buffalo) or wild game (such as deer, elk, or rabbit) once or twice weekly.

Grass-fed beef that hasn't been treated with hormones or antibiotics.

Wild game birds (such as duck, goose, pheasant, and quail) once or twice weekly.

Domestic poultry is acceptable if it has been range-fed and not treated with hormones or antibiotics.

Rabbit.

Goat. Internal animal organs (such as liver, heart, pancreas, and bone marrow) are fine once or twice weekly.

Pickled herring (unless you are following an anti-candida diet).

Alcohol: wine (especially red, unless you suffer from migraines triggered by red wine) is acceptable (but no alcohol if you are following an anti-candida diet). If you drink alcohol, it's unwise to have more than one drink daily if you are female or two drinks daily if you are male. Only unsweetened alcoholic beverages should be consumed.

With respect to oils, use liberal amounts of omega-3 fatty acids (for example, from deep water fish or fish oil supplements) and omega-9 fatty acids (for example, from cold-pressed, extra virgin olive oil). Use a more restricted intake of omega-6 oils (for example, many vegetable oils). Canola, flaxseed, and walnut oils are acceptable.

List of Low Carb Foods: Rule 3

Questionable foods low in carbs

If you use these at all, use them moderately and only if you can afford the carbs. You may be able to eat one of these as an occasional treat (in other words, once a week).

Tuna (which may contain high concentrations of mercury). Sausage and cold cuts. (However, unless you make your own, sausages and cold cuts are usually full of additives and/or sugars.) Dairy products: nonfat milk, low fat or nonfat cheese or cottage cheese, low fat sour cream, low fat cream cheese, or plain yogurt (without sugar). (Our hunter-gatherer ancestors never consumed any of these.)

Legumes (beans, peas, peanuts, and so on). (Our hunter-gatherer ancestors did not evolve eating these.)

White onions.

Potatoes, sweet potatoes, and yams.

Corn and cornbread, brown rice, amaranth, buckwheat, and quinoa. (Again, our foraging ancestors never ate these.)

Nuts and nut butters. (However, peanuts and peanut butter are common allergens and cashews are higher in carbs.)

Commercial dressings and condiments.

List of Low Carb Foods: Rule 4

These foods low in carbs are to be avoided

These are good reasons to avoid these foods even if some are on a list of low carb foods.

Avoid all trans fats, which are found in all hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated fats, oils, and margarines.

Avoid all foods that have been canned, frozen, milled, irradiated or extracted such as canned vegetables, frozen dinners, and packaged cookies or cakes. Such harsh processing destroys nutrients.

Avoid large fish such shark and swordfish because they may contain high concentrations of mercury.

List of Low Carb Foods: Rule 5

Avoid all foods containing refined (processed) carbohydrates.

These are such things as breads, pastas, rolls, muffins, flour, crumpets, pastries, bagels, buns, pretzels, doughnuts, cookies, biscuits, cakes, tacos, corn chips, wraps, most Mexican food, pizza, croissants, white (polished) rice, wheat, corn, soft drinks, sodas, sugary drinks, foods containing corn syrup, candy/toffee/sweets, potato chips, batter, breadcrumbs, pastry, pastries, desserts, jams, jelly, jello, dumplings, pasty/pastie, pies, batter, breadcrumbs, store bought cooked meats/cold cuts if they have added sugars and additives), sausages/hot dog frankfurters if they contain carbohydrate fillers, additives or sugar, all sugars, all products containing sugar, granola bars, breakfast bars, and most cereals. Think of these as bad carbohydrates.

Avoid gluten-containing grains such as wheat, rolled oats, triticale (a wheat-rye mixture), rye, barley, spelt, and kamut. It may also be best for some people to avoid wild rice, teff, millet, and sorghum.

Avoid grain fed beef and grain-fed buffalo.

Avoid meat from feedlots where animals are treated with antibiotics.

Avoid sweetened dairy products such as frozen yogurt.

Avoid all dried fruits.

Avoid all sweetened foods.

Look out for "hidden" sugars in foods and drinks.

For a short tutorial on how to read food labels and spot 'hidden' sugars, see weight loss tip number 4 on our web page: Top 10 Weight Loss Tips. You will find that page listed on the navigation buttons.

As we previously stated, refined processed carbohydrate is a major cause of weight gain, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome X, obesity, diabetes type 2, food addictions, overeating, and many diet related diseases.

When digested, all carbs are sugars. So, think of eating carbs as eating sugar and think of eating refined (processed) carbohydrates as eating concentrated sugar.

---

sidebar quotation from Melissa Diana Smith: "Grains may seem the staff of life, but they're really scythes that insidiously whittle away most people's health. . . To stay fit and free of disease, all of us should eat fewer grains. Some of us should eat no grains at all." 

sumber : unknown