As a holistic nutritionist, I recommend that whole, unprocessed foods should make up the bulk of your diet. However, sometimes you need a little help from some packaged low carb foods. These foods can help you make healthier choices when you don’t have enough time to cook an entire meal from scratch, or if you have a craving that you want to satisfy in a way that won’t interfere with your health goals. Here are some of my favourite low carb packaged foods that meet those requirements. Some of these can be found in your local grocery store or health food store. Most of them can be found online as well.  I will continually update this post as I find new products to love!

Snack Foods

Coconut Chips

A crunchy, all-natural and low carb snack of coconut chips, that comes in a variety of flavours including chocolate and banana, or white chocolate. This nut-free snack is something you can send to school with your kids too! Only 2 grams of net carbs per serving.

KIND Granola Bar

Granola bars are typically high in carbs since they are made with grains and sugar/honey/syrup. Not all KIND bars are low in carbs but the Almond, Sea Salt and Dark Chocolate variety is the lowest I’ve seen with only 9 grams of net carbs. It wouldn’t be an everyday type of snack but if you’re looking for something to carry in your bag or car that doesn’t require refrigeration and won’t melt in the heat, this would be a good choice. Other KIND bar varieties that are low in carbs: Almond Caramel & Sea Salt (9g), Almond Mint & Dark Chocolate (10g), Almond Mocha and Dark Chocolate (9g), and Maple Glazed Pecan & Sea Salt (9g).

Lemon Flavoured Almonds

Dry roasted almonds with salt and fresh lemon juice have a faint and pleasant lemon flavour. They’re a great snack to carry in your bag or car for emergency snacking situations 🙂 Only 1 gram of net carbs.

Pizootz Flavoured Peanuts

Flavour-infused peanuts including varieties such as Dill Pickle and Baja Taco. Made with all-natural ingredients and only 6 grams of net carbs per package.

Protes Protein Chips/Nachos

Made from pea protein, corn, and seasoning, nothing artificial that you can’t pronounce. These are a good occasional treat when you want Doritos but don’t want to compromise your progress. Each serving of 12 chips has 6 grams net carbs. I found these at Bulk Barn or online at Well.ca.

Cheese Crisps

Just cheese… but seasoned and crispy. I found these at Whole Foods but there are other brands including Moon Cheese (you may have noticed those at Starbucks) or Whisps (at Cosco), or Air Cheese (Well.ca). You can also make these yourself by baking grated parmesan and/or asiago cheese in mini muffin tins or on a parchment-lined baking sheet, at 350 for 5-7 minutes. These are great to snack on or use as croutons in salad or on top of French Onion Soup.

Ryvita Crackers

There are various flavours of Ryvita and they all have different carb contents. The Red Quinoa & Sesame, and the Flaxseed & Nigella Seed flavours have 7 grams of net carbs per serving of 2 crackers. The Dark Rye and Sesame Rye have 10 grams of net carbs, and the Whole Grain Snackbread variety has 9 grams per serving of 3 slices. The other flavours I looked at have higher carb counts so be sure to check the nutrition labels. You will find these at most grocery stores.

Smart Sweets

These all natural gummy bears have added fibre and are sweetened with stevia. They only have 5 grams of net carbs per bag! You can purchase these Smart Sweets in original and sour flavours, as well as other varieties of gummies at many local stores that sell low sugar candies or online at Well.ca.

Stuffed Olives

Olives are a great high fat snack. There are all kinds of varieties but I particularly like the large stuffed olives. These President’s Choice olives are stuffed with almonds.  There are others stuffed with garlic or cheese as well. Delicious.

Nuts-For-Cheese Non-Dairy Cheese Alternative

I love cheese and I consider myself lucky to not have a sensitivity to it because I enjoy it almost every day! However, for those of you who aren’t able to eat cheese, this product is a fantastic alternative. There are 5 different flavours and they are all made from cashews. It’s fermented like regular cheese, and you can use it just like regular cheese: it’s meltable, shreddable, sliceable and spreadable…and it tastes wonderful! It’s a little pricey but good quality cheese is anyway!

Pasta/Rice Alternatives

I wrote a more detailed post about my favourite pasta and rice alternatives because those two things seem to be the hardest for people to give up when they first start eating low carb. Click HERE to read that post.

Konjac Grain-Free Pasta

Konjac Grain-Free Rice Alternative

The first 2 products above are made of a root vegetable, Konjac, that has zero net carbs. The slightly chewy texture is a little different than regular wheat pasta or rice and for some people, it takes some getting used to. I love that it’s so easy to use. Just open the bag and rinse the pasta/rice, then add to your sauce to heat, and it’s ready. There are various shapes to choose from including angel hair pasta, fettucini, penne, and spaghetti.

Explore Cuisine Edamame Fettuccini

The Explore Cuisine pasta is made from organic soybeans and mung beans, and only has 6 grams of net carbs per serving. This product is closer in texture to regular wheat pasta and cooks much the same way. You can find these products at most grocery stores, in the health food section of gluten-free foods section, or online at Well.ca.

Bread Products

Flatout Low Carb Flatbread

You can find this flatbread at most grocery stores. There are various flavours with different carb counts so be sure to read the labels. This particular one has 8 grams of net carbs for a large oval shaped flatbread. I like to use this to make pizza.

La Tortilla Factory Low Carb Tortilla

These tortillas come in 2 different sizes. The smaller tortilla has 3 grams of net carbs and the larger has 6 grams. In my area, they are only available at Sobeys grocery store. To find out where you can get them, go to the website and contact them by email.

Baking Ingredients

Lakanto Sweetener with Monk Fruit

For low carb baking that requires a sweetener, I usually choose erythritol. It’s low carb since most of the carbohydrate content (sugar alcohol) isn’t absorbed by the body and yet it doesn’t cause gastrointestinal upset in most people like other sugar alcohols do. Swerve is a common brand as it Lakanto but there are others. I usually choose the powdered version (like confectioner sugar) because it dissolves the easiest. However, for creme brulee like in the photo above, I use the golden granulated variety. You can buy these products at most grocery stores or online.

Other Favourite Products

Grace Pure Creamed Coconut

I use this creamed coconut in my Basic Fat Bomb Recipe. It’s much less expensive than buying coconut mana in a jar and is the same thing…just coconut. You can grate it into soup or sauces, make this dessert with it, use it to make coconut milk or just eat it as is. I find this product at Bulk Barn and sometimes at Food Basics and Zehrs.

Fever-Tree Low Sugar Tonic Water

I enjoy a good gin and tonic from time to time, but tonic water is as high in sugar as regular pop! Fever-Tree brand has a Naturally Light version that has only 3.8 grams of carbs per serving compared to 9.2 grams of carbs in the equivalent amount of regular tonic. Many grocery stores now carry this brand but be sure to look for the Naturally Light variety for the lower carb content.

Zevia Low Carb Soft Drinks

Zevia soft drinks have no sugar and nothing artificial. They don’t even have the caramel colouring that is added to soft drinks, so these are clear. That’s sort of mind-bending… a clear beverage that tastes like cola or rootbeer. Zevia soft drinks are sweetened with stevia and come in an array of flavours including cola, root beer, ginger ale, cream soda, and grape. I love using these to make root beer floats with my Keto No-Churn Ice Cream.

Maison Orphee Low Carb Salad Dressing

You can find this tasty all-natural salad dressing at most grocery stores, in the health food section or online at Well.ca. I usually just use good quality oil and vinegar on my salads but these are a nice alternative once in a while.

Lupini Beans

Lupinin beans are very high in fibre. They only have 1 gram of net carb per 1/2 cup serving! They are also really high in protein, with 22 grams of protein per 1/2 cup serving, making these a great choice for vegetarians who are eating low carb. The dried form of this bean requires quite a lengthy preparation period in order to make them edible, so I just buy the canned or jarred product. However, these may be high in sodium so be sure to rinse them well. Rinsing won’t get rid of all of the sodium, but it will reduce it. Lupini beans can be eaten on salad, in soup or chili, made into hummus or roasted until crispy for a delicious snack.

To roast lupini beans, lightly toss in olive oil or coconut oil and seasoning. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes. THEY WILL POP AND BOUNCE AROUND ON THE TRAY>>>THAT’S OK. Turn off the oven and leave the lupinis in the oven with the door closed for another 10 minutes. If they’re not crunchy enough at that point, leave them in there for a bit longer.

If you have any favourite low carb packaged foods that you’d like to recommend, comment below or send me a message. I’ll regularly update this post as I find new products.

This post contains affiliate links for Well.ca. If you purchase anything from the Well.ca website after entering through my links, I receive a commission at no additional cost to you! Thank you for your support.

The post My Favourite Low Carb Packaged Foods first appeared on Paulette Kydd RHN.

The post My Favourite Low Carb Packaged Foods appeared first on Paulette Kydd RHN.

*This is an updated post. The original post was February 27, 2019.

When I started eating low carb, I really missed pasta and rice. Like REALLY missed them. Some of you may know the story that I tell of the early days when I was craving pasta and mistook a bowl of elastic bands on my desk for a bowl or ramen noodles!

Pasta and rice are such versatile foods that allow for quick and easy weeknight meals that the whole family loves. Not to mention the fact that when you make your favourite pasta sauce, you need something to put it on!

Shirataki Konjac Pasta

Zoodles Come From a Can

I tried all the usual substitutes that were suggested: spaghetti squash, zucchini noodles (or Zoodles as they’re called, and they taste nothing like the canned noodles in tomato sauce that I enjoyed as a kid), cauliflower rice…I even tried making noodles from other root vegetables like celery root and parsnips. They were ok-tasting but definitely not a good substitute for pasta or rice in my opinion. Then I tried shirataki noodles.

Shirataki…Isn’t That a Mushroom?

No, you’re thinking of SHITAKE.

‘Shiritaki’ means ‘white waterfall’ which refers to the appearance. They are made from the Konjac yam and consist mostly of water-soluble fibre making the net carbohydrate content of 1g or less per serving (remember to subtract the fibre amount from the total carbohydrate amount to get the NET CARBS They have virtually no taste of their own but easily take on the flavour of the sauce or liquid you add to them. You might see them labeled as Konjac noodles or Konjac rice.

Benefits and Things to Be Aware Of

Shirataki pasta can help balance blood sugar, keep you satiated and lower cholesterol. However, because there is so much fibre, some people experience mild gas, bloating or loose stools. Simply start with smaller portions and gradually increase. In addition, it may affect the absorption of certain medications so be sure to take medications at least 1 hour before or 4 hours after eating shirataki.

How to Use Shirataki

Shirataki noodles are usually sold in liquid in pouches and come in various shapes including spaghetti, angel hair, linguine and rice-shaped. Don’t be put off by the initial smell when you open the package. THEY DO NOT TASTE LIKE THAT (some people describe it as a fishy smell). Simply follow the instructions on the package: they usually need to be rinsed and that takes care of the smell.

Some people suggest placing the shirataki in boiling water for a couple of minutes but I don’t usually find that to be necessary.  I like to heat it in a dry frying pan (no oil) for a few minutes and then I just add it to whatever sauce or soup I’m making, or use the rice-shaped variety for stir fry. The dry frying technique improves the texture a bit, so it’s less chewy. The texture is a bit different from regular wheat pasta but I found it easy to get used to and was so happy to have a non-vegetable-tasting noodle replacement that I didn’t care that it wasn’t exactly like the pasta I’d grown up with!!

My Favourite Brands

I’ve tried 5 different brands and like them all:

 .  .               

Miracle Noodle is probably my least favourite. The texture isn’t quite as nice as the others but it will do in a pinch.

This is another pasta alternative that I really like. It’s made from edamame (soy) and is very similar to wheat-based pasta in terms of texture and cooking requirements. It has more carbs than shirataki but it’s only 6 grams of net carbs per serving. Not all of this brand’s pasta is low carb so be sure to read the labels and look for the edamame and/or mung bean pasta.

Where to Buy

Many grocery stores now sell at least one of these brands either in the health food section or with the other gluten-free items. Most health food stores also sell these products. I buy mine at Bulk Barn (when they have their discount coupons) or online at Well.ca. As an affiliate for Well.ca I receive a small commission if you choose to purchase anything from them through my links, which I greatly appreciate!

Well.ca has great selection and prices, and shipping is fast and free if you spend $35 or more. Many of the specialty ingredients that I use in my keto/low carb cooking can be expensive so I’m always looking for more economical ways to purchase these products.

Recently I was wanting some rice pudding (I know…might seem strange…I think I saw a picture of it in a recipe book and I kept imagining the lovely aroma of warm cinnamon, and then I noticed that I had shirataki rice and BOOM!…this happened)

 

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Low Carb Rice Pudding

When you're craving some comfort food, try this low carb rice pudding made with konjac rice. 

Course Dessert, Snack

Keyword Low Carb

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 25 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Calories 499kcal

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cup Konjac rice type
• 2 cup Heavy cream or substitute half with milk of your choice
• 1/4 cup Swerve or Monk Fruit Sweetener
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract pure
• 1 tsp Cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp Nutmeg ground
• 1 large egg
• 1 tbsp Butter salted

Instructions

• Rinse the konjac rice in a strainer with cold water for 2 minutes.
• Combine konjac rice with 1 1/2 cup heavy cream, sweetener, salt, vanilla and spices in a medium sized saucepan.
• Cook over medium heat for 15-20 minutes until thickened.
• Beat the egg and stir it in with the remaining 1/2 cup heavy cream.
• Continue cooking while stirring for 2 more minutes.
• Remove from heat and stir in butter.
• Divide the rice into 4 serving bowls. Sprinkle with cinnamon and enjoy!

Notes

The carbs in this recipe come mostly from sugar alcohols which are not entirely absorbed by your body.

Net Carb per Serving (minus the fibre and sugar alcohols): 4g

Check out my post where I share my Fettuccini Alfredo recipe, made with NuPasta fettuccini. SO YUMMY and quick to prepare!

Low Carb Fettuccini Alfredo

I’ll continue to add more shirataki recipes as I try them, but they’re so versatile and easy to use, you don’t need a recipe. Sometimes, I just warm them up and add butter, salt and pepper, and a bit of grated parmesan. Super easy and delicious.

Give shirataki or edamame pasta a try and let me know what recipes you use it in!

This page contains affiliate links. If you choose to purchase anything from Well.ca through any of my links, I receive a small commission which I greatly appreciate.

 

The post My Favourite Low Carb Pasta and Rice Alternatives first appeared on Paulette Kydd RHN.

The post My Favourite Low Carb Pasta and Rice Alternatives appeared first on Paulette Kydd RHN.

A typical chili recipe contains kidney beans which are high in carbs. It also contains tomato sauce which might have added sugar, increasing the carb content. By comparison, this chili calls for lupini beans (net carbs are 1 or 0 grams per serving), diced tomatoes and tomato paste instead. There’s also a hint of cocoa powder, an unusual ingredient that adds a delicious depth of flavour, but certainly doesn’t make your chili taste like chocolate 🙂

These instructions are for stovetop preparation but if you have an Instant Pot, look for instructions below the recipe.

Print

Keto Chili

Lupini beans replace the traditional high carb kidney beans normally found in chili. There's also cocoa powder for an interesting twist!

Course Main Course, Soup

Keyword keto, low carb

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour

Total Time 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Calories 408kcal

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs Ground Beef
• 1 medium Yellow Onion diced
• 1 medium Red Bell Pepper diced
• 1 clove Garlic minced
• 1/4 cup Tomato Paste canned
• 1 can Diced tomatoes (14oz), canned
• 1 cup Beef broth
• 3 tbsp Chili Powder
• 1 tsp Cumin
• 2 tbsp Cocoa Powder unsweetened
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 cup Lupini Beans canned

Instructions

• Cook the ground beef in a deep frying pan or pot, breaking it up as it cooks, until beginning to brown.
• Add onion, and bell pepper to the pan and cook over medium heat until beginning to soften.
• Add the garlic, tomato paste, diced tomatoes, beef broth, chili powder, cumin, cocoa powder and salt and stir.
• Add lupini beans.
• Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer for at least 20 minutes. If you have time, let it simmer for up to an hour for better flavour.
• Serve with sour cream, avocado and shredded cheddar, as desired.

Notes

The flavour will improve as it sits so it will taste even better as leftovers!

Have an Instant Pot? Just brown the meat a bit first and then throw everything else in the pot. Use the chili/stew setting on high pressure for 30 minutes or so.

Net Carbs per Serving: 9.5 grams

You might also be interested in my post about food labels and lupini beans…

….or this Facebook post about how to make a crunchy lupini bean snack in your oven. Only 1 gram of net carbs per serving due to the high fibre content.

The post Keto Chili first appeared on Paulette Kydd RHN.

The post Keto Chili appeared first on Paulette Kydd RHN.

For everyday eating, I always recommend that people eat real, whole foods and avoid processed foods. However, there is a time and place for occasional treats.

I like the Russel Stover candies that are now sweetened at least in part by stevia. As I mentioned in Monday’s Facebook post about the Peppermint Patties, these are NOT health foods but they’re ok to have once in a while and they actually taste good! You can find these at various stores like Walmart, Shoppers Drug Mart and Bulk Barn.

Russel Stover Low Carb Candy

I also like the Smart Sweets line of products that use fruit and vegetable juice for colour, gelatin (protein) and added fibre. They are sweetened with stevia as well. There are only 5g net carbs due to the fibre content. You can buy these are Bulk Barn.

Smart Sweets Low Carb Candy

And of course, we have local chocolate from our beloved Habitual Chocolate, sweetened with Monk Fruit Sugar, a natural no-calorie sweetener. This bar has less than 2g of net carbs!

Habitual Chocolate

Enjoy!

You might also like some of my homemade treats: No-Bake Cheesecake, Cinnamon Chocolate Lava Cake and Homemade Gummies.

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Print

Paulette's Basic Fat Bomb Recipe

This is a recipe that I use to create most of my fat bombs. I just vary the flavouring with extracts and other add-ins.

Course Snack

Keyword Keto, Low Carb

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 15 minutes minutes

Servings 24 pieces

Calories 58kcal

Ingredients

• 141 gm Coconut cream 1 brick
• 250 gm Cream cheese 1 regular sized brick
• 3 tbsp powdered erythritol/Swerve adjust amount according to your taste
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract pure

Instructions

• Soften the coconut cream by placing the pouch in hot tap water for a few minutes.
• Beat the cream cheese with a mixer.
• Add coconut cream and mix.
• Add monk fruit sweetener. Taste after mixing and add a bit more sweetener if you like. NOTE: I often turn this into a powder in my blender or Magic Bullet first. I find that it the texture of the finished product is smoother. However, this is optional.
• Add flavourings.
• Portion using a small ice cream scoop or tablespoon into mini muffin cups. Alternatively you can spoon into ice cube trays or other small moulds. Be sure to use flexible silicone trays so that you can easily release the fat bombs afterwards.
• Place in fridge for 20 minutes and then remove from moulds. Store in the refrigerator.
• This makes approximately 24 fat bombs. 

Notes

Flavour Ideas:

Key Lime- add 1 tsp lime extract, 2-3 tbsp lime juice and zest of 1 lime

Pumpkin Spice- add 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice, 1/4 cup chopped pecans

Creamsicle- add an additional 1 tsp vanilla, and 2 tsp orange extract

Net Carbs per Serving: 1.5g

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Carbs and food labels. It’s important information if you’re trying to reduce and amount of carbohydrates you’re eating. But it can be confusing!!

 

Total carbs. Net carbs. Fibre. Sugar. Sugar alcohol. Polyols. WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN?

 

When you start eating low carb, it’s REALLY IMPORTANT to understand how to read food labels so that you can figure out exactly how many carbs you’re eating.

 

What you’ll see on a food label

 

Food labels show:

CARBOHYDRATES, which is the total amount of carbs in that food

FIBRE, which your body doesn’t absorb

SUGAR, which could be added sugar or naturally occurring sugar

SUGAR ALCOHOLS or POLYOLS which are category of carbohydrates (examples include stevia, maltitol, erythritol)- this category isn’t always included in the nutrition information

 

Once you subtract fibre, you’re left with the NET CARBS, and this is what your body metabolizes or uses/stores. In most cases, this is the number that’s important when you’re trying to figure out your carb intake for the day. Technically you can also subtract at least some of the sugar alcohol carbs but unless you know exactly what kind of sugar alcohol is used and how much of that particular kind is absorbed, you can’t know exactly how much to subtract. 

 

Fibre is your friend in more ways than one

Your body doesn’t metabolize all of the carbs that are present in food. Fibre is a category of carbs that basically goes right through your digestive tract. For this reason you can subtract this from the total carbohydrate content of a food or meal. The same goes for sugar alcohols or polyols. Most of that goes through your digestive system unabsorbed.

 

For example, in this nutrition label for lupini beans, the total carb is 14g for a serving. The fibre content is 13g and there is no sugar. This means that the NET CARBS for lupini beans is only 1 g of net carbs per serving. And you get 22 g of protein, some calcium and some iron too! Seems pretty good to me!

Polyols…strange word, sweet taste

In this other label, this chocolate bar is sweetened with Monk Fruit Sugar Extract which is a sugar alcohol (more about sugar alcohols in another post) so it contains the category of POLYOLS(some labels which actually say SUGAR ALCOHOLS here). There are 6 g of polyols and 5 g of fibre. So, you subtract the fibre and polyols from the carbohydrate content (12 g) and are left with NET CARBS of only 1g!

 

By the way, this is a low carb chocolate bar from Habitual Chocolate in Woodstock, Ontario.

 

This is important when you’re reading your nutrition information in a food diary app like MY FITNESS PAL. Most apps don’t account for net carbs. When you see your carb intake for the day, it’s total carbs, so you can simply subtract the fibre and sugar alcohol content to get your true carb intake. (Some apps don’t show the total sugar alcohol content either.)

Hopefully this will help you choose your carbs wisely 🙂

See also: Counting Calories is Not the Answer

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