I have to rant on this. There are a lot of companies coming up with “keto friendly” foods. Buyer beware! Many of these foods are barely keto friendly and some can wreck your gut. Let me give some examples…
Keto is a high-fat diet. Therefore, in order for a food to be truly keto, it should contain more fat than either carbohydrates or protein. If it doesn’t have fat in it, it isn’t keto. I saw a “Keto Coffee” drink at a gas station once that had no fat whatsoever and 20 grams of protein. What?! Coffee is the perfect beverage to add tons of fat too. Why the hell doesn’t this have cream in it? Too much protein can kick you out of ketosis. You can’t afford to be downing an extra 20 grams in your coffee, unless you’re replacing a meal, in which case it should contain a ton of cream, butter, or MCT oil.
I saw keto bonbons with 5 grams of net carbs per serving and a serving was one tiny bonbon. One of the ingredients was SUGAR! The standard seems to be 5 or fewer grams of net carbs per serving makes it “keto friendly”. They’re just making the serving size smaller so they can put the word Keto on it and charge more. You might has well just eat a few squares of regular dark chocolate and save yourself some money.
Atkins Bars. Just no. They have all sorts of iffy ingredients, I’ll name a few…
Maltitol has a glycemic index of about 50. You might as well eat half as much sugar, but they don’t count it as net carbs at all. On top of that, alcohol sweeteners with a glycemic index ferment in the lower intestine, where there isn’t supposed to be any sugar present. This causes bacteria to grow that shouldn’t be there and causes gas and bloating. I am convinced that I lost my ability to digest whey protein because I ate too much xylitol. The only sugar alcohol I’ll eat now is Erythritol because it has a glycemic index of 0. Even that causes problems if I eat too much.
Soybean and canola oil cause inflammation. Avoid.
Sucralose disrupts gut bacteria, increases inflammation, and has even been shown to increase insulin insensitivity.
Acesulfame potassium (Ace-K) has also been shown to disrupt gut bacteria and have negative effects on the brain and metabolism.
In short, high-protein foods aren’t keto, foods with sugar aren’t keto, and there are a ton of artificial ingredients you’ll want to avoid. At best you can eat a few bites of these foods every once in awhile and be ok. They’re not something to carry around with you and snack on whenever you get hungry. However, here are some good options that I have found…
Surprisingly, Slimfast’s keto line isn’t bad. Their “Fat Bombs” actually contain a good amount of MCT oil and are sweetened with erythritol and stevia. They’re not too expensive either. I prefer the Keto Cups you can find at Natural Grocers though. They’re more filling and contain a lot more chocolate and less erythritol, but they’re expensive.
Lilly’s chocolate bars are amazing. I buy them whenever they’re on sale. I love the peppermint one they have at Christmas.
Flackers are crackers made out of flax seeds that have 1 gram of net carbs, 6 grams of protein, and 10 grams of fat per 8 crackers. They’re really yummy with sour cream and onion or spinach and artichoke dip. They’re kind of expensive but they’re so filling that they last awhile.
Dang Bars and Keto Bites are pretty good, but really expensive. I just keep some in my bag for emergencies.
The important thing is to just eat real food most of the time and only use these snacks when you really need them. “Keto Friendly” just means “If you’re having an uncontrollable craving and you’re about to take a nose dive off the keto cliff, eat this instead.” It doesn’t mean “This is perfectly healthy for you to eat all you want.” End of rant, thank you for listening.
