Low-carb foods
– what to eat
, medical review by Dr. Michael Tamber, MD
Evidence basedLow-carb foods include meat, fish, eggs, vegetables and natural fats, like butter.
On this page, you can learn how to make low carb simple. You get a guide to what to eat and what to avoid. You can also use our 1,000+ awesome low-carb recipes and our free 2-week get started challenge.
Visual low-carb guides
This guide is for adults with health issues, including obesity, that could benefit from a low-carb diet.
1. Low-carb foods list
Foods to eat
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- Meat: Any type: Beef, pork, lamb, game, poultry, etc.Feel free to eat the fat in the meat as well as the skin on the chicken.If you can afford it, you may want to consider organic or grass-fed meats, although whether this has any significant health benefit is controversial, and scientific findings are still preliminary.Top meat recipes
- Meat: Any type: Beef, pork, lamb, game, poultry, etc.
- 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.Avoid breading. Top fish recipes
- Eggs: All kinds: Boiled, fried, scrambled, omelets, etc. You may want to choose pasture raised eggs, if possible.Top egg recipes
- Natural fats and high-fat sauces: Using butter and cream for cooking can make your low-carb foods taste better. 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. Learn more
- Vegetables that grow above ground: Cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, kale, collards, bok choy, spinach, asparagus, zucchini, eggplant, olives, mushrooms, cucumber, avocado (technically a fruit but usually included with vegetables), 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 enjoy delicious food while losing weight.Be careful with all milk, as it contains a lot of milk sugar.Avoid flavored and sugary products.
- Nuts: Great for a treat (in moderation) instead of popcorn, candy or chips.Learn more
- Berries: Okay in moderation, if you do not need to be super strict with carbs. Great with whipped cream. Learn more
Drink
- Water – Try to make this your drink of choice. Flavored or sparkling water is fine too, but be sure to read the ingredients list to check for added sugars, or simply look at the nutrition label.
- Coffee – Black or with small amounts of milk or cream is ideal for weight loss.Beware of adding lots of milk or cream, especially if you drink coffee regularly throughout the day, even when you’re not hungry.But if you are hungry and need extra calories, feel free to use full-fat cream. Or try it with coconut oil and butter – “Bulletproof coffee”.
- Tea – The information for coffee above applies to tea too.
- More options in our full low-carb drinks guide
Recipes
For ideas and inspiration for appetizing meals that we think you and your family will love, take a look at our more than 1,000 low-carb recipes. Every week, we add more. You will find some of the most popular recipes below, but we have recipes to suit almost any taste.
Meal plans
Do you want to try low carb? Sign up for the free 2-week low-carb challenge or use our free 30-day low-carb meal plan.
Special events
Invited out? Celebrating? You don’t have to derail your diet. While too much celebrating can slow down weight loss, after a special event, just get right back to the diet and progress will resume.
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- Alcohol: You can drink the following in moderation: dry wine, champagne or sparkling wine (extra dry or brut), whisky, brandy, vodka and gin.Vodka and soda water with a wedge of lime makes a great, crisp drink. See our guide to alcoholic beverages.
- Alcohol: You can drink the following in moderation: dry wine, champagne or sparkling wine (extra dry or brut), whisky, brandy, vodka and gin.
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- Dark chocolate: Above 70% cocoa, preferably only in small amounts.Full low-carb snacks guide
- Dark chocolate: Above 70% cocoa, preferably only in small amounts.
2. Do not eat high-carb foods
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- Beer: Made from fermented grain and hops, beer is basically bread in liquid form. We recommend avoiding it altogether. 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 fruits. They are fairly high in carbs and sugar, which can raise blood sugar, slow down weight loss, and possibly worsen metabolic issues.Consider it nature’s candy: fine for a special treat, but probably not something to consume daily on a very low-carb diet.Learn more
Watch out
Be very skeptical of special “low-carb” products, such as pasta or chocolate.
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.
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:
- 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).
- 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 that contains trans fats. Why eat imitation butter when real butter is probably tastier and better for you?
3. Make it real
Eat high-quality, minimally-processed, low-carb foods.
A good strategy is to eat only low-carb foods that were available hundreds or even thousands of years ago. If it has a long list of ingredients and words on its label you’ve never heard of, don’t eat it.
Handy brochure
Take this simple print-out-guide of which low-carb foods to eat and which to avoid to the store, or give it to interested family and friends.
How low to go?
How many grams of carbs can you eat in a day and still be low carb? Many people on the Standard American Diet (SAD) consume more than 250 to 350 grams of carbs a day.
However, the more weight you want to lose, or the more your health has suffered from the SAD way of eating, the fewer carbs you may want to consume when beginning a low-carb diet.
Learn more about the ketogenic diet.
Some people can do very well consuming slightly more carbs — about 30 to 50 grams a day — as long as those come from healthy, real low-carb foods, devoid of added sugars or refined carbohydrates. Once people reach their weight loss or health goals, some find they can add a few more carbs back into their diets from time to time.
You may need to experiment to see where you feel your best and are able to easily maintain your weight and control cravings.
Here are three visual examples of various levels of carbs on a dinner plate. Learn more about how to determine the right amount of carbs for you.
Important: Don’t fear 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 more fat. A low-carb diet needs fat, especially in the beginning. Fat adds taste and calories. Get it from using butter, coconut oil, high fat cheese, olive oil, avocado oil — even beef and bacon fat. Just don’t overdo it, since eating too much fat can prevent you from burning your stored body fat.
How do you know how much fat you should eat?
At the start, do not deny yourself fat. Eat enough so that you are satisfied and you do not feel hungry. Reducing your carb intake is what helps you become “fat adapted” — burning fat for fuel efficiently. Eating fat helps you make the transition without being hungry or having intense cravings.
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. This can help you lose weight.
In short, start by reducing your carbs, eating enough protein, and adding fat for taste. You don’t need to count calories.
4. Low-carb breakfasts
Here are some of our low-carb breakfast favorites, followed by other fantastic options:
Other basic low-carb breakfasts
- Leftovers from last night’s dinner
- Coffee with cream
- A can of mackerel and boiled eggs
- Avocado, salmon and sour cream
- Cheese with butter
- Boiled eggs mashed with butter, chopped chives, salt and pepper
- A piece of brie cheese and some ham or salami (or a full breakfast tapas plate)
- High-fat yoghurt with nuts and seeds (and perhaps berries)
The no-breakfast option
Do you need breakfast on a low-carb diet? No.
On a low-carb, high-fat diet you’re likely not as hungry and you don’t need to eat as often.
In fact, skipping breakfast is often a component of time-restricted eating, a popular version of intermittent fasting. This may speed up weight loss and improve the control of type 2 diabetes.
Are you feeling brave enough to skip breakfast?
5. Low-carb lunches and dinners
Suggestions for low-carb lunches and dinners:
- Meat, fish or chicken dishes with vegetables and a rich full-fat sauce. There are many alternatives to potatoes, such as mashed cauliflower.
- Stews, soups or casseroles with low-carb ingredients.
- You can use most recipes in cookbooks if you avoid the carbohydrate-rich ingredients. Or check out our full low-carb recipe site.
- Drink water with your meal or (occasionally) a glass of wine.
Recipes
Other simple sides
- Salads made from above-ground vegetables, perhaps with some kind of cheese. Try out different kinds.
- Boiled broccoli, cauliflower or Brussels sprouts.
- Vegetables au gratin: Fry squash, aubergine (eggplant) and fennel (or other vegetables you like) in butter. Add salt and pepper. Put in baking dish and add grated cheese. Bake at 225° C (450° F) until the cheese melts and turns golden.
- Vegetables stewed in cream, e.g. cabbage or spinach.
- Avocado
- Vegetable spaghetti can be used instead of pasta. Try it
Dining out or meals with friends
- Restaurants: Usually not a big problem. You can ask to replace potatoes or fries with a salad or low-carb vegetables.
- Fast food: Doner kebab or other meat or chicken kebab can be a decent option (avoid the bread). At hamburger chains the hamburgers (without the bun) are usually the least bad option. Avoid soft drinks and fries, obviously. Drink water or unsweetened iced tea. Pizza toppings are usually OK. Simply remove from the crust and enjoy.
- Nuts or cheese are good “emergency food” when there are no other low-carb options to be found. Remember to ask they leave the crackers out, possibly substituting walnuts or almonds — you may even get more cheese!
- If you eat strictly, every day, it’s less of a problem to make a few exceptions when you are invited out. If you’re not sure what will be served, you can eat something at home before you leave.
6. Low-carb snacks and desserts
Snacks
Olives and nuts may replace potato chips as snacks. Here are more low-carb snack options:
- Mixed nuts Learn more
- Sausage: Cut it in pieces, add a piece of cheese and stick a toothpick through them. You may want to check the nutrition label for the carb content of the sausages. Some are made cheaper by adding in starchy carbs instead of meat.
- Vegetables with dip, Try cucumber sticks; red, yellow or green peppers; cauliflower; etc. More
- Cream cheese rolls: Spread some cream cheese on a piece of salami, prosciutto/cold cuts or a long slice of cucumber; then roll it up.
- Olives
- Parmesan cheese crisps: On a baking tray, form small piles of grated Parmesan cheese. Heat in oven at 225°C (450°F). Let them melt until they turn a nice color (be careful – they burn easily). Serve as chips, perhaps with some dip.
Visual low-carb guides
Snack recipes
Dessert recipes
Note
Please note that eating when you are not hungry – e.g. when snacking in front of the TV – will slow down weight loss.
7. Low-carb bread
Do you miss bread? There are good low-carb options, but unfortunately it’s hard to find them in stores. “Low carb” bread from stores is often far from low carb:
- The problem with low-carb bread
- Another low-carb bread company lying through their teeth
- Why you should never trust a low-carb label
Recipes
Low-carb bread is fairly easy to do at home, though. Here are our top options.
8. Q&A
Here are common questions about low-carb foods. For other low-carb questions, feel free to refer to our full low-carb FAQ.
I don’t eat meat, or I don’t eat dairy. Can I still eat low carb?
Yes. Just eat other low-carb foods. You can even eat a vegetarian low-carb diet, or a dairy-free low-carb diet, so it’s absolutely possible.
Can I eat fruit on a low-carb diet?
You can eat fruit in moderation, and your best bet is berries. Fruit contains a lot of sugar (it’s nature’s candy).How much fruit you can eat mainly depends on how many carbs you’re aiming for. If you’re targeting below 20 grams daily, for a strict low-carb diet (probably the most effective version for weight loss and type 2 diabetes reversal), you will have to enjoy fruit in smaller amounts and only occasionally.
On a more moderate or liberal low-carb diet, let’s say 75 grams of carbs per day, you could eat a serving or two of fruit most days. Learn more in our full low-carb fruits guide
Can I drink alcohol on a low-carb diet?
Yes. But make sure to drink low-carb choices, like dry wine or whiskey. Full low-carb alcohol guideMore
