As the name suggests, following a low carb diet involves eating meals with reduced carbohydrates. People who follow this diet instead focus on consuming healthy fats, vegetables, some fruits and lots of protein-rich foods.
Low carb is not as restrictive as other diets like the ketogenic diet or the banting diet. Yet, despite being easier to following, eating low carb by removing carbohydrates and highly processed foods is a healthy way to support weight loss. If you're interested in diving into the the science, around carbohydrate restriction and weight loss, you can read more here.
What Is A Low Carb Meal Plan?
Because the low carb diet involves restricting carbohydrate rich foods, creating a low carb meal plan can feel overwhelming for some people. While there is some flexibilty, the vast majority of people who follow low-carb avoid foods like: bread and pasta, pastries and foods with added sugars.
Hands down, the main reason most people follow a low carb meal plan is to help with weight loss. However, many people use low carb meal planning to help with other chronic health issues such as type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome. While the science is far from settled, many reputable scientific studies report promising results managing type-2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome using a low carb diet protocol.
What Foods Can You Eat On A Low Carb Diet?
Eating low carb isn't as scary as it seems at first glance, trust us. The main thing to focus on is changing refined, processed carbohydrates for healthy unprocessed options.
By doing this alone, you're already eating a vastly different diet from the typical 'Western' or Amercian diet which is largely composed of processed, prepackaged foods. Below is some guidance about what to eat and what to avoid with low carb.
Foods To Eat on a Low Carb Diet
- High-quality protein
- Seafood
- Fish
- Eggs
- Full-fat dairy
- Low sugar fruit
- Vegetables
- Nuts and seeds
- Healthy oils and fats
Foods to Avoid on a Low Carb Diet
- Sugar
- Grains
- Starchy vegetables
- Low fat foods
- Processed foods
- Alcohol
- High Carbohydrate Foods
It's tempting to take a black and white approach with low carb (as with any diet). We're not aiming for zero carbohydrates here, the aim of the game is to significantly reduce overall carbohydrate intake. When you do consume carbohydrates make sure they're inside protein rich foods which aren't highly processed.
How Can A Low Carb Meal Planner Help You?
Because of it's restrictive nature, following a low carb meal plan to start with can be very helpful for many people.
A good low carb meal plan will give you all the recipes you need (low carb compatible ones, of course), as well a full shopping list.
Ultimate Meal Plans gives you a fully customizable low carb meal plan to suit your needs. You can choose the number of people you're cooking for, exclude ingredients to suit taste or dietary requirements and we'll give you a fully customized set of recipes and shopping list to match.
By the way, don't worry if you find that low carb isn't right for you, you can always chose another meal plan like keto, paleo, AIP or banting once you're inside our meal planner app.
Sample Low Carb Meal Plan Shopping List
Here's an example shopping list covering a typical week's ingredients for a low carb meal plan, this assumes you're cooking for a family of three.
CONDIMENTS
- 4 ½ tsp Dijon mustard
- 12 tbsp avocado mayo
- 6 tbsp avocado oil
- 6 tbsp butter
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 12 tsp tabasco
MEAT
- 18 oz boneless pork chops
- 15 piece prosciutto
- 12 sausage links
- 60 shrimp
- 36 oz stir fry beef
- 42 oz strip steak
- 3 can tuna
PRODUCE
- 4 ½ cups arugula
- 6 head broccoli
- 6 stalks celery
- 2 ½ cucumbers
- 3 lemons
- 27 ½ tbsp onions
- 12 slices red onion
- 1 cup red onion
MISCELLANEOUS
- 36 oz coffee
- 3 spoonful cream cheeses
- 3 spear dill pickles
- 12 eggs
- 1 ½ cups heavy creams
- 1 ½ cups ice
- 2 ½ cups pancake mixes
- 3 handful pecans
- 3 handful pork rinds
- 12 slices roasted red peppers
- 1 cup roasted red pepper
- 21 slices salami
- 3 handful Moon Cheeses
- 3 cups bone broths
- 3 tsp cacao nibs
- 1 ½ cups cheddar cheeses
- 3 cheese sticks
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 9 tbsp chocolate chips
- 3 spoonful coconut butter
- 2 cups coconut cream
- 1 ½ cups coconut flakes
- 15 tbsp coconut milk
- 4 ½ tbsp coconut oil
Low Carb Meal Plan Recipe Ideas
Want some ideas to start cooking and eating low carb? Below are some sample recipe ideas to get your tastebuds rumbling.
Low Carb Breakfast recipes
Keto Coco Coffee
Sausage and Spicy Dip
Coconut Pancakes
Sausage Scramble
Low Carb Lunch recipes
Crispy Prosciutto Salad
Prosciutto Rollups
Tuna Bites
Low Carb Dinner recipes
Shrimp Scampi
Steak Bites with Cheese Sauce
Thai Shrimp Saute
Sample Low Carb Recipe Ideas
Coming soon!
Sources & References
Want to learn more about eating low carb and the low carb diet? Below are some great references we've collected from our articles and from around the web to help you.
- https://ultimatemealplans.com/articles/low-carb-vs-keto
- https://ultimatepaleoguide.com/the-best-low-carb-foods/
- https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb
- https://www.ibreatheimhungry.com/week-one-ketolow-carb-7-day-meal-plan-progress/
