Best Grain-Free Sources of Vitamin B for a Low-Carb Diet

Best Grain-Free Sources of Vitamin B for a Low-Carb Diet

Low Carb Diet

Low-Carb Diet is Rich
in Vitamin B Complex Sources

Vitamin B is actually a group of different water-soluble vitamins that must be eaten daily since the body cannot store them. These vitamins are necessary to turn food into energy, create red blood cells, keep the nervous system and brain functioning normally, and even regulate appetite. Processing foods that contain natural B vitamins will destroy some of those nutrients, so grains and cereals are often enriched in order to replace the nutrients lost during processing.

When nutritionists claim that we should eat plenty of grains to be healthy, it is this artificial form of vitamins and minerals that manufacturers add to their stripped bread and over cooked products that they are suggesting we eat. In order to verify or destroy that claim, I recently did a little research on grains and grain-free sources of Vitamin B. Here is what I found out . . .

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Cinco de Mayo: 12 Super-Tasty Cal-Mex Dishes

Cinco de Mayo: 12 Super-Tasty Cal-Mex Dishes

The Brutal Way

Cal-Mex Cuisine
Fresh Vegetables, Herbs, Whole Foods
(Photo Credit: Armando Maynez,
CC BY 2.0)

Mexican food is very popular in the southwestern portion of the United States as well as other areas that have a large Mexican population. For us, Cinco de Mayo was a big deal. Mexican restaurants existed in every major city in Southern California, and they offered a large variety of Cal-Mex and Tex-Mex cuisine. Mexican traditions like flavorful tacos, spicy enchiladas, and wet burritos were found on the menu of even budget-minded folks like us every single week.

It's culture there. It's how I grew up.

In fact, when I was still married to my ex and funds were short, we simply got through the rough spots by eating tacos or enchiladas every single night. Mexican food was cheap, filling, and tasty. It worked much better when raising my sons than Kraft mac-and-cheese or Top Ramen soup. Although, we did eat those things too.

Even when the current hubby and I first moved to Utah and we were struggling to survive financially, that's how we ate. Enchiladas, Spanish rice, and refried beans were a staple. Tacos with various fillings showed up on the plate twice a week. It was a given.

But what do you do when you're on a low-carb diet?

What do you do when traditional forms of tacos, burritos and enchiladas no longer work? How do you satisfy that craving for Mexican cuisine or enjoy a nice Cinco de Mayo celebration once restricting carbohydrates has become a lifestyle?

The answer to that depends on what you want to accomplish, but we can also take a few pointers from what's called Cal-Mex instead of Tex-Mex cuisine.

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Missing Diet Soda? PepsiCo Has Your Back!

Missing Diet Soda? PepsiCo Has Your Back!

Sugar..!! The Brutal Way

Diet Pepsi is Switching
from Aspartame to Sucralose
(Photo credit: Ben Mason, CC BY 2.0)

The Atkins Diet doesn't allow diet soda with aspartame. Dr. Atkins took it off the acceptable beverage list many years ago after doing personal research into aspartame's potential health dangers. At that time, he recommended sucralose sweetened beverages and products instead, but sucralose sweetened products are difficult to find.

There are a few Erythritol and acesulfame potassium (ace-K) sweetened beverages available in limited areas of the U.S. or online, but a 6-pack is really expensive compared to aspartame-sweetened options. The one time I tried it (back before I started reacting to sugar substitutes) it didn't taste very good, so I never bought it again. For that reason, many low-carb dieters have simply opted to ignore Dr. Atkins advice and have reached for the Diet Pepsi or Diet Coke instead.

If that describes you, then you might be interested to know that . . .

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How the Myth of Willpower Affects Weight Loss

How the Myth of Willpower Affects Weight Loss

The Brutal Way

Back-Door Low-Carb Plan

This morning, I received a comment from a reader who didn't like what I had to say about body memory and the body's biological instinct for survival. The comment was from an anonymous reader who reacted to something I said on a post I wrote in September of 2011. The title of the post was Stumbling on Your Low-Carb Eating Plan? Here's How to Find Success by Using the Back Door! if you want to read it.

This post was designed to help those who might be having trouble making it through Atkins Induction, now called Atkins Phase 1, by offering a more gentle, alternative plan to drastically cutting carbs all at once.

A year ago, someone found that post and thanked me for writing it. It was encouraging for them. In my reply, I shared how I was thinking of using the back door approach once I'd gotten my thyroid problems straightened out.

What the anonymous commenter took offense to was . . .

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How to Work Low-Carb Vegetables Into Your Diet

How to Work Low-Carb Vegetables Into Your Diet

Low Carb Diet

Need to Eat More Veggies?
Get Loads of Low-Carb Ideas!

If you listen to the media and other anti low-carb advocates, you're going to think that the Atkins Diet is nothing but greasy burgers, T-bone steaks, tons of full-fat cheeses and piles of bacon. While the foundation of a low-carb diet is an adequate amount of protein and plenty of healthy fats, the greatest volume of food you eat on a low-carb diet is vegetables.

That fact is usually ignored by those who believe low-carb diets are unhealthy. Mostly, because the Atkins Induction Diet originally used very few vegetables to get you into the state of ketosis quickly, and also because a lot of people who do low carb don't follow the diet protocol correctly.

In addition to staying at an Induction level of carbs, instead of getting most of their carbohydrates from vegetables, low-carb dieters often eat an abundance of other low-carb foods, such as:

• nuts and seeds (including nut flours and ground flaxseeds)
• low-glycemic fruits
• tons of heavy cream, sour cream, and mayo
• low-carb convenience foods
• low-carb tortillas and pastas
• low-carb flours and starches
• lots of cheeses, heavy cream, and butter
• low-carb condiments
• low-carb desserts

There is nothing wrong with using these additional low-carb foods. In fact, the 1992 version of the diet gave dieters lots of freedom to design their own low-carb plan.

However, the Atkins Diet in its true form is basically a meat-and-vegetable diet. It isn't a zero-carb diet. It isn't even a high-fat diet. Protein and fat in the same proportions as found in nature and fibrous low-carb vegetables are the mainstay of a low-carb diet.

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