Many people who are new to low carb dieting make the mistake of thinking that carbohydrates are only found in foods like pasta, bread, etc – the starchy foods that make up the ‘carbohydrate’ level of the food pyramid. But this not true at all.

The truth is that all foods that come from plants contain some level of carbohydrates. It may be very low, as in lettuce which is less than 2% carbohydrate, but there is always some. There is also a small amount of carbohydrate in some animal foods, including eggs, milk and its products and organ meats such as liver and kidneys.

So here is a list of no carb foods for your reference.

MEAT: beef, lamb, pork, rabbit, venison, bison, kangaroo, reindeer.

POULTRY: chicken, turkey, duck, goose, quail, pigeon, ostrich, emu, guineafowl.

FISH: tuna, salmon, trout, bream, pollock, cod, haddock, plaice, mackerel, mullet, seabass.

SEAFOOD: crab, shrimp.

FATS: cooking oils, butter.

All of the these no carb foods must be in their pure form, not prepared with any sauce, coating or other added ingredients. For example, chicken has no carbs if you roast it without anything added, but chicken nuggets have a ton of carbs in the coating. There may also be carbs in processed meats like ham and sausages.

No carb foods can be eaten in unlimited quantities on the Atkins diet, but keep in mind that many other low carb plans restrict the amount of fats that you can eat, especially saturated fats. Therefore, you might not be able to eat a lot of butter on your diet plan, for example.

That may seem counterintuitive, but it is important to understand that all diet plans are carefully calculated to help you lose weight within their own boundaries. You cannot mix and match them. So although the Atkins diet allows you to eat all the butter you want, you are more limited in the amounts of other foods, such as beans. Check the details for the plan that you are following to be sure that you do not jeopardize your weight loss.

When you are on a low carb diet, or in fact any diet plan, you are likely to become bored if you keep eating the same things every day. Keep changing your meal plan and you are much more likely to escape cravings and stay on track. A good way to do this is to be sure of all of the low carb foods that you can eat, and look for plenty of recipes for each one.

So keep the list of no carb foods where you will see it often, and try all of them. Even if you think there is something on the list that you do not like, you can probably find a way of preparing it that will make it delicious for you. Try combining it with your favorite vegetables, for example. Then you will increase the variety in your diet, helping you to satisfy your nutritional requirements as well as avoiding boredom. That is a great use of no carb foods.

Deviled Eggs

Hard boil eggs, then cut in half, remove yolks and mash them with mayonnaise and a little salt, pepper and mustard powder. Pipe into the hole in the whites and sprinkle with paprika. You can add shrimps, a little chopped onion and/or other spices if you like. 2 tsp mayonnaise per egg makes a good consistency for piping.

Low Carb Thickeners

Many recipes for meat and fish dishes are automatically low carbohydrate, so before you spend a lot of money on new recipe books, take a creative look at some of your favorite recipes. Often times you will find that you can use them as-is or easily adjust them to fit your low carbohydrate diet plan.

If your favorite recipe contains a sauce that is thickened with flour, experiment with other thickeners. Cream and egg yolk can both be added to many soups and sauces to thicken them.

You can also try fiber-based thickeners like guar gum and xanthan gum. You can buy these as a powder from the health food store and sprinkle them into your soup or sauce. Do not use too much or you may have trouble with the consistency.

Of course, when you are looking at low carb recipes free online you need to be sure that it will suit your particular low carbohydrate diet plan. You may be following the Atkins diet, South Beach, the Dukan diet or any one of a ton of other low carb diets, and they all have slightly different rules.

Hollandaise Sauce

Hollandaise sauce is a classic example of a thick sauce that is made entirely without starch. It is high in fat, so avoid it if you are following a low fat low carb plan. However, it is fine for anybody following the Atkins diet.

Ingredients: 4 oz butter, 2 large egg yolks, 1 tbsp lemon juice.

Slowly melt the butter, without allowing it to brown, then remove from heat. Whisk the egg yolks in a bowl and then add the lemon juice. Place the bowl into a larger bowl of hot water and continue to whisk until expanded to at least twice its original volume. Dribble in the warm (not hot) butter, a little at a time, still whisking. Serve immediately or leave to stand and serve at room temperature.

Hollandaise sauce cannot be reheated or it will curdle. The same thing happens if any of the ingredients become too hot during the process. However, you can freeze it and then serve at room temperature when thawed.

These are just a few of the free low carb recipes that you can find. Take a look around other pages on our site to see all of the information that we have on different low carb diets and the delicious food choices that you have for each one. There are plenty more low carb recipes free on this site.

Atkins Low Carb Induction: What You Can Eat

For the first two weeks of the Atkins diet you can eat:

1. Foods that contain zero or minimal carbohydrate, in unlimited quantities. This includes unprocessed meat, fish, seafood, butter and cooking oils. Processed meats like ham, along with anything that comes in a sauce or coating, are not carb-free.

2. Low carb foods, in limited quantities. You can have up to 4 oz cheese per day (but not soft cheeses like cottage cheese). You can also have green and low carb vegetables, provided you count the carbs in them (see item 3 below). Low carb vegetables include mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, eggplant as well as most green veggies. Avocado is limited to half an avocado per day. Eggs can be eaten but they contain some carbohydrate which must be counted, as does heavy cream (limited to 2-3 tbsp per day).

3. Whatever you eat, you must count the grams of carbohydrate in each food and ensure that you do not exceed 20 grams per day. Over 50% of your carbohydrate must come from vegetables. The easiest way to track this is to use an online food diary site such as fitday.com or through an app on your phone.

Atkins Low Carb Induction: What You Cannot Eat

In brief, you cannot eat anything that is not on the list of allowed induction foods. This includes milk as well as starchy vegetables like potatoes, carrots, peas and beans, corn, parsnips, pumpkins and squashes. You will add these back into your diet in the next phase.

Other Low Carb Induction Plans

The South Beach Diet

The South Beach Diet allows more carbohydrate and less saturated fat than Atkins. So you are limited to lean or skinless cuts of meat, but you can have some milk, nuts and beans even in the induction phase. This is an easier plan for vegetarians to follow.

The Dukan Diet

This diet plan, designed by French doctor Pierre Dukan, is an extremely low carbohydrate eating plan that is also low in fat. It is very high in protein and does not suit everybody. We recommend that you do not attempt a diet like this without taking advice from a health professional.

In the induction phase of the Dukan diet (which only lasts 5 days for most people) you eat nothing but lean, skinless meat, fat-free dairy (including skim milk), eggs, tofu, fish and a small amount of oat bran. No vegetables at all.

Ending Low Carb Induction

In most cases, as we said above, the induction phase is followed for the first two weeks only. Occasionally, you can follow a low carb induction program for a longer time. You are advised to consult with a doctor before doing this, or before following any diet plan if you have health issues.

Keep in mind that you will not necessarily lose more weight by staying in the induction phase for longer.

For most people, it is better to move to the next phase of the diet after two weeks so that you learn to manage a greater choice of foods. This will prepare you better for remaining on a healthy eating plan the majority of the time after you have lost the weight, so that you do not gain it back. Low carb induction is great for starting your diet but it is not a plan that anybody could follow for life.

Low Carb Fast Food In Restaurants

It is not always easy to have a low carb meal in a fast food restaurant. Some burgers contain flour, breadcrumbs or other high carb fillers. If you have a salad, it often includes potatoes or corn, and the dressing or mayonnaise may not be low carb. There is also a lot of sugar in many fast foods, even in foods that you would not think of as sweet.

The best way to ensure that you do not inadvertently cheat on your low carb diet when visiting a fast food restaurant is to check out the nutritional information of their menu choices before you go, and plan your meal based on that information. Most restaurant chains offer this information online.

McDonalds burgers are 100% beef in the US, but recipes may vary in other countries. Many other chains will offer a similar low carb fast food choice. Of course, that is without the bun and without ketchup, onions, etc. You should count 4 carbs if you eat the burger with ketchup, onions and a slice of cheese. Don’t eat the bun or fries unless you want to stall your weight loss – they are very high in carbs.

Low Carb Fast Foods To Eat At Home Or Carry

If you are traveling and you want to take food with you, many dishes can be transported in a cooler. Boiled eggs, meat, cheese and salad can all be kept cool that way.

If you are visiting somebody or attending a conference or other event out of town, it’s a great idea to take along some low carbohydrate snacks that you can eat whenever you feel hungry and there are no low carb choices available. Here are some examples:

- canned tuna, salmon and other fish (in salt water or oil, no sauces)
- canned chicken breast
- beef jerky
- pork rinds
- pepperoni
- string cheese
- celery sticks, tomatoes to eat with any other snacks

If you are home, you can also make many low carb fast food recipes, especially if you have the use of a microwave. In many cases you can keep these in the refrigerator ready for any time that you may need a low carb snack. For example:

Eggs and bacon fried with mushrooms, tomatoes or any other low carb vegetable. This just takes a few minutes. Fish also cooks fast – try it fried in olive oil with zucchini and mushrooms.

Onion, cucumber and cream cheese dip is a great standby to keep in the refrigerator. Make a batch of this in the food processor or blender, adjusting quantities of onion and cucumber according to your taste. Don’t forget to count the carbs in the veggies, especially the onion, which can be rather high. Then you can eat this as a low carb fast food with celery sticks and other veggies whenever you have a snack attack.

You can also keep cooked chicken breast in the refrigerator to have with mayonnaise and salad – that will just take a moment to fix when you need it. You can do the same thing with canned tuna for more low carb fast food at home.