Low Carb Breads Or Muffins

Some common reasons for following a low-carb diet are to lose weight or control your blood sugar levels. The diet can be satisfying if you like protein foods, but you might find yourself missing bread and muffins. Choose low-carb bread and muffins to be able to eat these foods while sticking to your diet, and get your doctor's approval before starting any diet.

You might only be allowed 50 to 150 grams of carbs, or 200 to 600 calories, on a low-carb diet. Low-carb diets tend to emphasize protein foods, such as meat, poultry fish and eggs, and fats, such as oils. A single blueberry muffin might have more than 80 g of carbs, and a large slice of white bread has about 15 g of carbs. It might be easier to fit bread and muffins into your diet when you choose options with fewer carbs.

Packaged Breads

Your options for low-carb breads might include sliced white or wheat bread, English muffins, bagels, tortillas and pita bread. High-fiber choices are best because fiber is a healthy nutrient that can help you control your weight, reduce your risk for constipation and lower your cholesterol. Dietary fiber is a carbohydrate, but it does not spike your blood sugar levels like sugar and starch. To further promote weight loss, choose low-calorie breads.

Commerical Muffins

Choose a muffin that is labeled "low-carb," or have a low-sugar or sugar-free muffin, which are lighter in carbs compared with regular muffins because sugar is a carb. Instead of sugar, muffins can be sweetened with sugar alcohols, such as sorbitol or maltitol. These have less of an effect on your blood sugar than regular sugar, but might lead to diarrhea. Read the list of ingredients to make sure your low-carb muffin does not contain partially hydrogenated oils, which are sources of cholesterol-raising trans fats.

Home-Made Baked Goods

Substitute a low-carb flour for regular, bleached white flour when you bake your own low-carb breads and muffins. A cup of full-fat soy flour has 30 g of carbs, 29 g protein and 17 g fat, while a cup of white flour has 95 g carbohydrate, 12 g protein and 1 g fat. Further lower the carbs in your muffins by making them with calorie-free sugar substitutes, such as sucralose, or Splenda, or saccharin instead of sugars, such as white sugar, brown sugar, molasses or honey.