Get the “skinny” on the slowcarb diet from a food blogger and real food fanatic – the pros, cons, and what boosted my own healthy living journey.
For me, the weight roller coaster started early – in my 20’s – and like many of you, I’ve struggled to find the right diet to suit my body type and my personality and lifestyle.
When Mr. Crumbs and I were planning a cruise, I took up running and tried out the slowcarb diet.
Just to clarify, I’ve never tried to be “skinny.” In fact, I firmly believe that neither the size of your pants nor the number on the scale should be the sole determining factor of how healthy you are.
But I do want to be healthy – for myself and my family.
Why I Tried the Slowcarb Diet
- Throughout pregnancies, job and life changes, and moving cross country, my weight fluctuated, at one point reaching the “overweight” category on the BMI calculator and coming dangerously close to “obese.”
- After transitioning to a real food diet (which helped me lose a lot of my weight), I wanted a diet that used real food and didn’t rely on low-fat, fake foods.
- I wanted something to pair with increased exercise, which I know is important to overall health.
- It was time to recover my health after moving cross-country, working endlessly on my Grocery Budget Bootcamp, struggling through a tenure in a one-bedroom apartment, and working to master cooking from scratch with minimal kitchen space. After all that, I needed a reboot.
What is the Slow Carb Diet All About?
In short, you are allowed to eat anything that isn’t white, or that can be white, on the slowcarb diet. A few foods on the no-no list:
- potatoes
- bread/pastas (like my delicious sandwich bread…yes, very depressing)
- rice
- dairy, including yogurt and cheese
- sugar
Instead, this diet consists of eating the same few meals, over and over again, using foods from the basic food groups included in the diet.
Basically, on the slowcarb diet, you choose one from each of the following categories for your 3-4 meals every day:
Proteins
- Egg whites with 1-2 whole eggs for flavor
- Chicken breast or thigh
- Black beans
- Beef
- Pork
- Fish
Legumes
- Lentils
- Pinto beans
- Red beans
- Soybeans
Vegetables
- Spinach
- Mixed vegetables (including cruciferous veggies)
- Sauerkraut, kimchee
- Asparagus
- Peas
- Broccoli
- Green beans
There are a few other tidbits to the diet too, like eating 30g of protein within 30 minutes of waking up, dedicating one full day as “cheat day,” and keeping snacking to a minimum (even if it’s a food that’s ok to eat).
I won’t get into the nitty gritty of the diet here, because that’s not the purpose of this post. If you are interested in learning more about the slowcarb diet, I recommend The 4-Hour Body by Tim Ferris.
If you’re interested in learning more about the pros and cons of the slowcarb diet, read on.
Pros
- You eat more beans. Beans are SUCH an incredible source of nutrients that everyone should aim to eat them every day. But this isn’t necessarily realistic… unless you’re on the slowcarb diet.
- While on this diet, I ate beans at least twice a day. I ate slow cooker refried beans every day for breakfast, and lentils for lunch. If it was possible to add beans to dinner without messing up the flavors on my plate, I ate them there too.
- Green vegetables are a huge part of the diet. Aside from the occasional omelet and spinach in my smoothies, I usually don’t eat vegetables at breakfast. However, the slow carb diet changed this, and breakfast regularly included spinach or broccoli. It was weird at first, but it was nice knowing I got a full serving of veggies at the start of the day.
- Plus, it helped keep our food waste to a minimum. Those random vegetables always made it to a plate!
- Breakfast and lunch were a no-brainer. As I mentioned, you’re encouraged to eat the same thing at breakfast and lunch, and it was nice to not have to think about what to make for breakfast every day!
Cons
1. My Favorite green maca smoothie is off limits.
Y’all, I love smoothies. So much so that I wrote a book about them! But on the slow carb diet, you can’t have milk, yogurt or bananas. That meant my favorite smoothie was a no-go.
It’s certainly not the end of the world, but that’s how I took my daily dose of grass-fed collagen and maca – two supplements that I consider important to my well-being. Without the smoothie, I felt stuck for both of those supplements.
(Read more about why I take collagen and maca in this post.)
2. You Can’t Have Yogurt
Yogurt has so many benefits to your gut, that it felt counter-intuitive to NOT be able to eat it on this diet. It’s not like I’m a massive yogurt fan either – I rarely eat it plain and only put ½ cup in my smoothie.
Still though, I don’t like being told I can’t eat something that I know is very good for me.
3. Fruit Isn’t Allowed
Just like I know yogurt is good for me, so is fruit. I don’t like being told I can’t have ANY fruit at all – not even the lower-sugar ones. It just feels wrong.
And, this went against one of our family goals to eat more produce than pantry foods and meat.
4. I Felt Like an Outsider at Dinner
It didn’t matter what I made for dinner, I always felt like I couldn’t eat it. I had to re-think almost everything I made and it made cooking dinner frustrating and annoying. That’s not good when you’re feeding a family AND you’re a food blogger.
5. It Didn’t Support my Marathon Training
I often train for marathons, and when you’re running 10+ miles on a Saturday morning you need a little more than scrambled eggs and refried beans to get you through.
Ideally, a slow-digesting carb like steel cut oatmeal would be best. Then you replenish post-run with a quick-digesting sugar like a homemade larabar. Neither of these are allowed on the slow carb diet and I couldn’t find a suitable work-around that allowed me to feel satiated AND full of energy.
6. Cheat Day Didn’t Work With My Routine
You could say that if my long runs are on Saturday morning, then Saturdays should be my cheat day. Then I could eat all the homemade energy bites I wanted.
But then what about pizza on Fridays?
You can call this petty, but pizza Fridays are an 11+ year tradition in our family and they’re not moving to Saturdays. That made my cheat day start on Friday night and end Saturday at lunch.
I’m pretty sure this wasn’t the intention of the diet.
7. There Was No Portion Control
I LOVE to eat, and no portion control is basically giving me the green light to eat as much of the approved list (plus the “okay” list) as I wanted to. Which in theory, I could.
And I did.
For me, this wasn’t good. It was too much of the wrong kind of freedom.
8. I Often Felt Really Hungry
The short answer is to eat a 4th meal, which is recommended on the diet. But eating 4 times a day didn’t work for my schedule in many ways, and the two biggest hurdles are:
- I’d skip eating meals with my family because I’d eat before them, and after them.
- My time in the kitchen was increased, because I was still cooking for my family. This didn’t make sense for me, since one of my main objectives is to save both time AND money with smart cooking.
9. Breakfast and Lunch Got Really Boring
As freeing as it was to not have to think about what to make for breakfast and lunch, eating lentils and chicken everyday for lunch got REALLY boring.
And it’s not that I didn’t try to make them differently.
I tried all sorts of different ways to cook the lentils… BBQ, curried, Italian, and marinated… but they were still lentils. And I was tired of them.
10. I Felt Restricted in My Creativity
As a food blogger, it’s my job (and joy!) to bring you delicious recipes that your family will love AND that are easy on the wallet.
But my creativity felt stifled when I could only eat from an approved list of foods. Sure there are TONS of different meals you could make from the items listed, like this chicken detox soup, but just knowing that I could ONLY eat those made me feel like I couldn’t make anything at all.
How do I not waste food if my family didn’t like it and I couldn’t eat it? How would I know if it even tasted good if I couldn’t taste it myself? And how would I know where to improve the recipe if I didn’t try it out first-hand?
11. It Didn’t Feel Like a Feasible “Way of Life”
After some thought, I concluded that given my lifestyle…hosting company often, traveling, running a family-friendly, frugal real food blog…I didn’t see how I could realistically eat this way – every single day – for the long term.
The Takeaways
While I ditched the slowcarb diet as a whole, there are elements I still incorporate.
- I still love scrambled eggs and slow cooker refried beans for breakfast. I have perfected both the slow cooker refried beans and my scrambled egg making skills and I honestly love the combination of the two. This meal fills me up, contains a lot of protein and I love the nutrients from the beans.
- I seek to include a green vegetable at every dinner. As often as possible, I throw greens, like my delectable chicken and spinach enchiladas or cranberry apple spinach salad, into my dinner plans.
What am I Doing Instead?
- Counting calories. Just to be clear – I’m NOT going for the low-fat, sugar-free, taste-free fake food out there. I’m still choosing full-fat, whole foods, including bread and cake too! But I’m careful as to how much of these I eat, and make sure that what I put on my plate counts for something good (for both my health and my budget).
- Using the MyFitnessPal app. Tracking calories and monitoring my activity, in combination with keeping our family stocked with real foods, does wonders for my health. According to this article, 88% of people who track for 7 days with MyFitnessPal app lose weight. That’s some serious success!
- Incorporate foods from the Whole30 Diet in our budget. We love to jump into the Whole30 diet from time to time as a restart, and some of these meals actually work in tandem with the slowcarb diet, but there are some definite variations. The main goal – eat lots of whole foods, like these Whole30 meals.
Bottom Line
Everyone’s health and fitness goals are a little different, and that’s okay. I’m here to help you, wherever you may be at in your health journey and whatever those goals may be.
I know creating healthy meals is a struggle. It’s why I created this blog, and why I have created programs to help my Crumbs readers. I started with Grocery Budget Bootcamp to share how to budget for healthy, real food eating through careful planning.
Now Crumbs has an amazing 30 Minute Dinners Program to provide you with everything you need to get healthy food on the table, including a full weekly meal plan with breakfast and lunch ideas, auto generated grocery lists, and easy-to-follow step-by-step directions to turn you into your own professional chef…all in 30 minutes a day!
Find out what 30 Minute Dinner veterans have to say about this amazing meal planning service and revolutionize your dinner routine!
FAQs
Can I eat oatmeal on a slow carb diet?
No, oatmeal is not an approved food on the slow carb diet.
Is the slow carb diet healthy?
The answer – it depends. It has helped many people lose weight, but it also strictly limits food types, including whole foods with many nutritional benefits. It’s a good idea to seek the guidance of a medical professional when trying any diet for the long term, including this one.
What foods are on the slow carbs food list?
The slow carb diet consists of proteins, legumes, and vegetables. Some examples of foods in these groups are located above.
Sarah
I’ve had a lot of luck with slow carb as a hard reset. The rules work for me and my personality, for no longer than 2 months. But 2 months on slow carb, usually get me down 2 sizes and visible abs. That being said, I miss yogurt so much. I love a Greek yogurt and berry smoothie and I know it’s healthy, but it doesn’t fit “the rules.” Very limiting and definitely not the only way to lose weight, but it does work.
Liane
Very interesting. I looked for a diet plan years ago that fit with my allergies and intolerances and I ended up on what was the original south beach diet. But I stayed in phase one, meaning I did not add grains or legumes back to my food plan. I don’t think my way of eating would work with children who seem to desire massive amounts of carbs or they get cranky and mean to each other. But I have only a hubby who is a carb driven fiend. My accommodations for him are to cook a lot of sweet potatoes and white potatoes and I limit myself to just a tiny taste. I know when I’ve gone overboard on carbs when I start getting that low blood sugar caused craving for sweets. We’ve tried a few of your menu plans but they are difficult when things get mixed together. Like the homemade hamburger helper. I don’t eat pasta at all ever and hubby won’t eat peas. I love peas! So to make this I made a big batch sans peas using cassava pasta, let him go crazy eating it and put mostly peas in my bowl with a small scoop of the meat mixture. A bit weird I’ll admit.
I read the slow carb diet post and I had a lot of issues with it. For one thing sweeteners like agave and honey may not be white but they are very blood sugar raisers! And I will die before I give up dairy. I use whole milk and only use it in coffee. I try to use very expensive cheese lol because it’s used in very tiny amounts as a flavoring. None of that bagged stuff with the natamycin – I’m allergic to a lot of antibiotics and that stuff gives me a rash.
I have still made my maca smoothie daily. I use carrageenan free almond milk, I never used a banana since I hate them, and bought powdered almonds — it’s good in baking also. I put in a squirt of liquid vanilla stevia and a shake of vanilla. It’s tolerable. I got the yellow.
So tl;dr — this diet does not appeal. My breakfast is my shake. DH has eggs. Lunch is a big salad. Varying dressings and it’s never boring. Dinner is simple. Grilled or baked protein, rarely steak unless it’s summer, but usually chicken breast, pork, or a beef roast of some sort. Always enough to have more the next day in lunch. We have a pizza night – cauliflower crust. We have a rotating hamburger / hotdog / spaghetti night. Spaghetti squash or miracle bread aka oopsie bread for buns and we rarely have desert unless it’s a special occasion.
Nefertiti Williams
That’s so amazing and hard work does pay off !! I’ve been trying to lose weight for the longest after having my first child. I am still 180 , but I saw this weight loss article. I don’t know if i should do this method or not ?
Tiffany
I’m not a weight loss expert Nefertiti, and I’ve learned that every person’s body is created differently. ♥
Trim Contour
I loved this article, it was really helpful for me. Thanks for posting it. I am following your tips with some other awesome diet plan that helped me lose a lot of weight.
Fiona
Hi Trim, I agree that article is great and really helpful, but what diet plan you are following? I’m doing the Just Cut It Method which is so easy and brilliant!
stinkyshoe
Ill be honest, I think a slow carb diet is the best kind of diet… but I don’t think it needs to be strict. I still eat a couple bananas a week … despite that and the fact that I HATE bananas. Why? They are high in potassium and that helps your kidneys as well as balance bloating from salt. Once a week or so I’ll make a yam or sweet potato, and cut it in half, eat half with lunch and half with dinner. Same deal, I believe a varied diet is still best and they are high in minerals. For most meals though I eat a slow carb diet. If I know I want to do a really heavy cardio session, I might have a small cup of yogurt with my eggs to carb load a little. I don’t think you need to be 100% strict with this diet to have the benefits. Just about 75% with some careful consideration taken to when and why you want to stray a little. For me it just makes sense to stray when I have a purpose, but it doesn’t make sense to eat bread or rice with every meal. They are just low in nutrients and you can be putting so much better stuff in your body for the cost of those calories.
Tat
I used keto to lose weight fast and to get out of metabolic syndrome. I did it in conjunction with a 16:8 intermitten fasting cycle 7 days a week. I ate as much veggies as I could and drank tons of water. When I reached my target weight and had a full physical. Blood panel was great! I then transitioned to a low carb diet by gradually adding some healthier carbs into my diet while staying on a 16:8 IF eating cycle. As long as I kept my proteins at about 50gms/day and my carbs under 75gm/day, I was maintaining and sometimes lost a couple of pounds. My eating is now quite varied. I cook most of the time but it’s easy to go low carb here in Singapore. A whole roast duck is easy to get and fresh meats are really fresh (except maybe beef). Going low carb is also far easier to stick to than keto as keto is very binary and the margin of error that gets you out of keto is very small. I get most of the benefits of keto doing low carb and enjoy my foods. Something that is easier to habituate will be more successful in the long term.
Mima
Hello,
Thank you for this article, it is very interesting. In some parts of ot I feel you completely ad relate to your story ( being a mum of two children myself)
I am a slow carb eater and a runner too. However I do not follow the slow carb thing exactly to the letter, espacially on long run days (when I typiqually allow myslef some chocolate and fruit)
I found that having cheat days on the day of my long run is not a good idea too as milk and bread give me some digestion problems while I run. So I tend to have my cheat day the day before and I reward myself on my runday with fruit and dark chocolate that I take with me.
This works for me. But again, I do not try to lose weight as I have been stable for years now.
Thank you for this great blog, will be back soon to read more!
Tiffany
Thank you so much for encouraging me Susan!! Blessings to you! ♥
pavitra
Thanks for great tips. I am following the the same. Hope it would be helpful.
Elka
The problem with diets is always they restrict foods in a way that isn’t sustainable. This from a person who naturally gravitates to a vegetarian diet 90% of the time. Of course you are going to lose weight if you cut out X!! But my first impression was snarky: no foods that are white or could be white but suggested breakfast is egg whites o.0