Getting Enough Carbs (Without Starchy Foods)

Getting enough carbs on a Gluten Free or Paleo Diet can be a challenge.

My Paleo-Inspired diet is pretty simple. It’s based on foods our human digestive system consumed for millions of years in the Paleolithic Period in history: proteins and fats (animals), and vegetables (plants).  Add some avocado, a little fruit,a few tubers, lots of herbs, and that’s it.

I call this way of eating The Diet For Human Beings on my DVD.

I don’t personally tolerate nuts, including coconut meat or milk (aggravates my shingles/herpes) or high carb foods such as fruit or sweet potato (blood sugar, candida, poor starch digestion).  So my carbohydrate intake can easily fall short.

My goal for weight maintenance is 100 grams of carbs every day. If you wish to lose weight, you should drop that under 100 according to Mark Sisson. 

Here’s a short list of approximate carbohydrates in vegetables, nuts, fruit and winter squash.

(Reference sources vary). My goal is to avoid the sweet or starchy ones that candida feeds on and that cause my blood sugar to rise and fall.  I hope this helps you too!  It’s what we use at my Diet and Health Center to assist others with Weight Loss, Diabetes, and Gluten Free eating.

Note that I have not subtracted Dietary Fiber from these numbers, as that’s a different blog post altogether…..  You can look up more foods at this link.

COOKED STARCHES

• 1 cup cooked pumpkin = 12 grams carbs
• 1 cup acorn squash, butternut squash, pumpkin = 24 grams of carbs
• 1 cup sweet potato = 50
• 1 cup white potato = 30

COOKED VEGETABLES

• 1 artichoke (the heart, and the meat from the leaves) = 13
• 1/2 cup artichoke hearts = 9
• 1 cup asparagus,radish = 4
• 1 cup broccoli, cabbage, cucumber, carrot = 8
• 1 cup cauliflower, eggplant = 8
• 1 cup cooked spinach, collards, beet greens = 8
• 1 cup green beans, peppers = 10
• 1 cup green peas = 20 (caution; high in sugar)
• 1 cup jicama, 1 leek, 1 cup cooked onion = 12
• 1 cup cooked beets = 14
• 1 cup raw lettuce, spinach, celery = 5
• 1 cup cooked mushrooms, zucchini = 8

FRUIT

• 1 medium avocado = 12
• 1 small tomato = 4
• 1 medium apple = 19
• 1 apricot = 4
• 1 medium banana = 27
• 1 cup berries = 13
• 1 grapefruit, 10 grapes = 10

NUTS AND SEEDS

• 1/2 cup coconut meat = 6
• 1/2 cup almond flour = 12
• 1/2 cup nuts, general = 7 to 12

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