What is a Low Carb Diet?

“Low carb diet” (also called “reduced carbohydrate”, “controlled carbohydrate”, or "low glycemic" diet) is a broad term, encompassing many popular diet books (examples: Atkins, South Beach, Zone, Protein Power, Sugar Busters, Carbohydrate Addicts Diet) as well as eating plans that don’t follow a rigid format, but advise limiting the consumption of a lot of foods that are high in carbohydrate. Some diets limit the amount of overall carbohydrate, while others focus on certain types of foods, generally ones high in starch and sugars. (Since starch turns to sugar in our bodies, many diet writers do not make a distinction between the two.) Still others focus on how glycemic the diet is.

The “No White Foods” approach is a fairly popular low carb diet, means simply eliminating sugars, white flour, white rice, and potatoes.

A common mistake is to equate “low carb” with the very low carb phase of some popular diets, such as the Induction Phase of the Atkins Diet. These phases are usually meant to be quite short, with more carbohydrate phased in after that. Other diets begin at a higher level of carbohydrate, but still less than the USDA Food Pyramid suggests. Any diet whose primary focus is the reduction of carbohydrate in any way is what is meant by “low carb” on this site. In terms of percentages, since the usual “mainstream” recommendation is a diet with 50-65% calories from carbohydrate, I consider a diet with 40% or less energy from carbs a “low-carb diet”, though most of them don’t measure it in this way.

Getting Started on a Low Carb Diet

Six Steps for the Beginner

So you’ve decided to reduce the carbohydrate in your diet. Now what? It’s time to think ahead a bit so you can have your best chance of success. Here are six steps to give you a strong start. 

1. Become Informed

Read about various low carb diets, or zero in on one. Ideally, read one of the books and become familiar with the principles. Above all, don’t fall for the common myths about eating low carb – such as that there are no vegetables or fruit, that it can’t be healthy, that it has to be boring, etc. Like other ways of eating, low carb eating can be healthy or not, balanced or not, and there is certainly no reason for it to be boring. Rest assured that science is on the side of cutting carbs – perhaps not for everyone, but for many of us.

2. Start Making Easy Changes

While you are learning about low-carb eating, you can start to make some changes towards reducing unhealthy carbs in your diet. Choose one or two things to change at a time. You may be surprised that some results can be achieved with less effort than you thought. 

3. Decide on an Approach

There is no one low carb diet. The popular plans span a range of carb levels and food choices, though essentially all of them cut out most sugars and starches. Again, the best thing to do is to read one of the books – go to your library and browse, and zero in on something that looks doable to you. Essentially all of the popular books can be purchased used online for very little money.

Alternatively, if you just know you’re not the kind to read a book and follow someone else’s idea of a diet, the “No White Diet" works for many people. Basically, you just stop eating food with sugars, white flour (pasta, bread, cake, donuts, etc), white rice, and potatoes (some include milk). This effectively cuts back on the carbohydrate in your diet, especially the high glycemic types. Just realize that there are also white foods, such as tofu, cauliflower, and onions, that are low in carbs and good for you!

4. Get Familiar with What You Can Eat

It’s easy to fall into thinking a lot about what you can’t eat, but much more productive to focus on what you can eat. At first, it's probably best to keep it simple - for example, you can just eat the same dinner as before, substituting vegetables for the starch.

”What You can Eat” Resources:

• Vegetables
• Fruit
• Meats
• Dairy
• South Beach Diet Food Lists
• Your Low Carb Pantry

5. Plan Your First Week

Nothing stops a new eating plan faster than getting to the fourth day and realizing you have no idea what to snack on, or fix for dinner. Planning a full week of menus and snacks gives you a buffer period when you don’t have to worry about it.

6. Get Support

Inevitably, things you didn’t think of will come up. The first two weeks of a diet change can be difficult. The temptation when trying something new is to chuck it overboard at the first obstacle. To be successful, you must accept that unexpected “speedbumps” will happen, and make a commitment ahead of time to work through them. This is the time to get advice from others who are ahead of you on the road.