These figures can be quite different. This page will teach you how to calculate the amount of carbohydrate in each product using the following formula:
The carbohydrate intake on a ketogenic diet is restricted, with a daily limit of 20 grams being recommended. Even if you include colourful peppers and tomatoes, you can eat a lot of vegetables before reaching the 20-gram carbohydrate limit. In fact, it’s more than half a kilo of vegetables that are packed with vitamins and minerals (green vegetables contain the least amount of carbohydrates).
On the other hand, if you add half a burger bun to your daily carbohydrate ration on a ketogenic or low-carb (more restrictive) diet, it can contain 20 grammes of carbohydrate. Traditional bread is not the best option in this case. Low-carbohydrate bread, on the other hand, can be made at home and is much lower in carbohydrates (you can find a recipe for keto rolls on our website).
One large potato, half of a large hamburger, or a handful of rice or pasta all contain 20 grams of carbohydrate (the daily limit for a ketogenic diet).
These foods can only be included in small amounts in a low-carbohydrate diet (if at all and once in a while). However, there are alternatives: cauliflower puree can be used in place of rice or potatoes, and a zucchini spiral can be used instead of pasta. There are also plenty of other delicious low-carbon vegetable platters that can be substituted for pasta, rice, and potatoes.
It takes a lot of effort to eat only spinach and exceed the 20-gram carbohydrate limit (bottom right). You’d need about 1.5 kilograms of spinach to get 1.4 grams of digestible carbohydrate per 100 grams! It’s worth noting that there’s a lot more spinach here than what’s shown in the photo; it’s just all the spinach that will fit on a plate.
You can easily reach 20 grams of carbohydrate by adding some slightly more carbohydrate-rich vegetables, such as peppers and cherry tomatoes (top left plate).
Carbohydrates are moderately low in nuts and blueberries, but you should not consume less than 20 grams per day.
If you eat a little more bread, pasta, rice, or potatoes, you’ll easily exceed 50 grams of carbohydrates, which is the recommended limit for a low-carb diet.
It doesn’t take much – three large potatoes or three slices of bread, for example, will give you more than 50 grams of carbohydrate. Did you know that two double sandwiches (made with two slices of bread) contain more than 60 grams of carbohydrate?
It takes some planning to get to 50 grams of carbohydrate in your food from only vegetables, low-carb nuts, and blueberries, but it is doable and, more importantly, very healthy.
When it comes to carbohydrate content, none of the foods mentioned above are particularly low. When eating extremely low carbohydrate foods, how much does it take to reach the 20 gram carbohydrate limit? Here are some examples:
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