The 50 Best Low-Carb Foods, Plus Recipe Ideas & Tips - Part 2

The Low-Carb Diet: Overview of Benefits and How It Works

(Part 1 of this article featured on Weds 10th May).

A large body of research shows that for those who make good candidates, following a low-carb diet has many health benefits. While it’s not always necessary to give up all unprocessed, whole-food sources of carbs (like fruit and starchier veggies mentioned above), cutting down on processed foods, added sugar and even grains can help many experience benefits like: 

Faster weight loss, and usually a easier time maintaining a healthy weight. Once glucose from carbohydrate foods are no longer available for energy, the body will use stored body fat instead, or fat and protein consumed from foods.
Enhanced satiety from meals, reduced hunger and decreased cravings (especially for carb-heavy foods and sweets)
Normalized blood sugar levels. This is due to better control over insulin and blood sugar (glucose) spikes. For those who are pre-diabetics or have diabetes, this is often crucial for preventing symptoms from worsening or complications.
Neuroprotective effects and enhanced cognitive performance, including less “brain fog” or dips in energy, improved memory in the elderly and reduced symptoms of epilepsy
Sometimes improvements in hormonal balance. This often results in better sleep, less fatigue, reduced pain or muscle weakness, and more energy overall.
Reduced bone loss or osteoporosis
In athletes, possible favorable changes in body mass and body composition, along with increase in the relative values of maximal oxygen uptake (VO2 max) and oxygen uptake at lactate threshold (VO2 LT)
In some cases, lower risk for cardiovascular disease or metabolic syndrome, including normalizing factors like blood sugar or unhealthy cholesterol levels
Wondering what types of foods you really shouldn’t have when on a low-carb diet? Because they’re higher in things like added sugar and carbs from flour or thickeners, limiting the foods below will keep your carb intake on the lower end:


If you’re intending to eat very low carb, avoid all grains (including wheat, barley, oats, rice and other whole grains). This also includes all foods made with grain flour such as bread, cakes, biscuits, chips, cereal, muffins, pasta, etc.
Sugar and foods that contain artificial or added sweeteners (honey, cane sugar, coconut sugar, etc.)
Most commercial fruits and fruit juices (juice is high in sugar, with the exception of lime or lemon juice)
Most pre-made condiments, sauces or packet mixes, which tend to be high in sugar
Alcohol, soda and other sweetened drinks
If you’re looking to drastically reduce carbs (such as following a ketogenic diet), you’ll also want to avoid most dairy products that contain milk, yogurt, ricotta or cottage cheese. Higher fat, low-carb cheeses are often included even on very low-carb diets because they have very few carbs.
Remember that regardless of what number of carbs you aim to eat everyday, the real goal is to consistently consume more real, whole foods and reduce intake of processed ingredients.

It can be wise to experiment with a very low-carb diet for a period of time, but once you’re working on maintenance (the way you intend to basically continue eating forever), aim to eat a variety of foods, including lots of different plants that will contain at least some carbs.

To sustain a healing diet long-term, develop a solid understanding of how many carbs daily from a well-rounded diet you can tolerate without gaining weight or suffering from other health problems.  You use this information about your unique biochemistry to sustain a “normal eating pattern” – complete with things like healthy proteins and fats, along with fresh veggies, fruits and even some whole starchy veggies, legumes or grains if they work well for you.

Final Thoughts on Low-Carb Foods 

 Low-carb diets can help people lose weight quickly and potentially improve certain health conditions like sugar dependence, brain fog, fatigue, and risk factors for metabolic syndrome or diabetes.
Low-carb foods include non-starchy veggies (like leafy greens or cruciferous veggies), healthy fats like coconut or olive oil, butter and hard cheeses, meat, seafood and eggs. Moderate sources of carbs are nuts, seeds, beans, legumes and some starchier veggies.
Depending on your overall health and goals, it’s not usually necessarily to completely avoid healthy sources of carbs in moderation, like fruit or starchy veggies. In some cases, sprouted or soaked grains and legumes (higher in carbs) can also be included in an otherwise balanced diet that includes lots of low-carb foods.

What can you do with low-carb foods? Low-carb recipes include that can be made without things like added sugars, refined grains or artificial sweeteners include protein shakes, smoothies, salads, crockpot recipes, fajitas, burgers or meatballs, and much more.


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Click here for Part 1 of this article featured on Weds 10th May.

Please click to see the full article.

by Dr Josh Axe

Sugar - A BIG Problem In Packaged Foods

Natural Health News – A shocking new analysis from Canada shows how ubiquitous added sugar is in processed and packaged foods.

The researchers analysed of over 40,000 commonly available packaged foods and beverages and found that 66% – including some infant formulas and baby food products and many so-called ‘healthier’ foods such as yogurt, juice, breakfast cereals, and snack bars – have at least one type of added sugar in their ingredients list.

“People may be surprised to learn how many packaged foods and beverages have sugars added to them, especially foods that most would consider ‘healthier,'” says Dr. Erin Hobin, a scientist in Public Health Ontario’s health promotion, chronic disease and injury prevention division and an author on the paper.”

Added sugars were highest in the expected food products such as candy, sweet bakery products and soda pop. But we also found that the majority of products frequently marketed as ‘healthy’ options, like granola bars or yogurt, also listed added sugars in their ingredients. In addition, almost half of all infant formulas and baby food we studied listed added sugars as part of their ingredients.”


Many types of sugar

Writing in the journal CMAJ Open, the researchers from Public Health Ontario (PHO) and the University of Waterloo say they searched for 30 different added sugar terms – everything from ‘sugar’ to dextrose, high-fructose corn syrup, glucose, fructose and fruit juice concentrate.

The term ‘added sugars’ was defined as all sugars added to foods by the manufacturer plus the sugars naturally present in honey, syrups and fruit juices. These naturally-occurring sugars are considered ‘added sugars’ in this study because fibre slows down the absorption of sugar, and the fibre is removed during processing (e.g., fruit juices) or is never present in these types of foods (e.g., honey).

Excluded from the analysis were fresh fruits or vegetables, fresh meat, raw ingredients (water, baking ingredients, coffee, tea, fats and oils, etc.) and non-food items (such as natural health products or nutrition and protein supplements).

Most of them ‘hidden’

The variety of names for added sugars makes them particularity difficult to spot for all but the most dedicated label readers. Hiding them in plain sight, behind an alphabet soup of different names means many of us never really know how much added sugar is in our food.

And yet, added sugars are particularly concerning because they tend to be consumed in much larger quantities than naturally-occurring sugars found in foods such as bananas or a glass of milk. Added sugars can also be added to foods and beverages that normally contain little, if any, sugars.

Eating and drinking excess amounts of sugars are associated with a variety of health problems.

A snapshot of the sugar problem

For Canadians the survey  provides a baseline snapshot of the added sugars in packaged products commonly found in grocery stores. But, because many of the foods surveyed are produced by multinational corporations selling products all over the world, the study also gives an hint of what the added sugar picture looks like in other developed countries as well.

A number of health organisations including the World Health Organization, United States Dietary Guidelines Committee, the UK Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition, and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada have all recently recommended limiting intakes of added sugars to a maximum of 5-10% of daily calories consumed. Many of us consume more than that.

“The number of products that contained added sugars was surprisingly high, particularly for beverages and baby foods,” says Dr. David Hammond, of the University of Waterloo’s School of Public Health and Health Systems and senior author on the research paper.

“At the moment, it is very difficult for consumers to identify the presence of added sugars using nutrition labels and impossible to identify amounts of added sugars in packaged foods. Health Canada recently proposed changes to nutrition labelling, which may include ‘traffic lights’ for high sugar labels on the front of packs, to help consumers to identify and avoid foods high in added sugars.”