5 low-carb meals you can make in under 20 minutes

A low carb diet brings with it a whole host of health benefits. It is highly effective for weight loss, stabilising blood sugars, reducing visceral fat, and reducing your risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes.^{1 2 3 4} Enjoying low carb meals doesn’t need to cost you extra time or money, in fact some of our members’ favourite recipes are cost-effective and take less than 20 minutes from start to plate.

Keep reading to find out how to lower your carb intake, and explore our favourite quick, easy, low carb recipes.

Tips to lower your carb intake

1. Rethink your breakfast: Ditch the cereal and toast in the morning, which provide little nutrients and can lead to a mid-morning crash, and try a low carb breakfast instead. Protein-rich omelettes, a bowl of Greek yogurt or a tasty avocado and eggs dish are all sure to kickstart your day with energy and flavour.
2. Make some simple swaps: To reduce your carb intake, swap out simple carbs for low carb alternatives, or opt instead for complex carbs that contain plenty of fibre (like vegetables, wholegrains and legumes). For example, swap spaghetti for courgetti, white rice for cauliflower-rice, and white flour for almond meal for some simple low carb alternatives.

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3. Use a meal planner: A meal planner can be a helpful way of monitoring your intake of carbohydrates. Where it can become easy to lose track of what you’re eating, particularly on busy days, a meal planning tool does the planning for you to make sure you keep to your goals. A tool like The Fast 800 Programme, not only plans your low carb meals with tasty recipes every day, it even provides an automated shopping list to save you time and money.
4. Don’t drink your carbs: Most sugar, including fructose, lactose and glucose is considered a simple carbohydrate. They cause rapid rises in blood sugars and can be an overlooked way carbohydrates sneak into your diet. Cutting back on fruit juices, sugary carbonated drinks, and sweetened hot drinks will help reduce your carb intake. For ideas of what to drink instead, head here.

Quick and easy low carb recipes in under 20 minutes:

• Sushi Lunch Box: Mediterranean-style diet principles can be applied to various cuisines. Sushi is a great opportunity to try cauliflower-rice instead of white rice, reducing the carb intake and adding extra gut-friendly fibre. With zero cooking time needed, it’s ultra-convenient for a low carb lunch on the go.
• Portobello Pizzas: Our cheesy, mushroom pizzas are filling, delicious and easy to make. It’s one of our most popular low carb meals on The Fast 800 Programme, and for good reason. They’re ideal for fasting days, and can be customised with any non-starchy vegetables on top to add extra flavour and nutrients.
• Low Carb Minestrone: It doesn’t get more comforting than a hearty bowl of minestrone soup. This low carb version contains almost 40g of protein per serving with just 11g of carbs, making it a great keto-friendly lunch option. It takes just 20 minutes from start to finish, and is perfect to batch-cook for later in the week.
• Mediterranean Omelette: Kick your day off right with this energising omelette, full of all the protein, fibre and nutrients you need to get going, and none of the excess carbs that will make you crash later on. It’s a low cost meal, perfect if you’re cooking for one and is an ideal way to use up leftovers at the end of the week.
• Smashed Burger Wraps: These wraps were designed to help satisfy that craving for the classic comfort-food favourite. Swapping out a burger bun for a wholemeal tortilla reduces the carbohydrate content, while the high protein beef mince makes it satisfying and filling. Plus, it takes just ten minutes to prepare, perfect for a quick post-work dinner.

For more delicious low carb meals, sign up for your 7-day free trial of The Fast 800 Programme here where you’ll find recipes, meal plans and tips and tricks for reducing your carb intake ready to reap the incredible health benefits.