Low-Carb Fruit: Lists of the Best and Worst

Fruit is an area where some of the low-carb diets part company, as some depend more upon glycemic index or glycemic load (South Beach, Zone), while others just look at total carbs (Atkins, Protein Power). Also, some diets (Atkins, South Beach) don’t allow fruit at all in the first phase. In general, your best bet fruits are the ones near the top of this list, but do check carb counts. These are sort of arranged by sugar content, taking volume and weight, into account.

Good news: the fruits lowest in sugar are some of the highest in nutritional value, including antioxidants and other phytonutrients.

If you are considering using organic vegetables, check out this list of which fruits and vegetables have the most and least pesticides to help you guide your choices.

Fruits lowest in sugar:

• Small Amounts of Lemon or Lime
  
  
• Rhubarb
  
  
• Raspberries (more about berries on low carb diets)
  
  
• Blackberries
  
  
• Cranberries
  
  
• Strawberries
  
  
• Peaches
  
  
• Blueberries
  
  
• Cantaloupes
  
  
• Honeydew Melons
  
  
• Apples
  
  
• Apricots
  
  
• Plums
  
  
• Grapefruit
  
  
• Oranges
  
  
• Guava
  
  
• Papaya

These are higher in sugar:

• Kiwifruit
  
  
• Pears
  
  
• Tangerines
  
  
• Cherries
  
  
• Pineapple
  
  

The following fruits are very high in sugar and generally going to be very infrequent visitors to the low carb diet:

• Grapes
  
  
• Bananas
  
  
• Dried Fruit
  
  
• Mango