Avoid:

Bread

Biscuits

Pastries

Pasta 

Energy Bars

Noodles

Couscous

White Potatoes


Fruit Juice

Tropical Fruit

Mango

Pineapple

Grapes

Dried Fruit 


OK in moderation:

Pears

Bacon

Sweet potatoes 

Corn on cob

Butternut Squash

Cashews 


Apples

Apricots

Peaches 

Oranges 

Kidney Beans 

Nuts

Cheese

Go for it:

Above Ground-Vegetables

Lettuce

Cucumber

Tomatoes

Celery

Beef

Lamb

Pork


Olives

Avocado

Eggs

Almond Flour

Hazelnuts

Almonds

Chicken

Mushrooms

Peppers 

On medication for Diabetes (apart from Metformin)?

You should check with your doctor or nurse before making a significant change to your diet.

On medication for high blood pressure?

A low carb diet can reduce your blood pressure and you will need to keep an eye on this.

Key principles:

  • Traditionally, we often think of a 'good dinner' as consisting of protein e.g. meat, veg and carbohydrates.  Click Here to see an illustration of how many teaspoons of sugar are in some common foods.  
  • There are many ways to reduce the carbohydrate component.  You could cut out the 'carbs' part of your plate e.g. potatoes, look at alternative dinner options or consider making some substitutions.
  • Sometimes, a reduction can be achieved by avoiding double carbs e.g. lasagne rather than lasagne with garlic bread
  • Fajitas: Try substituting a Cos lettuce leaf as a 'wrap' as a sandwich alternative or lettuce fajitas!  
  • Rice: Try substituting rice or couscous for cauliflower rice.  Lentils are another good lower carb, higher protein option.
  • Pasta: Courgetti, lentil fusilli, edamame spaghetti!   
  • Go for fruit which grows in our climate as this is likely to contain less sugar - click here to see the amounts of sugar in different types of fruit which helps show why bananas should be avoided
  • Healthy fats and protein can help keep you fuller for longer.  
  •  What about Cooking fats? Avoid Trans Fats (vegetable oils, seed oils, margarine ) - they are known to increase inflammation and  cardiovascular disease.  Try using olive oil for cooking or on salads.  Coconut oil is great for cooking stir fries, for example.  Butter is a good fat (in moderation). The difference between good fats and trans fats is based on the oxidation qualities.   
  • "Turn the white stuff on your plate green!" Dr David Unwin

    Meal ideas:

    Chilli
    On cabbage instead of rice
    Chicken Curry
    Brocolli and Carrot instead of rice
    Stirfry
    Cauliflower rice, egg, brocolli, ham, garlic, onion and chai seeds
    Chicken with Courgettes and Edamame spaghetti
    Chicken with Courgettes and Edamame spaghetti
    Battered Fish (red) but with veg rather than chips
    The occassional red food is allowed!

    The above green ingredients (along with some amber) can be combined in various ways.


    This slideshow gives you some examples.

    Looking for a recipe book?

    Check out our resources page with pages on books, videos and websites.

    This website does not provide personal medical advice.

    New Forest PCN take no responsibility for the content of external links.