Thanks to the Atkins diet craze, low carb items abound - including some breads, pastas and other snacks. These are some of my favorites that you will always find at my house:
- Hershey's kisses with almonds. 20g (net) in 9 pieces. That's only about 2g per piece, so 2-3 pieces will only set you back 4-6g, yet still give you a chocolate fix. (Plus the almonds have protein to help fill you up!)
-Russell Stover's makes sugar-free candies that are yum! They are made with sugar alcohol which doesn't have an effect on your insulin like regular sugar does. My favorite is the mint patties - very similar to Peppermint Patties - 1g (net) per piece. (I buy mine at dollar stores generally for $1. Kroger and Meijer sell them for $1.99 and will sometimes have them on sale for less. If you find them for $1 though, stock up!)
-pork rinds. I grew up eating them so I was thrilled when I looked at the carb content and saw 0g!
-popcorn! A serving is 4 cups popped with only 12g per serving. Eat only 2 cups and you're only getting 6g!
- almonds. 2.5g per 1/4 cup. Almonds rock.
-Weight Watchers makes an ice cream bar that's really yummy and only like 12g of carbs. (It's vanilla ice cream with nuts and caramel and covered in chocolate. yum!)
- Atkin's bars and shakes (or an off brand equivalent). My faves are the strawberry shakes (1g I think) and the Caramel Nut Chew Bars (2g). Those bars taste somewhat like milky way candy bars. I also like the coconut chocolate ones.
-All-Bran Multi-Grain crackers. They come in a brown box and I get them at Kroger. There are 14g in 18 crackers - that's only like 1g per cracker and is the lowest net carb count I've found so far. Grab 5 crackers or so, add some cheese on top and you’ve got a good little snack.
-sugar-free jell-o with full fat whip cream sprayed on top. No need to say more. I think it's got like 2-3g in it.
-Healthy Life Low Carb bread. I also get this at Kroger (can you tell I shop there a lot?) and it's in a white package. They have a couple of different versions: The one with the brown stripe has 5g per slice but it does tend to be a little dry. The one with the purple stripe has flaxseed in it and 6g per slice.
-Peanut butter! While it does have some natural sugars in it, check the labels because a lot of the popular brand names have added sugar in them so they will have more carbs. I get Smucker's all natural peanut butter. (4g) Again, a little more expensive but if you look at the ingredients it only says "peanuts." Also, there are tons of sugar-free jellies out there and they are good and will settle your PB&J craving if you're a PB&J person - I am! However, if you've been careful with other parts of your diet that day, eating regular jelly on them is fine. (Especially if you are already using a low-carb bread.)
-Kroger makes a really good yogurt called CARBmaster. It comes in like, I don't know, 15 different flavors and is yummy.
-Ole brand Extreme Wellness High Fiber wraps - I get them at Kroger in the ethnic food aisle. Every morning I have one of those, with a thick slice of ham, a sliced up boiled egg, sprinkled with cheddar cheese and microwave for 30-40 seconds. Takes less than 5 minutes to make, is all protein, lots of fiber and has a 5g carb count. They are really good - I've been eating one for breakfast for like the past 3 months and I'm still not sick of them. (You can even add other things to them if you like - hot sauce, other cheeses, onions, etc.) I can generally make it past lunchtime before I'm hungry again. I also snack on just the tortilla wrap randomly when I want the feel of something carby or am in a hurry and want a quick snack.
-dairy. For some reason, milk and yogurt have a lot of carbs (due to the lactose), but other dairy products, like heavy cream, cheese, sour cream, etc., don't. Must have something to do with the separation process. Anyway, I love me some dairy and while I miss having huge glasses of milk every day, being able to replace it with the CARBmaster yogurt and cheese is working okay. I do allow myself small glasses of milk (I think an 8 oz glass has like 12 grams in it) every once in awhile.
-Unsweetened Almond Milk. Great to use on cereal and not bad for a drink! 1g net carbs.
- Speaking of cereal. Fiber One cereal is the lowest I've found so far with 11g per 1/2 cup. Multi-Gran Cheerios are fabulous and really not too high carb for a cereal. (About 20g in 1 cup.) Kashi makes some low-ish carb ones, too, but I haven't found any flavors that I really like that make it worth me spending the extra money on them. Craving your favorite high carb cereal or oatmeal? Cut the serving in half and have at it! Maybe even try putting a little less milk than you normally would on it or don't drink the milk that's left over in your bowl. Little things add up! Or use almond milk instead!
-eggs. Tons of protein, 0 carbs. I boil a dozen each week to have ready to go for my breakfast wraps or a quick snack. In addition, we have fried eggs for breakfast a lot – quick to make!
-drinks. Water is obviously the most important because it keeps you hydrated and has 0 carbs. But if you must have something besides water, Gatorade makes 0 carb and a 5g carb drinks. Crystal Lite has powder you can add to water that's sugar-free. Diet 7-Up has 0 carbs and is good if you are craving a pop.
-If you have insulin problems, not all fruit is good for you. Bananas (21g), apples (17g), pears (21g), raisins (31g) and oranges (12g) are basically off my radar now. (That's per 1/4 cup.) Berries are great (blueberries are highest at 4.1g per 1/4 cup).
-Low carb smoothie! Put frozen mixed berries, low carb yogurt (I use strawberry banana), a little heavy cream and ice in the blender. Sometimes I add a little protein powder, too.
-My mom found a low carb pasta!!! This was the one thing I *really* missed but couldn’t justify splurging on very often – especially only being able to get 100g of carbs a day. Dreamfields makes a bunch of different low carb pastas now! Spaghetti, lasagna and mac and cheese are back on my radar occassionally!
I'll add more as I come across them!
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