First of all, it may seem scary not knowing how to make the change in you and your families way of eating. Don't let it scare you. Just start with making little changes. With each change you make, you are step closer to being healthier. Think of it like a scale of what’s best and what’s not. At one end you have fried foods, processed carbs, cakes, sweets, ice cream. At the other end, very little carbs, whole foods, and no packaged goods. Don’t think it is impossible. Just do the best you can and each step is a step closer. Every step you can take to reduce your carbohydrate consumption is fantastic.
Next, I want to share with you the first 5 things you should stop eating to cut out sugar and carbs from your diet:
- Sodas, fruit juice, flavored milk and energy drinks – liquid sugar in a bottle. Even juices that are 100% juice are still loaded with sugar.
- Sweets, confectionary, sugary treats – and don’t be fooled but the ones that market themselves as being made with real fruit juice. They are still little cubes of sugar but packed into an attractive sweet.
- Baking, cakes, biscuits, pastries – all are incredibly high in sugar, wheat, carbs and bad fats.
- Cereals – especially the wholegrain ones. Highly processed, high in sugar and fortified. It will make you have a low sugar crash later in the morning and not fulfill you.
- Sugar & Flour – if you give up these 2 things, you will improve your health, weight and nutrition beyond belief. People may say it is restrictive and you are giving up entire food groups, but what you are giving up is food products. It is only because flour and sugar are made into so many products that it appears to be restrictive.
- Meat – all types of beef, pork, chicken, lamb etc.
- Fish – all types especially those high in Omega 3 such as salmon, mussels, tuna, sardines, etc.
- Chicken – skin on, free range
- Vegetables – all types that grow above the ground. Leafy greens, spinach, silver beet, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, avocados, mushrooms, lettuce, etc.
- Cheese – choose the full fat varieties.
- Cream – full fat, double, whipping.
- Full fat milk – avoid all flavored milks and avoid any milk in large quantities because the carbs will quickly add up
- Nuts and seeds – a great snack but just watch not to overindulge, especially on cashews which have a higher carb content.
- Eggs – choose free range if you can
- Fruit – best to eat the low carb, nutrient dense berries such as blueberries, blackberries etc. Serve with double cream to ensure you are satiated for longer.
- Fats – use butter, olive oil, coconut oil (high in oleic acid), lard
- All processed sugar drinks – this includes sodas and especially fruit juices which are incredibly high in carbs.
- All cakes, biscuits, jams, sweets.
- Seed Oils stop using any seed oils such as sunflower, canola, corn, grapes or margarines.
- All cereals – if you look at most cereal packets, they contain anywhere from 50%-80% carbs.
- Bread, pasta, potatoes, sugar etc. There is no nutritional value in these foods that you can't get more of by eating the proper vegetables.
- Fruit is something that should be limited because of the high fructose content. Yes fruit has vitamins and healthy nutrients, but you will be getting far more nutrients from your increased veggie intake. Choose nutrient dense, low carb fruits such as berries. Fruit such as pineapple, mango, and especially dried fruits, should be avoided. Also avoid ALL fruit juices. They have an incredibly high glycemic index, which will make your insulin spike (and start storing fat again).
- All wheat products have a high GI, raise your blood sugar and increase appetite
- Grains avoid all grains including wheat, oats, barley, spelt, sorghum
- Pasta high in carbohydrates and almost no nutritional value
- Potatoes as above
- Starchy vegetables if you can tolerate some carbs, choose highly colored starchy vegetables such as pumpkin, carrots, beetroot or sweet potato for their wonderful phytonutrients and vitamins.
- Rice very little nutritional value. Generally used to bulk out a meal. Try substituting rice for more vegetables.
- Rice crackers these are almost 80% carbs and incredibly processed, especially the flavored ones. Avoid.
- Diet or low fat products check the labels and you will see how processed they are and how much higher in carbs they are compared to their regular version. For example, low fat cream cheese can be up to 15% carbs, whereas the regular is only 4%.
Thanks for reading!