A low-carb diet involves limiting your daily intake of carbohydrates to fewer than 39 percent of your total calories. Depending on the strictness of your low-carb regimen, you will eat between 50 grams and 150 grams of carbohydrates per day, according to the Mayo Clinic website. To put this in perspective, there are about 27 grams of carbohydrates in one banana or 25 grams in one English muffin. Breakfast offers many options for low-carb dieters.
Features
Low-carb breakfasts skip the bagels, toast, cereal and waffles that grace many traditional American tables. Instead, the emphasis is on proteins like meat, fish and eggs. You also can include cheese and low-carbohydrate vegetables like mushrooms, chives, peppers and chicory.
Benefits of Eggs
Eggs are a good choice on a low-carb diet; one large egg contains less than 1 gram of carbohydrates. In addition, an egg breakfast might help you lose weight, according to a study in the International Journal of Obesity. Researchers compared participants on a low-calorie diet who ate a breakfast containing an equal number of calories from eggs or bagels. After eight weeks of five egg breakfasts per week, the egg-eating group lost 65 percent more weight. If you are concerned about cholesterol, use egg whites or combine whole eggs with egg whites to minimize yolk consumption.
Meal Ideas
Omelets are a natural choice for a low-carb breakfast. Try being creative and filling them with cream cheese and chives, salsa and Monterey jack cheese, sautéed mushrooms, lean ground turkey or canned salmon, diced tomatoes and red onion. You also can make low-carb "pancakes" using almond meal, flax meal or soy flour, which contain fewer carbs than white flour, and egg whites, artificial sweetener and cottage cheese. Eat these pancakes with low-carb syrup substitute. You can create a low-carb version of hash browns using shredded cauliflower or zucchini mixed with chopped onion and bound with egg whites and seasoning. Saute until cooked through.
Considerations
When choosing meat sources, be wary of cured and processed varieties like ham, bacon and smoked fish. Many of these processed meats contain additional carbohydrates in the form of sugars, honey or fillers. These foods also often contain sodium nitrate and nitrite, which the Center for Science in the Public Interest recommends you limit due to possible cancer risks. You can make your own sausage by mixing together extra lean ground turkey, chopped garlic and fennel seeds. Form them into patties and cook in a sauté pan.
Caution
Choose proteins low in fat whenever possible. One concern raised by the American Heart Association about low-carb diets is the potential for taking in too much saturated fat, which over the long-run might increase your risk of developing heart disease. While an occasional indulgence in fatty meat is fine, try not to make bacon and pre-packaged sausage a breakfast habit.
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