What to Eat When Doing Keto: Popular Keto Foods and Net Carbs
Episode #6 of the course The Ketogenic diet beginners guide by Theo Brenner-Roach
Welcome back!
Today, we’re looking at popular keto foods and the role of net carbs. In addition, I’ll give you a list of popular foods you can eat while following this type of diet.
When doing a ketogenic diet, you need to be mindful of your macronutrient intake, particularly carbohydrates and fiber, as you can easily knock yourself out of ketosis if you’re not careful.
This is where net carbs come in. Net carbs are the total number of carbs that can be absorbed by the body and used for energy. To figure out what this is, you subtract the fiber (non-digestible carbs) amount from the total carb amount. For example:
• Avocado has 17g carbs and 13.5g fiber, which means the net carbs are 3.5g.
• Broccoli has 11g carbs and 5g fiber, which means the net carbs are 6g.
If we look at broccoli, this means that from 11g of carbs, you will only digest and use 6g for energy.
Counting your net carbs when following a keto diet has a few advantages and disadvantages.
Advantage #1: Gives you more dietary freedom. Calculating your net carbs instead of total carbs may give you more flexibility when it comes to food choice. If you choose fiber-dense foods, you can keep net carbs low and eat more before reaching your daily allowance.
Advantage #2: Encourages higher fiber intake. Fiber is a necessary part of the diet, and by counting net carbs and eating more fiber-rich foods, you ensure that you’re getting enough. Fiber also helps provide feelings of satiety.
Disadvantage #1: Is not completely accurate. Due in part to the way that companies produce food labels, it’s not always possible to accurately calculate net carbs. This may cause you to eat too much and come out of ketosis.
Disadvantage #2: May encourage overconsumption. The keto diet world is full of “low in net carb” bars and snacks that are often full of sugar or artificial sweeteners, which can knock you out of ketosis and/or lead to an overconsumption of calories.
So, what should you eat to hit your macro and calorie goal when on the keto diet? Here is a rough breakdown of typical keto foods:
• Meat: Any meat fits the bill here, so you can eat steak, chicken, turkey, bacon, sausages, ham, salami, etc.
• Fish: Fatty fish are particularly good when eating keto. Salmon, tuna, and mackerel are all great.
• Nuts and seeds: These include peanuts, almonds, walnuts, flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, and chia seeds.
• Eggs and dairy: Eggs, milk, and yogurt are all good. As for cheese, you want largely unprocessed items, like cheddar, mozzarella, goat, cream, or bleu.
• Oils and butters: Your go-to oils should be extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, and avocado oil. Nut butter is fantastic too.
• Vegetables: These include avocados but mostly refer to cruciferous green vegetables like spinach, kale, broccoli, and cauliflower and low-calorie vegetables like tomatoes, onions, peppers, etc.
Obviously, this list is not exhaustive, but it should give you a good idea of the types of foods that you can eat when doing the ketogenic diet.
Tomorrow, we flip this lesson around and look at what you shouldn’t eat when doing the keto diet, as well as exposing the truth about bulletproof coffee.
See you tomorrow.
Recommended reading
How to Calculate Your Calories and Macros
Recommended book
Bacon & Butter: The Ultimate Ketogenic Diet Cookbook by Celby Richoux
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