Is it really possible to eat so few carbohydrates?

Yes it is…once you start paying attention to the food you eat and how many carbohydrates (carbs) each food has.

Carbohydrates are made up of sugars and starches and are found in fruits, grains, vegetables and milk products. Carbs are not bad for you. You need them. They are healthy.

However, not all carbs are created equal. Carbohydrates from refined sugars and highly processed grains are quickly digested and thrust into the blood stream as glucose and causing your insulin levels to spike. You use some to fuel your body and the rest is stored as fat!

Lowering your intake of carbs does not mean eating less vegetables however. It just means eating fewer of the vegetables that have a high amounts of carbs in them and eating more leafy green vegetables that have less carbs in them!

e.g.) 1/2 cup spinach =  .2g net carbs

1/2 cup baked potato = 12g net carbs

If you look at any diet that is aiming to lose weight, they all reduce your intake of carbs.

Learn how many carbs are in your favorite foods.

It is important to pay attention to the foods that you eat and understand which ones have a high concentration of carbs and which ones you can eat more of, get more nutrients, and avoid the insulin spike.  Even if you are skeptical about the low carb way of eating, and you chose to fuel your body with carbohydrates instead of fats, it is still important to stick to whole, non-processed, high fiber carbohydrate sources.

Make sure you know that you have to track net carbs. You have to subtract off the fiber and the sugar alcohols and that is the net carb number that you track.

NET CARBS = TOTAL CARBOHYDRATES – FIBER – SUGAR ALCOHOLS

Fiber is non-digestible to our body so just goes right through you and does not cause insulin spikes. Sugar alcohols are sugar substitutes made from alcohol such as erythritol, xylitol, etc. More about those in a different page or post.

e.g.) 1 whole Avocado = 17g carbs 14g fiber = 3 net carbs

As you first learn what food is high in carbs and which are lower, it is important to use a carb tracker learn the carbs in your favorite foods. To make things easier, choose a counter that calculates the net carbs for you.

You can use online carb trackers or apps for your phone.

There is bit of learning curve with this, but since most of us have a bit of an eating routine, soon you will know how much of eat food you can have and you won’t need to track.