Guide to BEST Low Carb Indian Food for 2024
Yes, you can reduce carbohydrates while eating Indian cuisines! We share our round up of who’s who and what’s what for reducing carbohydrates while eating Indian food.
Overview of low-carb Indian & South-asian resources
- Leaders in South-Asian low-carb cuisine
- Practitioners
- Fee-based coaching programs
- Influencers
- Social Media Communities
- Guides
- Recipes
- Overviews for those new to Indian Cuisine
- Genotypes & increased risk of Diabetes | Related journal articles
Leaders in metabolic health, reducing carbs & Indian culture
Metabolic Health India held India’s first virtual event that showcases the benefits of low-carbohydrate nutrition for treating metabolic disorders. The 69 videos are avaialbe for free on YouTube here. Great place to start for those who prefer a DESI cultural lens.
Follow our Twitter list South-Asian Metabolic-Health Leaders for these and more!
Practitioners of particular interest
- Dr. Pallavi Aga, MD. Private practitice in preventative health, low-carb and keto nutritional counseling
- Cardiologists – Reducing carbohydrates can be a hot topic among those interested in heart health.
- Dr. Nadir Ali, MD. Texas cardiologist.
- Dr. Aseem Malhotra, MD. London Cardiologist. Public health reform advocate.
- Dr. Ravi Kamepalli, MD, is a board certified infectious disease specialist focusing on wound care, obesity medicine & clinical research. His YouTube channel includes amputation prevention using therapeutic carbohydrate restriction to treat diabetes
- Dr. Monu Khanna, MD, is double board certified in internal and obesity medicine. She works with the US Department of Veterans Affairs and is known for her work on time restricted eating in a rehabilitation setting as well as obesity & South Asians.
- Dr. Shebani Sethi, MD MS ABOM is double board certified in psychiatry and obesity medicine. She is a Clinical Assistant Professor at Stanford Medical School, California
- Dr. Pran Yoganathan, MBChB. (Otago), FRACP. Sydney Gastroenterologist and Gastrointestinal endoscopist. He is a great explainer. Instagram or Twitter
Fee based coaching programs
- Metabolic Health India – Shashi Iyengar holds 15 low-carb nutrition certificates and specializes on Type 2 Diabetes, weight loss & PCOS. He is based in Mumbai and also sees patients virtually.
- dLife.IN – 250+ success stories in an Indian context. Full service subscription portal includes courses & certifications.
- Keto for India – veg & non-veg desi recipes, trainer & coaching services, success stories.
- Dr. Jason Fung, MD, Nephrologist. Based in multicultural Toronto, The Fasting Method‘s rich experience with Southeast Asian patients led them to their focus on fasting, which can be especially helpful for vegetarians using carbohydrate restriction to put diabetes in remission. Their You Tube Channel, blog & many books are a great place to start. . Beware the many knock-off sites!
- Metabolic Multiplier’s Keto doctors near me: all of the 20+ directories
Influencers of interest using social media with low-carb indian food
- Shashikant Iyengar – Advocate for improving metabolic health through lifestyle interventions like reducing carbohydrates. Holds 12 reduced-carb related certificates.
- Keto low carb Indian recipes on Instagram
- Headbanger’s Kitchen started as a YouTube cooking channel in 2008 then discovered keto in 2016. The respected Diet Doctor now features Sahil Makihja‘s recipes.for their Indian low-carb & keto selections
- Farmer Abhinov on sustainable farming in an Indian context
Guides to reducing carbohydrates in Indian food
- KnowDiabetes.org.UK – delivers outstanding culturally-specific resources
- South Asian Communities – Manage your diabetes in your own language sick day guidance in Bengali | Gujarati | Hindi | Nepali | Punjabi | Urdu sick day guidance in
- South-Asian Vegetarian meal plan < 130 grams of carbohydrate per day
- South Asian Non-vegetarian meal plan < 130 grams of carbohydrates per day
- Headbanger’s Kitchen: Keto shopping for Indians – Desi shopping in India and abroad
- Dr. David Unwin’s Sugar Equivalent Infographics in 20 languages including Arabic, Bengali, Kurdish, Nepali, Turkish. Courtesy of the Public Health Collaboration (PHC) charity and volunteer translators.
Low-Carb Indian style recipes – vegetarian & non-vegetarian
- Keto for India – Recipes – Vegetarian | Non-vegetarian | Desserts
- Two Sleevers’ Indian recipes
- Headbanger’s Kitchen – Many of Chef Sahil Makija’s recipes also appear in Diet Doctor’s Indian recipes
- Indian Veggie Delight – 60+ Easy & Delicious Keto/Low Carb Recipes
- dLife.IN >1200 Indian cuisine recipes in this Indian low carb platform [Behind a pay wall]
- Virta Health‘s Indian recipes | Diabetes and Ramadan: 5 Tips for Fasting Safely
- The Picky Eater – 80 Low Carb Indian Food Recipes (Vegetarian)
- Keto-Mojo‘s Indian recipes
- Spice Cravings – 50 Best Low-carb Indian Recipes
Help if you are new to cooking Indian cuisine
- The Keto Queen’s 15 Best Low Carb Indian Food Recipes
- Ruled.me.com Keto Indian Food: Guide to eating out and making your own. American.
- Greatest.com 9 Indian Dishes That Are Almost Always Keto-Friendly
- Eat this, not that at Indian restaurants
- Step away from the carbs – A British perspective on recipes, products, & residents. A Guide to Low Carb Indian Food | Asian recipes | Indian recipes
- DietDoctor.com –
- Their Around the World recipes include Asian and Indian including a Keto Dosa.
- Visual Guides are super helpful, including low-carb and keto Many clinicians would allow some alcohol. Yes, alcohol halts ketosis but one can make low carbohydrate alcohol choices.
See what other Indians are eating with reduced carbohydrates
If you have a diagnosed condition or are taking prescription medications please include a clinician on your team. Ketosis is a prescription strength intervention!
A DesiKeto subgroup on reddit
- Lots of recipes and supportive chat “for desi(Pakistani, Indian, Bangladeshi and Sri Lankan) cusine.
- Almost 86,000 members. Top 2% of subreddits by size as of February 2024.
Useful Instagram hashtags for low carb Indian food
- #KetoIndia >50,000 posts
- #KetoIndian > 11,000 posts
- #lowcarbindian >1,800 posts
- #KetoIndianStyle >1,800 posts
- #lowcarbindianfood >1,200 posts
- #lowcarbindianfusion >700 posts
Do some genotypes have an increased diabetes risk?
Ethnic Asian populations are at increased risk of diabetes
- Vyvyane Loh, MD‘s presentation “Ethnic differences in cardiometabolic health?” Board-certified in Obesity Medicine and Internal Medicine. She is also a member of the Society of Metabolic Health Practitioner’s Outreach Committee. Her presentation “Salt and your skin: ethnic differences in salt-sensitive hypertension” was also excellent and is available for a fee from Low Carb USA Boca 2022. [Reference materials are free unless noted.]
- CDC on “diabetes and Asian Americans – why might metabolic syndrome be more prevalent yet less diagnosed.“
- American Diabetes Association – “Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders … are at increased risk for diabetes at different BMIs when compared to Caucasian Americans.“
- The Conservation “Why South Asians are at increased risk for diabetes: A complex interplay of genetics, diet and history”
A selection of journal articles
- Diabetes in South Asians: Is the Phenotype Different?
- Diabetes and Associated Complications in the South Asian Population
- The effect of a low-carbohydrate high-fat diet and ethnicity on daily glucose profile in type 2 diabetes determined by continuous glucose monitoring – “ethnicity may have a role in the response to dietary regime.”
- Obesity Pillars Roundtable: Obesity and South Asians – Understand that one size does NOT fit all.
Related posts
Where do I start?
- Clever Eats: Progressive Steps towards Metabolic Health
- Best overview resources for a carbohydrate reduction therapy
- Find a practitioner near me: All of the 20+ directories
- dLife.in – Full service Indian oriented portal
- Diet Doctor’s practitioner directory – Use map to navigate to Indian sub-continent
- The Society of Metabolic Health Practitioners | India (12) | Pakistan (2)
- Nutrition-Network certified practitioners in India (7) | Pakistan (1) | Bangladesh (0)
Culture & reducing carbohydrates
- Supporting Metabolic Health in Communities of Color
- Who does diabetes hit hardest? – Hint: in the United States, Asian Indians rank third
- Rajkumar’s journey: obese & diabetic to healthy – Cecile’s husband’s story
- Leaders in metabolic health, keto, and Black culture
