Breakfast

• The first, and most important, meal of the day is breakfast. While common American breakfast staples like pancakes and toast are high in carbs, eggs are not. Omelets are excellent breakfast meals. They are not only quick, but can be changed every day to provide variety. You can have cheese, mushrooms, peppers, onions and spinach omelets. Eggs can be prepared in other ways as well, such as scrambled or hard boiled.
  
  Bacon, while high in fat, is low in carbs, so a good old-fashioned breakfast of bacon and eggs is possible every once in awhile. Sausage and steak also can be combined with eggs.
  
  Cantaloupe makes for a tasty and quick breakfast. Berries are low in carbohydrates, and a bowl of blueberries, raspberries, strawberries or blackberries will not only be delicious, but will also be high in antioxidants.
  
  

Lunch and Dinner

• Salads can make easy low-carb entrees for either lunch or dinner. Choose dark, leafy greens and romaine lettuce over iceberg lettuce for more variety and more nutrients. Add hard-boiled eggs and a variety of vegetables to keep the salads interesting. You can also add chicken, fish and other meats to salads to bring protein and make them more filling.
  
  Wraps are also popular low-carb options. Choose large-leafed greens such as romaine and fill with vegetables, low-carb cold cuts or cooked meat such as chicken or steak, then wrap like a tortilla.
  
  Fish cooks quickly, is low in carbohydrates, and provides healthy omega-3 fats. Soups are also versatile and can be made with whatever you have left over. As long as you don't add starches such as noodles, rice or potatoes, soups make good options for low-carb meals.
  
  There are even low-carb choices for dessert. Berries make good desserts. There are many recipes available for low-carb cheesecake, made with sugar-replacements such as Splenda and cream cheese. You can make puddings and mousses using heavy cream and sugar replacer. If you are creative, you can even make cakes using replacements for white flour such as almond flour or protein powder.
  
  

Tips

• When planning meals, try to not focus on what you cannot have. Instead, keep in mind the foods you can have and plan meals around them. If you are not a vegetarian, meats are good bases around which to to plan meals. If you are a vegetarian, choose a main vegetable, like broccoli or spinach, and plan around that instead.
  
  Try to find replacements for high-carb foods. For example, many salad dressings have added sugar and syrup. You can replace these dressings with ones you make yourself from olive oil and lemon or lime. You can also find low-carb, sugar-free dressings in many stores.