A low-carb diet usually gives vegetables a bigger role on the plate. The nutrients lost by giving up high-carb foods need to be replaced, and vegetables are an obvious choice. Not all vegetables are the right choice for a low-carb diet because some still retain a significant carbohydrate count. Avoid those vegetables and fill your plate with these tasty, low-carb vegetables instead.
Lettuce
Lettuce is a base vegetable that goes well with many others. It is healthy, makes a great salad and is easy to prepare. Best of all, it has few carbohydrates making it the perfect vegetable for your low-carb diet. Salads help you stay full without consuming lots of fats or carbohydrates. Take advantage of this by making lettuce salads a standard item on your dinner table.
Avocado
There is some debate about whether this super-food is a vegetable or a fruit, but there are no questions about its healthiness. Packed with protein, potassium, healthy fats and fiber, avocados are among the most nutritional foods out there. Their low-carb content is the icing on the cake if you are a low-carb dieter and makes them a perfect substitute for starchy vegetables.
Broccoli
Broccoli and its relative cauliflower are good low carb vegetables. They are also quite filling, which is one of the main things missing in a low-carb diet. Foods like breads and pastas are high in carbohydrates. They are also very filling, so the challenge with replacing them is to find healthier foods like broccoli to keep you full.
Tomatoes
Another vegetable that is technically a fruit, the tomato is already a staple of most salads and sandwiches. Unlike its fruit brethren, the tomato is not packed with sugar, a low-carb dieter's enemy. Low sugar means low carbs and more taste for you. Drop the bread from your sandwich and the croutons from your salad, but keep the tomato.
Cucumber
The key determinate in selecting low-carb vegetables is their starchiness. The lower the starch, the lower the carbs. Cucumber has practically no starch to speak of, so feel free to add it to all your salads and sandwiches.
Low carb vegetables are easy to find and, depending on the season, comparably inexpensive. Leave the potatoes and corn out of your diet in favor of these healthy options. Though individually they are not that exciting, when used together, they provide you with a flavorful meal with very few carbs.
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