Low Carb Foods

Following is a list of no carb foods for you to enjoy.

• Water: Water is essential for your body's health, and not only is it free, but it is carb free! Drinking at least 8 glasses of water per day will help your body with digestion and keep you hydrated.
• Meat: Most meats are zero carbs unless they are processed and include fillers like sugar. To keep your fat level down, grill or bake the meat of your choice but avoid frying.
• Vegetables: A half cup of vegetables like spinach, lettuce, bok choy or celery are all zero carbs, but not all veggies are low or no carb choices. In fact, vegetables like potatoes are very high in carbohydrates. Summer squash varieties are low in carbs while winter squash is not so don't assume all squash is equal when it comes to carbohydrates.
• Cheese: There are several cheeses that are very low in carbs. For example, Monterey Jack and gruyere have only 0.1g per three slices. Other cheeses low in carbs are cheddar, fontina, and muenster.

Other items, such as butter, oils, vegetable shortenings, tea, parsley, mustard, club soda, diet drinks, and even some whipped cream have zero carbohydrates as well. Remember to check with your doctor, however, before you switch to a low carb or no carb diet.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Avoid all foods containing refined (processed) carbohydrates.
These are such things as breads, pastas, rolls, muffins, crumpets, pastries, bagels, pretzels, doughnuts, cookies, cakes, corn chips, most Mexican food, pizza, croissants, white (polished) rice, soft drinks, granola bars, breakfast bars, and most cereals. Avoid white flour and sugar. None are low carb foods. Think of these as bad carbs.
Avoid gluten-containing grains such as wheat, rolled oats, triticale (a wheat-rye mixture), rye, barley, spelt, and kamut. It may also be best to avoid corn, rice, wild rice, teff, millet, sorghum, sugarcane, and cane sugar.
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 full-fat dairy products.
Avoid all sweet fruits and dried fruits.
Avoid candy.
Avoid all sweetened foods including drinks and desserts.
Avoid sugar and especially "hidden" sugars.

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.

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