Low carb foods – “Where can I buy them?”

You can buy low carb foods such as meat, fish, eggs, green veggies, cheese, butter, olive oil, cream, nuts and water in any supermarket in the UK.

OK…I am being a bit facetious, but these are the best low carb foods around to enable the body to use its stored fat.

Sometimes I actually think we are lucky in that there are few pre-manufactured low carb foods in the UK – as whenever people choose these products over natural foods, it usually stops their progress.

However, if you are looking for low carb foods that can enhance the areas that a low carb way of eating can remove without getting a touch inventive, here are my suggestions:

Low Carb and “Carb replacement” food online

• General LC “reinvented” goods  Amazon
• Stuff to bake with from Dr Almond
• Supplements from MyVitamins or Cytoplan UK
• All manner of excellent Meat from Turner and George
• Flours, Linseeds, Nuts, Gluten, Gums from  Buy Wholefoods Online
• Cheese! Join a cheese club with Pong Cheese
• Wine! Get some low carb alcohol from Skinny Booze
• Chocolate from UK company Montezuma
• Meal replacing protein powders from Purition
  • (I don’t personally advocate using these, but I know that for some people a meal replacement is an option in a busy life. This one is made from whole food, not crap!)

Seasonings, sweeteners and other things to look out for in supermarkets and online

Seasonings

• LoSalt
  • great for flavour and balancing potassium and sodium intake – these minerals, along with calcium and magnesium control water flow in the body.
• Enco – Cajun Hot Pepper Sauce
• Tabasco
• Ground cinnamon
  • Assists in lowering blood pressure and boosts blood glucose control. Gary Rhodes suggests adding it to meat dishes to improve the flavour.
• Marmite
  • Great for flavour in meat dishes. Lowish in carbs, great for B-vits. Don’t eat if you are sensitive to yeast.
• Bovril
  • Again, great for adding flavour to meat dishes
• Worcestershire sauce
  • This is a fermented fish sauce, contains gluten and sugar, but a splash goes a long way in adding savoury flavour.
• Soy Sauce
• Balsamic Vinegar
  • This adds sweet and deep notes to sauces. I use it in cream peppercorn sauce when I cook steak. I also add it to roasting juices as well to make gravy with a splash of Worcestershire sauce, sometimes some peppercorns. Reduce on a high heat and when almost there, add some butter to improve the texture
• White Wine Vinegar
• Cider Vinegar
• Red Wine Vinegar
• Sichuan Pepper

Sweeteners and flavorings

• Cake Flavouring drops/oils
  • Use these to add “missing” flavours such as lemon orange and banana to baking or protein shakes, from Amazon or online bakery suppliers
• Splenda (Sucralose)
  • For carb count, it is better to buy tablet and crush them (or liquid, from Amazon) as granular contains the sweetener bulked with maltodextrin, a low density but highly glycemic carbohydrate. The addition of this filler make this off-limits for anyone who is extremely “sugar sensitive” or allergic to potato/nightshades.
• Stevia
  • There are tablet and granular stevia products now in supermarkets. as with Sucralose, buy tablets and crush them for a much lower carb count.
  • You can get Liquid Stevia on Amazon very easily now
  • Unlike for aspartame/sucralose granular sweeteners, stevia products are usually bulked with erythritol. This is a polyol that gives excellent results in baking, but is however a sub optimal, as it can cause bloating, digestive upset and has a negative effect on gut bacteria.

Other useful things to keep an eye out for

• Pork Rinds/Pork Crunch/Chicharones
  • These are the “puffy” american type made from just skin, rather than our Scratchings made from skin and fat.
  • Crush these and use as breadcrumb replacement, or simply for dipping in place of nachos or tortilla chips.
    Black Country Snacks do a 400g bag of Unseasoned Pork rinds that make excellent crumbs and dipping tools.
• Oils
  • For flavour on salads and dressed vegetables, cold-pressed, extra virgin olive oil or any cold press nut oil such as walnut or hazelnut.
    Macadamia nut is fantastic on salads and also in baked goods.
  • Coconut oil is suitable for frying with, as is is very saturated.
• ‘Nut butters
  • Nuts have a carb load in themselves, but are also fantastically nutrient dense. Check labels and buy “No added sugar” varieties. Most supermarkets do an own-brand “Wholenut” Peanut Butter, and it’s no longer difficult to find other nut butters in their speciality sections or your local health food store. There are two main brands: Meridian Foods and Whole Earth Foods
• Nuts and seeds
  •  Brazils, Macadamias, Pecans, Almonds, Sunflower seeds, Pumkins seeds – all available from supermarkets and health stores as well as online.
  • The baking section is the place to look for these, as nuts and seeds sold for baking are VAT free, and so cheaper than those sold for snacking.
• Sausages
  • • whilst standard brand sausages are usually only around 50% meat, most “luxury” brand sausages are between 80-95% meat.
    • All contain a crumb of some sort, so always check the ingredients and carbohydrate count.
    • Sausages with added flavours such as apple or caramelised onion are naturally higher in carbs.
    • German style sausage such as bratwurst, weisswurst and bockwurst are usually 99.9% meat and 100% awesome.