The Best Low Carb Vegetables

Are you looking to improve your overall health and well-being, lower your risk of dozens of diseases (including diabetes, heart disease, stroke, dementia, and cancer, to name a few), achieve and maintain your ideal body composition (ie. lose excess body fat, and strengthen your muscles and bones), and feel amazing to boot? Then a low carb or Keto lifestyle is the perfect choice!

Going low carb or Keto means getting plenty of healthy fats (see What to Eat for more details on this), eating enough protein to maintain your “Lean Body Mass” (LBM) – your muscles, bones, tissues and organs – and enjoying a moderate amount of nutrient dense, low carb vegetables while keeping your total carb intake fairly low. This typically means decreasing your overall carb intake to <50 grams per day – and sometimes a lot less than that, depending on the state of your metabolism – in order to get into and then stay in fat-burning mode.

Low carb, nutrient dense vegetables include:

• dark leafy greens – spinach, chard, sorrel, turnip greens, beet greens, amaranth leaves, dandelion greens, and herbs such as basil and parsley
• cruciferous vegetables, aka brassicas (see my infographic, Beautiful Brassicas, for a list of the many wonderful, healthy veggies in this family)
• salad greens – all lettuces, arugula, mizuna, radicchio, frisee, watercress, mache, claytonia (aka Miner’s lettuce) and the like
• salad sprouts – the many kinds of microgreens, plus mung bean, alfalfa, sunflower seed, clover, buckwheat, and more (all edible baby plant sprouts are very nutrient dense and low carb)
• most of the above-ground veggies that grow spring through fall – bell peppers, shishitos, chili/hot peppers, eggplant, okra, green beans, summer squashes, etc.
• all types of radishes, including daikon, scarlet, icicle, French breakfast, and so many more
• Japanese turnips (aka Hakurei or Tokyo Market – so delicious, raw or cooked! mild, crunchy and juicy – try them!)
• every type of mushroom
• and small amounts of higher carb vegetables: onions, tomatoes, carrots, beets, snap/snow peas, garden peas, and winter squashes (if including these, it is advised to carefully track your total carb intake, at least at first, since it is very easy to go over your carb budget quickly with these)

So many options! 😃

Here’s some more detail on the carb content of many of the lowest carb vegetables. These are listed in ascending order by carb content per serving:

Want more info on which fruits and veggies are best to eat, and how much of each you can have without going over your carb budget?

Then check out my full-color infographic: Low Carb Fruits & Veggies Cheat Sheet. Print it out and stick it on your fridge for easy reference!

Want some personalized guidance on making the transition to a lower carb lifestyle, so you can optimize your health, increase your energy and vitality, and be your best you? Then schedule yourself a free 15-minute Discovery Call with me, and let’s chat about your health issues and goals and see if we’re likely to be a good fit! 😊