Alas – corn is corny, and not in a fun ‘ha ha’ way, but in a ‘boo hoo’ way. One of the U.S.’s top exports, we’ve found a way to smush corn into tons of foods in various forms (High Fructose Corn Syrup, anyone?). Bad news for us, since corn is a super carby, sugary bad boy. One cup of canned yellow corn has about 30 grams of carbs in it.

High Carb – Bananas may be a natural product but a medium (~7″) banana is around 24 net carbs. Fruits have lots of sugar! If you are trying to stay under 30 net carbs a day, a banana isn’t your best option.

Carrots are high carb so don’t be snacking on those sweet, sweet baby carrots all day.

I use carrots in moderation in my cooking. For example, since a medium (7″ carrot) is about 4 net carbs, I’ll throw one of those bad boys into a salad that serves 2 – 4, or in with a batch of boiled turnips/radishes that are going to be mashed with cheese and cream that will serve 2 -4 people (aka me, myself and I over two nights in a row). Adds a nice bit of color and sweetness.

Lower carb than a carrot but MUCH LESS TASTIER.  x.x

Turnips are low carb!

I know, it’s a tricky one because it’s a root vegetable which can be notoriously starchy and carby.
The turnip is a great low carb substitute for our old friend, now frenemy, the potato.
One cup of white potato can have around 24 net carbs, where as a cup of turnip has only 5 net carbs (!) PLUS the same or more levels of Calcium, Iron and Vitamin C than potato!

Trust me – boil these baddies up and mash them with some cream and butter, and you will not be able to tell it’s not potato. I also use it diced up in stews!

This product is tricky – coconut milk and coconut cream are low(ish) carb, but not coconut water!

When I first went low carb I made the bad call to NOT look at a label before guzzling down a coconut water. I thought it was low carb, since I read about coconut milk being a decent low carb milk substitute. Boy was I annoyed when, after the final sip, I glanced at the label and saw the stupid thing have over 15g of carbs, half my daily allotment.

Beans are a high carb legume that also contain high levels of lectin, which can cause digestive issues (hence the musical fruit poem).

1 cup:

• Soybeans – ~10 net carbs (good bean dip substitute)
• Chickpeas/Garbanzo beans – ~30 net carbs
• Kidney beans – ~28 net carbs
• Pinto  –  30 net carbs
• Black beans – ~30 net carbs

  Note that green beans are fine, with a cup containing around 4g of net carbs.

Sadly, rice is high carb, regardless of if it’s white rice or brown. One cup of brown rice has around 40 net carbs!

Give riced cauliflower a try!

This is a little bit of a trick question, as it’s all about portion control and type of nut. Are you able to eat just a few and then stop? Almonds, pecans and walnuts are the lowest carb nuts. Portion out first and then tuck that jar away! Nuts are great because they are also high fat, but they are just so delicious it’s hard to stop at a few. Also, stay away from nuts covered in sugar!

1 oz of :

• Pecans (~20 halves) have ~1 net carb
• Walnuts (~14 halves) have 2 net carbs
• Almonds (~22 nuts) have 3 net carbs
• Pistachios  (~40 nuts!) have around 4 net carbs
• Cashews (~16 nuts) have 8 net carbs
• A peanut isn’t a nut, it’s a legume!
  • They have about 3 net carbs per ounce (~28 peanuts).

Sorry, these delicious looking snacks are generally filled with sugar. The average 5 oz container contains around 20g of carbs, almost ALL of them contain added sugar. The problem is two fold – making the product lower fat/fat free leaves more of the lactose sugar and the blueberry flavoring adds in a lot more sugar.

If you really love your Greek yogurt, find a full fat, plain version and add your own berries.