A low-carb diet limits your intake of bread, grains, rice, starchy vegetables, fruits and sugar. In a low-carb regimen, such as the Zone or South Beach diets, you may consume 25 to 40 percent of your daily calories from carbohydrates, whereas in a very low carb diet, such as Atkins, fewer than 25 percent of your daily calories may come from carbohydrates, reports the diet review website Every Diet. The typical recommendation on a low-carb diet is to eat between 50 and 150 g of carbohydrates, notes the Mayo Clinic. When you decrease your carbs, the ratio of fats and proteins in your diet automatically increases. Begin a low-carb regimen with quick and easy meal plans that do not involve complex recipes or unusual substitutions.
Breakfast
The obvious choice for breakfast is bacon and eggs. Seek out turkey bacon with a lower sodium content for the most health benefits. Omelets make perfect low-carb breakfasts--try them with sautéed spinach, mushrooms and low-fat Swiss cheese; feta cheese and tomatoes; or smoked salmon and light cream cheese. If you have little time in the morning, grab an ounce of low-fat cheese and a few slices of deli ham to tide you over. A low-carb regimen does not have to banish all carbs, so including a piece of fruit like an orange or an apple will round out your morning meal.
Lunch
Wrap a low-carb tortilla around deli turkey, dark green lettuce and tomatoes for a quick and easy lunch. Use pre-washed salad kits and rotisserie chicken to create a quick and easy lunch--just leave off the croutons or sugared nuts and limit your dressing to a standard 2-tablespoon portion size. Tuna salad made with lemon juice, capers and celery and stuffed into a bell pepper, or cottage cheese tossed with salsa and cucumbers, are other easy alternatives.
Dinner
The Harvard School of Public Health says the best sources of protein are fish and poultry. Fish cooks very rapidly, so it fits well into an evening routine in which you do not have a lot of time to prepare a meal. A dinner of baked salmon with oven-roasted vegetables and a side salad fits into a low-carb lifestyle.Toss cut-up zucchini, eggplant, peppers and squash with a bit of olive oil and seasoning and roast in a 400-degree oven for about 20 minutes. Put the salmon in for the last 15 minutes, and dinner is done. Experiment with other fish, like mahi mahi, trout and tilapia, for variety. Pre-cut chicken tenders sauté fast in olive oil; add garlic, onion, snow peas and broccoli and season with soy sauce for a very quick stir fry. If you have not exceeded your carbohydrate levels for the day, serve dinner with 3/4 cup of brown rice, which contains 28 g of carbohydrates.
Snacks
You do not have to stick to cheese and deli meat as snacks. Try hard-boiled eggs, walnuts, pecans, ricotta cheese and fresh vegetables with a low-fat sour-cream-based dip. With any diet, watch saturated fat and calories; stick to low-fat versions of dairy, and control portion sizes of nuts and other fatty foods.
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