Alternatives | New Forest PCN

Lower Carb Alternatives

Breakfast

Alternatives

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.

Here you can find some examples of alternative ingredients you could use which are lower in carbohydrate. We also have a page with some lower carb products which you can find here.

Alternative Products Page

Pasta, Spaghetti & Noodles

All types of traditional pasta contain large amounts of carbohydrates which are broken down into sugar.

You can see how many teaspoons of sugar are in a portion of white and brown spaghetti in this infographic. Here are some alternative options.

You can also find pasta made from alternative ingredients. Check out our low carb products page for some examples.

Spiralized Carrot

Boiled or steamed

7.9% carbohydrate

compared to 32.8% for a white spaghetti.

Cut Cabbage

Boiled

4.1% carbohydrate

compared to 32.8% for a white penne pasta.

Spiralised Courgette

Boiled or steamed

3.5% carbohydrate compared tp 32.9% for a brown pasta.

Spiralised courgette or carrot can be used instead of spaghetti or pasta. Serve with a pasta sauce e.g. bolognese. You can also use finely cut cabbage.

Zero carb noodles

Boiled

<1% carbohydrate

compared to 28% for egg noodles.

Zero carb noodles are sometimes called

Shirataki or Konjac noodles.

Rice

White rice delivers a large amount of glucose into the blood stream quite quickly. Brown rice contains slightly less which is absorbed slightly slower but still should be avoided or reduced significantly.

You can see how many teaspoons of sugar are in a portion of white and brown rice in this infographic.

Here are some alternatives.

Quinoa

Boiled

22% carbohydrate compared to 32.3% for white rice. Use in combination with a smaller portion.

Bulgar Wheat

Boiled

18.7% carbohydrate compared to 36.9% for brown rice. Use in combination with a smaller portion.

Broccoli Rice

Boiled or steamed

3.5% carbohydrate

Cauliflower Rice

Boiled or steamed

3.5% carbohydrate

Cauliflower or broccoli rice are made by blending in a food processor in a pulsing fashion until the pieces are the size of rice. You can buy cauliflower rice frozen in major supermarkets. Alternatively just cut up small.

Potato

Many a meal seems to be based around potato but they don't need to be.

You can see how many teaspoons of sugar are in a typical portion of white potato in this infographic.

Here are some alternatives.

Parsnip

Roasted or Boiled and Mashed

12.5% carbohydrate compared to 16% for mashed potato

Use in combination with a smaller portion size.

Butternut Squash

Roasted or Boiled and Mashed

8.3 % carbohydrate compared to 30.9% for oven chips

Swede

Boiled and Mashed

6% carbohydrate compared to 21% for a roast potato

Celeriac

Boiled and Mashed

2.3% carbohydrate compared to 21.3% for sweet potato

Flour

Normal flours are very high in carbohydrates. That is why most foods made with them make it onto the red list on our pages.

There are some alternatives you can use which are listed here. Check out Emma Porter's The Low Carb Kitchen website and her shopping list page for details of low carb alternatives.

Coconut Flour

16% carbohydrate compared to 73% for a self-raising flour

Ground Linseed

Also known as milled flax seed

4.7% carbohydrate compared to 62.9% for a brown flour

Ground Almonds

3.8% carbohydrate compared to 72% for a white flour

This website does not provide personal medical advice.

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