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Whether you decide to go keto or paleo it often leaves most people wondering what they’re going to eat. More often than not people find their way to a low carb diet due to blood sugar concerns. Weight loss is popular but honestly elevated blood sugar and weight gain are one in the same. Does that mean you can never eat carbs again? No. The biggest factor is how many carbs you can eat is how your body tolerates them. With time most people find their insulin resistance significantly improves when they adopt a low carb diet. When people lower the amount of carbohydrates in their diet big things typically follow. The rough patch happens in the beginning because people simply don’t know what low carb foods they can eat.
Low Carb Swaps On A Budget
There a few mistakes I see beginners make that often derails their efforts. For one, most people can’t afford multiple sets of groceries. They buy one set for the low carb person and another set for the high carb members. If you’re making a change to a low carb diet to improve your blood sugar why wouldn’t you do that for everyone else? Insulin resistance used to be called adult onset diabetes and now we’re seeing kids develop insulin resistance. Lifestyle is a huge factor that determines whether a person develops insulin resistance. Feed them well because once diabetes develops it presents more challenges for a person who wants to switch to eating low carb foods.
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The other problem I see is people buy all the low carb swaps they can find. If it says paleo or keto there’s an assumption that it’s automatically healthy. That simply isn’t the case. Many of these products might be a low carb swap for a familiar favorite but many still contain vegetable oil and other questionable ingredients. Even if it is a clean keto or paleo food it’s often much more expensive than its SAD (standard American diet) comparison. You can buy paleo tortillas but they’re roughly 3 times more expensive than regular tortillas. The same is true for chips, crackers, cookies, and snack bars.
How To Shop For Low Carb Foods
If you want to go low carb on a budget eating properly is how it’s done. A produce stand on the side of the road typically offers better quality at a fraction of the price. If the produce is locally grown it will also contain more nutrients than supermarket produce shipped across the globe. The general rule is vegetables that grow above the ground are lower in carbohydrates than root vegetables. Examples of above ground vegetables are: greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, celery, green beans, endive, radicchio, zucchini, yellow squash, etc.
Meat is the ultimate no carb food. It’s made of essential fatty acids and essential amino acids. There is no such thing as an essential carbohydrate. Your body can make glucose through a process called gluconeogenesis. While the body can convert excess protein into glucose it’s a demand driven process. That is, unless the body really feels it needs to make glucose you’re not going to get a sugar rush from eating a steak. The easiest low carb diet is a a piece of meat with one or more low carb vegetables on the side. Finish your dish or cook everything in a healthy fat.
Play In The Kitchen To Find Low Carb Swaps
Wondering what low carb foods you can eat is the frustrating bit when you first get started. It really is like learning to cook all over again. But, if you know how to cook I think you’ll have an easier transition. For those who don’t know how to cook I highly recommend watching some cooking shows. The great chefs (Emeril Lagasse, Gordon Ramsay, Jamie Oliver, & Jacques Pepin) keep it pretty clean when they cook. It might not always be low carb but they can show you enough of the basic techniques. It’s how I learned to cook.
Try to look at ingredients in a way that you’ve never considered them before. I’m sure you’ve heard about zucchini noodles for a low carb swap. The other day I learned that you can also do the same with a daikon radish. When making stir-fry cut cabbage into 1/4 inch strips. As the cabbage cooks down it takes the place of noodles. Get creative and use jicama, romaine, or endive as a taco shell you can fill with a wide variety of things.
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