If you are wondering whether you can eat vegetables or fruit on a low carb eating plan the answer is YES. Of course, some vegetables and fruits are lower in carbs (sugar yield) than others so if you want to lose weight knowing the best options would be a great start to keeping your carbohydrate (and blood sugar levels) low.
Fresh fruit and vegetables are rich in nutrients and add fibre to your diet. Green leafy vegetables are high in folate and many colourful vegetables offer a range of antioxidants, great for your immune system. Snap frozen vegetables are a great option with many lower carb vegetables available in a pack. Frozen berries can be more economical than buying fresh and are great to add to protein shakes for the perfect mid-morning and mid-afternoon snack.
Let’s have a look at what fruits and vegetables are the best for weight loss. The carb content is based on a raw cup weight.
Less than 2gm carbs
Artichoke, Asian greens, bean sprouts (raw), celery, garlic, lettuce, lime, mung bean sprouts, radish, rhubarb, silver beet, small mushrooms, spinach, and zucchini.
From 2 – 5gm carbs
Asparagus, baby corn, broad beans, cabbage, cauliflower, cucumber, fennel, green beans, leek, lemon, onion, shallots, snow peas, spring onion, squash, sugar snap peas, and tomato.
From 6 – 10gm carbs
Broccoli, Brussel sprouts, capsicum, field mushroom, green beans, kale, mulberries, onion, raspberries, rockmelon, seaweed, strawberries, and water chestnuts.
All the above fruits and vegetables are included in our lowest carb eating plan. The key is knowing which fruits and vegetables are best for the current phase of your weight loss plan. You also need to know how much you can eat each meal and day.
If you have been told that eating low carb is unhealthy or not balanced or not good for your health, then have another look at the foods above. They are all readily available fresh or frozen, and can be eaten raw in salads, or cooked: steamed, roasted, or on a BBQ.
Of course, there are hundreds of other fruits and vegetables that you could eat but for weight loss purposes, they may not be suitable, at least not until you have achieved your weight loss goal and are in maintenance stage. Let’s look at some of the more popular fruits and vegetables and compare the carb content per raw cup weight.
From 10 – 20gm carbs
Apple, beetroot, carrot, Jerusalem artichoke, lentils, mandarin, orange, parsnip, pawpaw, pineapple, and pumpkin.
From 20 – 30gm carbs
Grapes, mango, peas, and sweet potato.
30+ gm carbs
Banana, barley, chestnuts, chickpeas, couscous, corn, lychees, polenta, and potato.
Dried fruits may be bad for your oral health, low in fibre and high in calories. Certain processed fruits and vegetables may be canned in concentrated juice with added sugar. We recommend they are best not to include in your eating plan.
Do not juice your fruits and vegetables if you want to lose weight. This removes the fibre, concentrates the sugar release and risks spiking your blood sugar.
We guide our members through 4 different phases of low carb eating, starting at 25 gm of carbs per day up to 60+ gm of carbs per day. If you would like to learn more about how your body responds to carbohydrates in a systemised way, please get in touch and we can talk further about how our coaches can assist you. Fill out the Quiz below and we’ll be in touch.