A high carb low-fat diet can be one of the healthiest ways to eat if the main focus is on natural whole foods. This is the case no matter what diet you follow.
That being said, there is room for processed foods as long as whole foods make up the bulk of your diet.
In this article, we want to give you ideas about what type of foods to shop for when following an HCLF diet.
The Healthiest High Carb Foods that Are Low in Fat
This is not going to be an exhaustive list of all foods that you can eat on this diet. Our goal is to give you an idea of what to pick up at the grocery store when you are first starting out.
Potatoes
Low carb advocates have demonized potatoes as being fattening, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Potatoes only become fattening when they get fried in oil to become fries or slathered in butter when eaten as baked potatoes.
The irony is that it isn’t the potato that gets stored as fat.
As we described in the High Carb Low Fat Diet Guide, carbs rarely get converted to fat to any significant degree.
They can cause the fat you eat to get stored as fat, but the potatoes themselves don’t add to your stored body fat levels directly.
In fact, back in 2010, Chris Voigt, executive director of the Washington State Potato Commission, decided to live on nothing but potatoes for 60 days.
He ate 7 pounds of potatoes each and every day. Here are the results:
Voigt underwent a physical Monday, the last day of the diet. His weight dropped from 197 pounds to 176 pounds and his cholesterol level fell 67 points. Voigt said he and his doctor were both shocked.
“I’ve been struggling being borderline high cholesterol for four or five years,” he said. “We were thinking maybe a 20-point drop, but this is 60-some points.”
I consider potatoes a flagship HCLF food.
Whole Grain Oatmeal
The health benefits of oatmeal have been shown in several studies over the years.
A lot of these health benefits can be attributed to the soluble fiber called beta-glucan.
Studies have shown that beta-glucan reduces cholesterol levels. It has also been shown to increase insulin sensitivity (a good thing).
It is also filling since it slows the emptying of the stomach.
When shopping for oatmeal just look for the words “whole grain”.
Whole Grain Pasta
The dieting trend these days is to avoid pasta when trying to get lean and stay healthy. This is too bad because pasta is satisfying and delicious.
We recommend whole grain pasta over refined pasta since it contains more fiber.
If you do choose refined pasta just try and get other sources of fiber in your diet throughout the day.
Pasta on its own is fine.
The weight gain happens from adding fats to the meal in the form of high-fat meat, parmesan cheese, buttered bread, etc.
Pasta can be a healthy food choice if the rest of your diet is low in fats.
Whole Grain Bread
The American Heart Association recommends consuming at least 25 grams of fiber today per 2,000 calories.
Bread can be a nutritious and healthy part of your diet, especially when you buy the right type.
Here’s a hack to picking out the best bread.
We call it the “The 10:1 Carb-to-Fiber Bread Ratio Rule”.
Just pick out bread that has at least 1 gram of fiber for every 10 grams of carbs.
If a slice of bread has 20 grams of total carbs, you would want it to have AT LEAST 2 grams of dietary fiber.
It’s easy math.
Sourdough bread is also a great choice even if it doesn’t follow the 10:1 carb-to-fiber bread ratio rule.
The reason for this is that the fermentation slows the speed at which sugars enter the bloodstream.
You just have to make sure you get real sourdough bread.
Rice
Although some people claim that white rice isn’t healthy since the fiber is removed from it, almost all of the white rice sold in the U.S. has been enriched with iron and B vitamins like folic acid, niacin, thiamine.
It still has some fiber.
Brown rice has twice the fiber, but most people prefer the taste and consistency of white rice.
Some of the slimmest people on the planet stay lean and live healthy lives eating a large amount of white rice each day.
The key is to make sure you get other sources of fiber from fruits, vegetables, beans, and other whole grains, etc.
There has also been concern that brown rice is high in arsenic. This is because the outer shell absorbs fertilizers floating in the water where it is grown.
Because of this, you may want to stick to white rice where this outer shell is removed.
Fruits and Vegetables (in General)
Even if you don’t follow a vegan diet, it is a good idea to include plenty of fruits and vegetables in your diet.
The only fruits and vegetables you need to limit when following this diet plan are those that are high in fat.
Avocados and coconuts come to mind.
You can still eat both of these on a low-fat diet, you just have to eat in moderation.
Fruits and vegetables are loaded with vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients. You can’t duplicate these benefits with a multivitamin.
It’s fine to take supplements…
Just make sure you still include a lot of whole foods in your diet.
Other Low-Fat Foods to Add to Your Grocery List
These are other ideas of foods to pick up when on a high carb low-fat diet.
This is by no means a complete list.
We just created this to give you some ideas.
Beans and Canned Beans
Beans are high in fiber, high in protein, and high in B vitamins.
Here’s a study showing the health benefits of canned beans.
Both canned and beans cooked from scratch have similar nutrition. Canned beans do have more sodium, so make sure you stay within healthy daily sodium intake range (1500-2000mg) each day if you choose canned beans.
There are more tons of options here, you don’t just have to stick to plain kidney beans.
Chili beans, baked beans, low-fat refried beans all work.
If it is a canned bean just look at the label on the back. You are looking to keep fat at 1-2 grams per 100 calories ideally.
Flour Tortillas and Corn Tortillas
Both flour and corn tortillas are fine to eat while following a high carb low-fat diet.
Corn tortillas are a bit better if weight loss is your goal.
They tend to have fewer calories and less fat.
When following a HCLF diet, make sure you don’t heat them in oil and if you are making burritos, enchiladas or tacos don’t add cheese.
Softshell corn tortillas are typically healthier than hard shell tortillas that are in the Mexican food sections of most stores.
Look at ingredient labels to find the ones lowest in fat.
Non-Fat Dairy
Non-fat yogurt, milk, and cottage cheese are all fine to eat on an HCLF diet.
If you follow an HCLF vegan diet this obviously isn’t an option.
You can choose low-fat versions, but you need to eat sparingly in order to keep in the 20% or less fat range that we recommend with this way of eating.
You absolutely add dairy to your high carb low-fat foods list.
Just choose non-fat most of the time.
Chicken Breasts | Fish | Lean Cuts of Meat
If you aren’t following a vegan or vegetarian version of this style of eating, lean meat is something you can add to your grocery list.
The leanest meat is a boneless and skinless chicken breast or lean fish like cod, tuna or halibut.
Cod is especially good diet food.
There is an interesting study where people who ate cod for lunch ate 11% fewer calories at dinner than those who ate beef at lunch.
Although no significant differences in VAS-ratings of satiety or hunger were detected, subjects displayed an 11% reduction in energy intake at the subsequent evening meal.
There is another study where people who ate cod lost 4 more pounds over 8 weeks than the control group.