Low-Carb Diet: Permitted and Prohibited Foods

This page lists foods allowed and prohibited on a low-carb diet and offers plenty of valuable additional information. Learn how to enjoy life despite having to give up many of your favorite foods. You’ll also discover why the carnivore diet may be the best option for some people with diabetes. It is recommended that you read why a low-carb diet is crucial for diabetes control before continuing with the content on this page.

Foods to Avoid on a Low-Carb Diet

A low-carb diet requires giving up many foods you may have grown up with and even loved. You will find the list of these foods below. Official medicine often labels some of them as healthy. But in reality, they can harm not only people with diabetes, but also healthy individuals.

Many of the forbidden foods are addictive, much like alcohol or drugs. That’s why giving them up can be difficult. But this step is essential. Without eliminating harmful foods, you cannot maintain consistently normal blood sugar levels, the same as your healthy peers have. And without that, you cannot reliably protect yourself from the life-threatening chronic complications of diabetes.

Here is a list of foods to avoid on a low-carb diet for diabetes:

• Sugar in all forms: white, brown, and honey.
• Starchy vegetables, especially potatoes, in any form.
• Caloric sweets, including those marketed as “diabetic-friendly.”
• Carbonated drinks, except those with zero calories.
• Bread of all types, including whole grain and so-called “diet” breads with bran.
• Other grain-based foods: wheat, rice, buckwheat, rye, oats, corn, and other grains.
• Cereals, whether in porridge, granola, or any other form.
• Liquid unprocessed milk, low-fat dairy, including low-fat yogurt, and cottage cheese.
• Most fruits and berries, except for avocados and olives.
• Sweet vegetables, including carrots, beets, and pumpkin.
• Juices squeezed from fruits or sweet vegetables.
• Alcoholic drinks high in carbs: dark beer, sweet liqueurs, cocktails, etc.
• Ready-made dishes that appear low-carb but contain added sugar.

All of the products listed above act like poison for people with diabetes. They cause blood sugar to spike rapidly and sharply. Even the fastest-acting insulin can’t counteract this sudden rise effectively. The same goes for even the most potent diabetes medications. They can’t keep up with the damage these foods cause.

Potatoes, other starchy vegetables, bread, flour products, cereals, and flakes are almost pure glucose with minor variations. The glucose in these foods is bound in long chains known as starch. However, the human body breaks starch down with remarkable efficiency. This process begins right in the mouth. You don’t even need to swallow these foods for glucose to enter your bloodstream. The breakdown of starch starts as soon as you chew.

Once glucose enters the bloodstream, it fuels the development of dangerous diabetes complications. You can learn the detailed mechanisms here. The core truth is simple: there is only one reliable way to keep blood sugar normal. It is to avoid the foods listed above. Don’t believe an insulin pump, expensive medications, or any other miraculous treatment will let you consume carbs safely. That belief is not just wrong—it’s dangerous. See also Insulin Pump: Pros and Cons.

Sugar, honey, soda, fruits, berries, and sweet vegetables all contain a mix of glucose and fructose. For years, doctors promoted the myth that fructose is a safer alternative to glucose for people with diabetes. But that view has changed. In recent years, even organized medicine has acknowledged the harmful effects of fructose. You can read more about it here. The takeaway is clear: fructose is not harmless. It’s best to avoid foods rich in it, even seemingly healthy options like fruits, berries, and sweet vegetables.

Finding Joy After Letting Go of Forbidden Foods

The deadly foods listed above are a primary source of comfort and pleasure for millions of humans. Carbohydrates are cheap, widely available, and highly addictive. Many rely on them to cope with stress, emotional pain, or boredom.

However, people with diabetes must break this habit. Continuing to use carbohydrate-rich foods as emotional support makes it impossible to maintain normal blood sugar levels. Without tight control of blood sugar, the risks of serious complications, disability, and shortened life expectancy rise dramatically.

To stick to a low-carb diet comfortably and without breakdowns, you may need to make significant changes in your life. Think about what you can do to reach these strategic goals:

1. Reduce the amount of stress and humiliation you face.
2. Find other forms of entertainment that bring you joy instead of relying on poisonous carbohydrates.

Stress Relief Strategies

The key sources of stress and humiliation often include:

• Family members — spouses, children, parents, and other relatives.
• Toxic bosses and coworkers.
• Financial burdens — mortgage, car loans, and consumer debt.

Act decisively and persistently to eliminate the stressors wherever they arise.

You may need to make and follow through on some difficult decisions, such as:

1. Stop paying your mortgage and give up ownership of the property.
2. Finally, tell your boss and coworkers what you have wanted to convey to them all along.
3. Limit your communication with toxic parents.
4. Stop overprotecting your children.
5. Cut off financial support to your adult kids and make them stand on their own feet.
6. Get a divorce.

So-called family and friends are often the dead weight dragging people with diabetes toward the grave. They may have already picked out your funeral date and discussed how to divide your inheritance. If you suddenly start fighting for your life, don’t be surprised if they react with resentment.

Get rid of anything that drains your energy and attention—without regret. Cut loose the ballast that is holding you back. I know these things are easier said than done, but half-measures won’t change anything. Popular stress relief methods—like yoga, meditation, potted plants, or fish tanks—are useless unless you tackle the root causes of your problems.

Look into cognitive behavioral therapy. It can help you identify harmful thought patterns, challenge them, and replace them with more constructive ways of thinking and reacting. I highly recommend reading A Guide to the Good Life by William Irvine. It offers practical wisdom on how to find lasting happiness and resilience by applying Stoic philosophy to everyday life.

How to Replace Poisonous Carbs with Other Sources of Pleasure

Once you have eliminated excessive stress, the next step is to find meaningful entertainment to avoid boredom. Well-chosen activities will motivate you to maintain a healthy lifestyle and strive for longevity. Fill your life with purpose and joy so you won’t feel the urge to turn to harmful carbohydrates to escape boredom and melancholy.

Entertainment is a deeply personal thing. What feels like fun to one person can feel like a chore to another. You will likely need to think carefully about what truly brings you joy and choose activities that genuinely make you happy.

Many people live unhappy lives with little real chance to improve their situation. They earn a living by enduring regular humiliation from those in power and see no way out. These people are acting rationally by not trying to prolong their lives. They go with the flow, numbing their pain with carbohydrates and other means.

At the same time, I see many successful, independent, and financially secure people who, in middle age or early old age, literally rot alive from diabetes. The reason is simply that they are too lazy to discover what entertainment brings them joy and to engage in those activities. From the outside, their behavior seems unreasonable. Of course, I admit that I may not know or see all the substantial circumstances affecting them.

Allowed Foods on a Low-Carb Diet

Earlier on this page, you saw the long list of foods prohibited on a low-carb diet. The list of permitted and recommended foods is just as extensive. You’ll be able to enjoy a rich, varied, and most importantly, satisfying diet. The healing low-carb lifestyle doesn’t mean living in constant hunger. That’s one of its principal advantages over low-calorie diets.

Here is a list of permitted foods:

• Protein: beef, pork, lamb, poultry, eggs, fish, and shellfish.
• Non-starchy vegetables, including broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, zucchini, cucumbers, celery, mushrooms, etc.
• Full-fat, unsweetened dairy: cream cheese, brie, hard cheeses, heavy cream, plain Greek yogurt.
• Nuts and seeds: almost all types except cashews and pistachios.
• Beverages: water, coffee (black or with heavy cream), unsweetened tea, and bone broth.

The list above does not include every type of meat, fish, poultry, vegetable, dairy product, nut, or seed that fits into a low-carb diet. There is no way I could compile and publish a comprehensive list. It would include thousands of food items. Do not rely on guesswork. Take a moment to check online whether a specific food you’re interested in is compatible with a low-carb diet. It’s a small effort that can help you avoid troubles with your blood glucose levels.

Read more about alcoholic drinks that are allowed on a low-carb diet here, and about dairy products here.

Why Portion Control Still Matters on a Low-Carb Diet

A low-carb diet focuses on eating foods that are low in carbohydrates and digested slowly. These foods usually cause a slow rise in blood sugar. However, after large meals, your blood sugar may spike unexpectedly fast. It is more likely if the meal included high-fiber foods. Even a large amount of protein can sometimes lead to a faster rise in blood sugar than expected.

When you eat a large meal, the food stretches the stomach walls, triggering the release of hormones called incretins. These hormones signal the liver to break down the glycogen stores and release glucose into the bloodstream. In healthy people, incretins also stimulate the pancreas to release insulin. It keeps blood sugar in check. However, in people with diabetes, the insulin response is impaired. As a result, blood sugar rises because the liver adds glucose, but the body can’t effectively counter it.

This phenomenon has the following explanation. The pressure on the stomach walls signals to the body that you have eaten enough. In response, it makes sense from an evolutionary standpoint to raise blood sugar quickly, without waiting for digestion, by breaking down the glycogen stores. A higher blood sugar level prepares the body to deal with potential threats or emergencies that might occur at any time.

Unfortunately, this scenario creates problems for people with diabetes. They usually don’t produce enough insulin to manage sudden spikes in blood sugar. They find it difficult to predict whether blood sugar will rise right after eating or later. As a result, it is hard to know the right time and dose for injecting insulin to cover the meal.

The practical takeaway is simple: avoid overeating. You don’t have to live in constant hunger. One of the best things about a low-carb diet is that it spares you this suffering. You can enjoy the health benefits without starving yourself. Still, try not to overeat—even when it comes to allowed foods. And of course, don’t give in to temptation by eating forbidden foods.

The Carnivore Diet

Many readers of this site are dealing not only with diabetes, but also with other autoimmune conditions or inflammatory diseases. For them, the carnivore diet may be worth trying. This dietary approach involves eating only animal-based foods—primarily meat and eggs—while strictly avoiding plant-based and dairy products. Although it’s even more restrictive than the low-carb diet for diabetes, it can help manage many severe health conditions without relying on costly and potentially harmful medications.

It turns out that fiber is not essential to our health. For people with inflammatory bowel disease, eliminating fiber can bring significant relief. Many individuals also struggle to digest dairy products. Thousands have reported that cutting out dairy helped them recover from chronic illnesses once thought to be incurable. Completely giving up both plant-based and dairy products is a massive lifestyle change. But for many, this sacrifice is far better than relying on expensive, toxic, and often ineffective drugs.

The carnivore diet doesn’t offer better diabetes control than a well-planned low-carb diet. It also isn’t a cure for cancer. However, it may be worth trying if you suffer from autoimmune thyroid conditions, which often accompany type 1 diabetes. Thousands of people report that it has helped them manage symptoms of psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, irritable bowel syndrome, depression, anxiety, and dozens of other chronic conditions.

Borderline Low-Carb Foods

Borderline low-carb foods are not completely off-limits, but they require caution. They contain a moderate amount of carbohydrates. You can rarely include them in your low-carb or ketogenic diet, and only in small portions.

Ideally, you should entirely avoid all the borderline foods listed below. However, it’s natural to occasionally want to treat yourself. The key is to do so in moderation and with full awareness, so that small indulgences don’t lead to serious setbacks. To avoid exceeding your daily carb limit, be mindful of how much you eat and track your total intake carefully.

The following foods are often considered borderline on a low-carb diet:

• Berries: strawberries, blueberries, currants, and similar types
• Nuts: peanuts, almonds, pistachios, and others
• Dairy: plain Greek yogurt, cottage cheese
• Legumes: peas, beans, lentils
• Dark chocolate: 85–90% cocoa

People with diabetes need to follow a stricter version of the low-carb diet than someone using it simply for weight loss. Your goal is to maintain consistently normal blood sugar levels and not just to shed pounds. It’s best to avoid all the foods listed above. If that feels like too much of a sacrifice, then at least follow these simplified guidelines:

1. Avoid all berries!
2. Prefer the fattiest nuts, such as Brazil nuts and macadamia nuts. Avoid pistachios and cashews, which are high in carbs. Try other nuts in small amounts and monitor your blood sugar response.
3. Cottage cheese is not a good choice, as it tends to cause a fast and significant spike in blood sugar.
4. White Greek yogurt may be acceptable in moderation. It should contain at least 5% fat. Keep portions small and observe how your body reacts.
5. Avoid legumes altogether.

If you’re overwhelmed by a craving for something sweet, allow yourself a small amount of dark chocolate. It should have at least 85% cocoa content—ideally 90%, but not higher. To slow down the absorption of sugar, wash the chocolate down with heavy cream. The higher the fat content of the cream, the better, and it should be no less than 15% fat. Try to avoid developing the urge to cope with stress by eating. To achieve this, take proactive steps as described earlier.

Why Fats and Cholesterol Are not the Enemies

Here is an important message that can ease your fears and help you live a longer, healthier life: you do not need to worry about saturated fats or cholesterol. Animal products like fatty meat and eggs contain plenty of these compounds. Despite common myths, they do not damage your blood vessels or increase your risk of heart attack and stroke.

A low-carb diet focuses on animal products rich in protein. You can enjoy these satiating foods without worrying about saturated fats or cholesterol. Your body will either put these substances to good use or burn them efficiently for energy.

By monitoring your blood sugar levels, you’ve likely seen firsthand that dietary carbohydrates raise them too much. The solution is to replace carbs with protein and fats that naturally come with protein. The healthiest, most suitable foods for you are those combining animal protein and saturated fat. Whenever possible, choose fatty cuts of meat instead of lean ones. And don’t hold back on eggs—they’re one of the most nutritious foods you can eat.

Many people avoid all types of vegetable oils and the unsaturated fats they contain. I’ve joined this trend myself. I don’t keep a single gram of vegetable oil in my house. When stewing vegetables, I use pork or beef fat left over from roasting meat, and occasionally butter. That said, I haven’t noticed any substantial improvements in my health from making this switch.

There is no reason to be overly afraid of unsaturated fats found in vegetable oils. What you should watch out for—and avoid entirely—are trans fats. These are the ones known to cause serious harm to your health.

Eggs: Cracking the Truth

Eggs are not just safe for people with diabetes—they are one of the most valuable foods in a low-carb diet. They provide high-quality protein, even better than meat. Eggs are also rich in cholesterol and choline. These compounds are essential for brain and nervous system health. Since a low-carb diet excludes sweet vegetables like carrots, beets, and pumpkin, egg yolks become a critical source of vitamin A. Eggs are a true low-carb superfood.

Chicken eggs are very cheap, given their impressive health benefits. Hard-boiled eggs make a convenient low-carb snack to take on the go. If I could, I would live on eggs alone—but such a diet quickly becomes too monotonous. So I alternate them with meat, fish, poultry, low-carb vegetables, nuts, and other allowed foods. Still, I eat at least 60 to 100 eggs a month—and I recommend you do the same.

Vegetables, Fruits, and Berries

Unfortunately, I can’t list every existing vegetable, fruit, or berry here and say whether each of them fits a low-carb diet. You’ll often need to look them up individually online to see if they are OK or not. There is no simple rule or method that can serve as a shortcut.

Some sources suggest a simple rule: avoid vegetables, fruits, and berries that contain more than 8–10 grams of carbohydrates per 100 grams. Unfortunately, this rule has too many exceptions to be reliable. It is best not to rely on it.

Many fruits and vegetables with more than 8% carbohydrates are still suitable for a low-carb diet. These include avocado, zucchini, and olives. On the other hand, some plant foods with less than 8% carbohydrates are not suitable. Examples include watermelon, bell peppers, carrots, and cherry tomatoes.

Digestible and Indigestible Carbohydrates At Nutrition Tables

Carbohydrates fall into two categories:

1. Digestible carbs.
2. Fiber, which the human body cannot digest.

Unfortunately, most nutrition tables do not separate these. They usually list only the total carbohydrate content, combining both digestible and non-digestible types. For example, in avocado, out of 9% carbohydrates, fiber makes up 7%, and digestible carbohydrates are only 2%. Avocado is one of the most low-carb-friendly products.

Here is some useful information about popular vegetables, fruits, and berries. It may help you make better decisions when planning your low-carb diet.

Many sources claim that raspberries, strawberries, and blackberries are acceptable on a low-carb diet if you eat them in small portions. It is misleading. I strongly advise people with diabetes and anyone trying to lose weight to avoid these and other berries altogether.

Berries are highly addictive, the same as most fruits. It is very easy to overeat them. Even a minor portion of berries can shut down your body’s fat-burning process. Once it happens, getting your metabolism back into fat-burning mode becomes difficult.

Avoid sour fruits and berries just as you would sweet ones. Do not be misled by the taste. Sourness does not mean the product is low in carbohydrates. It simply means the food contains a lot of acids, together with the usual amount of sugar.

You can eat tomatoes in small amounts, but avoid cherry tomatoes—they are too sweet. Stick to raw tomatoes whenever possible, and be careful not to overeat them. Stay far away from ketchup and tomato-based sauces, as they often contain added sugar.

You can add a small amount of raw chopped onion to salads. However, boiled or fried onions are not suitable for people with diabetes. Their carbohydrates become too easily and quickly absorbed. Sprouted green onions are OK to eat without restriction if you enjoy them.

In conclusion, I urge you again: instead of guessing, use the Internet to check whether a particular product fits a low-carb diet. This approach is far better than making a mistake and facing sky-high blood sugar levels.