Low Carbohydrate Eating: A GAPS, Ketogenic & Ayurvedic Food Reference
A practical reference combining three complementary frameworks — the GAPS healing protocol, ketogenic and low-carbohydrate principles, and Ayurvedic nutritional wisdom. Covers carbohydrates in fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds; protein and carbs in GAPS-approved legumes; protein, fats and collagen in GAPS-recommended fish, meats and eggs; and, to complete the picture, carbohydrates, gluten and anti-nutrients in grains, rice and oats.
The headline figure on any nutrition label. It includes both the carbohydrates your body absorbs and the fiber it cannot — so on its own, it overstates the metabolic impact of a food.
Total carbs minus fiber. This is what actually reaches your bloodstream, raises blood glucose, and triggers an insulin response. On a VLC diet, net carbs is the figure that matters.
A complex carbohydrate that passes undigested to the colon, where it feeds beneficial gut bacteria. Fiber does not raise blood glucose. A healthy gut microbiome depends on an adequate supply of it.
Fruits — ranked by total carbohydrate
| # | Fruit | Total | Net | Fiber | Anti-Nutrients |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All fruits listed are GAPS approved · *† dried — use sparingly | |||||
Vegetables — ranked by total carbohydrate
| # | Vegetable | Total | Net | Fiber | Anti-Nutrients |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| * Approved for Full GAPS Diet · No * = excluded (starchy / grain) | |||||
Nuts & Seeds
Despite being energy-dense, most nuts and seeds are low in net carbs — thanks to substantial fiber content. They are among the most VLC-friendly snacks, though portion size matters given their calorie density.
| # | Nut / Seed | Total Carbs | Net Carbs | Fiber | Anti-Nutrients |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| * Approved when soaked and roasted on the GAPS diet · Pistachios are the only nut here not on the GAPS approved list | |||||
Legumes & Beans — GAPS Approved
All values per 100g, cooked. These legumes are permitted on the Full GAPS diet only — not during the Introduction stages — and must be properly soaked and prepared before eating. They provide a meaningful source of protein alongside their carbohydrate content.
| # | Legume | Protein | Carb Breakdown | Net Carbs | Fiber | Anti-Nutrients |
|---|
* Included in Full GAPS diet
Protein, Fats & Collagen: Fish, Meats & Eggs
These foods heal the gut lining, support the immune system, provide essential fatty acids and deliver the collagen and gelatin needed to repair the tight junctions in the gut wall and support connective tissue throughout the body.
The simplest and most practical way to obtain collagen is fish broth or chicken broth. Cooking a whole fish in a pan of water releases significant collagen and gelatin from the skin and bones into the liquid. A whole chicken simmered for around two hours does the same — the skin, bones and connective tissue all release into the water, and reducing the liquid a little concentrates it further into a deeply nourishing broth. These are considerably easier to make than traditional bone broth and provide excellent collagen and gelatin. Traditional bone broth (made from beef or lamb bones, slow-cooked for many hours) is also a rich collagen source, but fish and chicken broth are a highly practical everyday alternative. Eating fish and poultry with the skin on, and including slow-cooked bony cuts such as chicken legs, oxtail and lamb shanks all contribute meaningfully. Collagen values shown (≈) are estimates — actual content varies considerably by cut, skin inclusion and cooking method.
The standard recommendation is approximately 50–60g of protein per day (0.8g per kg of body weight) — the minimum to maintain muscle mass and support basic tissue repair. On a GAPS diet rich in meat, fish and eggs, this is easily achievable. A 150g chicken breast alone provides roughly 45–47g of protein.
After 50, the body becomes progressively less efficient at using dietary protein to build and maintain muscle — known as anabolic resistance. Current evidence supports 1.2–1.6g per kg per day, or roughly 75–110g for most adults, to preserve muscle mass, support bone density and maintain metabolic health. Spreading protein across 2–3 meals is more effective than concentrating it in one sitting.
Aim for 5–10g of collagen from food daily. Fish broth and chicken broth are the most accessible everyday sources — a whole chicken or whole fish simmered in water produces a collagen-rich liquid that can be used as a base for soups and stews. Eating skin-on fish and poultry, slow-cooked joints and liver all contribute further.
Fish — ranked by protein
| # | Fish | Protein | Fat | Collagen ≈ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| There are many more fish approved on GAPS — this is just a selection. Cod is an excellent choice but skin-on can be harder to source. Trout, tuna, plaice and many others are all suitable. Eat skin-on wherever possible for collagen. Sardine bones add further collagen. | ||||
* Included in GAPS diet · Animal foods do not carry the plant anti-nutrients shown above
Meats & Eggs — ranked by protein
| # | Meat / Egg | Protein | Fat | Collagen ≈ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Any liver is highly recommended in a GAPS diet — a rich source of vitamins A, B12, folate and iron | ||||
* Included in GAPS diet
Grains, Rice & Oats: Carbohydrates, Gluten & Anti-Nutrients
A companion to the fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and legumes above — covering the grains, rices and oats most commonly eaten across the UK, Europe and North America. As a group, cereal grains carry a meaningfully higher anti-nutrient load than fruit and most vegetables, and several of the most common ones also contain gluten.
Grains
The ten grains most commonly found on UK, European and North American shelves — wholegrain and ancient-grain forms as typically cooked and eaten.
Why grains are different: a grain is a seed — its entire biological purpose is to survive being eaten and germinate later. Phytic acid binds zinc, iron, calcium and magnesium; lectins (including wheat germ agglutinin) can irritate the gut lining; tannins and saponins impede digestive enzymes. All are reduced — though rarely eliminated — by soaking, sprouting, fermenting or long, thorough cooking.
| # | Item | Total Carbs | Net Carbs | Fiber | Gluten | Anti-Nutrients |
|---|
Rice
Milling removes the bran and germ — the layers where most of rice's phytic acid is concentrated. White and basmati rice are therefore markedly lower in anti-nutrients than brown rice, at the cost of most of the fiber and micronutrients.
The white-vs-brown trade-off: brown rice keeps its fiber-rich bran layer, which also means it keeps the phytic acid stored there. White and basmati rice have the bran polished away — lower phytates and faster-digesting starch, but also less fiber and fewer minerals reaching the plate in the first place.
| # | Item | Total Carbs | Net Carbs | Fiber | Gluten | Anti-Nutrients |
|---|
Oats
Oats are naturally gluten-free, but are frequently grown in rotation with wheat, barley or rye and processed on shared equipment — cross-contamination, not the oat itself, is the usual source of gluten exposure.
Processing changes very little nutritionally: steel-cut, rolled and instant oats all come from the same oat groat, differing mainly in how finely it is cut and how long it is cooked. Oat bran — the outer layer alone — concentrates both the fiber and the phytic acid, giving it the highest anti-nutrient level of the group.
| # | Item | Total Carbs | Net Carbs | Fiber | Gluten | Anti-Nutrients |
|---|
What Is Gluten?
A protein complex, not a classic anti-nutrient — but one that travels with several of the anti-nutrients above and raises its own separate questions.
Gluten is the general name for a family of storage proteins — mainly gliadin and glutenin — found in wheat, and their close relatives hordein (barley) and secalin (rye). Spelt, farro, bulgur, triticale and most flour-based breads, pastas and baked goods all derive from these grains, so all carry gluten. It is what gives bread dough its elastic, chewy structure — and that same structural resilience makes it unusually resistant to complete breakdown by human digestive enzymes.
In coeliac disease, an autoimmune condition affecting roughly 1% of the population, gluten exposure triggers a well-established immune attack on the small intestine and lifelong strict avoidance is medically necessary. Separately from the autoimmune picture, laboratory and animal research led by Dr Alessio Fasano has shown that gliadin can bind to a receptor (CXCR3) on gut epithelial cells and trigger the release of zonulin — a protein that transiently loosens the tight junctions between intestinal cells (study). This effect has been demonstrated most clearly in coeliac tissue and, to a lesser and more transient degree, in non-coeliac tissue; it is a distinct and additional consideration to the phytates and lectins already covered in the tables above, since gluten-containing grains typically carry both. Non-coeliac gluten sensitivity is recognised clinically but its underlying mechanism is less well defined than coeliac disease, and most people tolerate gluten without incident. The broader mechanism by which zonulin regulates gut permeability is reviewed in more depth in the foundational literature (study).