You can enjoy some carbs while on a ketogenic diet, and you can also enjoy a bonus carb when you take a little time off to get the best effect.
Insulin is the thing we have to pay attention to, because insulin goes up when we consume a carbohydrate, and insulin stops the formation of ketones. So we have to look at foods that don’t cause a big insulin spike, but even then we still need to look at other factors.
Dark Chocolate. You can eat 85 percent of dark chocolate and not get kicked out of keto, because the fiber and the flavonols in the chocolate slow down the absorption of the carbohydrates, bringing it down to an effective glycemic index of 23.
Blueberries have the highest sugar content of all the fruit berries, but if you get wild blueberries, they have 30 percent less sugar. And raspberries are low in sugar because the tannins in them inhibit the amylase enzyme.
The journal Nutrients published something about anthocyanins, which are in berries, changing our gut microbiome to process carbohydrates and sugar differently. This means we can have more fruit, which is good for us, without worrying about the insulin spike.
Sweet potatoes are not a keto friendly food, but the resistant starch in sweet potatoes helps short chain fatty acid production in the gut, which is why I can eat two to four ounces of sweet potatoes and not even remotely be kicked out of keto.
Short chain fatty acids are produced when our gut breaks down fiber that can’t get digested. These fatty acids are highly fat burning promoting, and can also drive up ketone levels.
If you’re on a ketogenic diet or a low carb protocol, or if you’re just trying to kick sugar, check out Love Good Fats bars. They are insanely delicious and have prebiotic fibers and components that can help stimulate short chain fatty acid production.
Grapefruit is a keto friendly fruit with only eight grams of carbs per hundred gram serving. It also improves insulin sensitivity, so it’s a good fruit to have if you want a little bit of sweetness.
A weird one that you may not have tried before is tart cherry. It’s a liquid supplement that has a low glycemic index and activates a receptor protein that gets you adapted to keto better.
Green bananas are a good keto food to start with because they have a lot of resistant starch, which means your gut bacteria will produce more short chain fatty acids. But you will get bloated, so start small and inch your way up.
