The keto diet at its core is a diet that focuses mostly on a higher fat intake (60-70%) and a lower carbohydrate (20g-50g) intake to allow you to enter into the state of ketosis. But how “low” is the low carbohydrate used in the keto diet? This article will answer that and also how much carbohydrates you should eat while on the keto diet
Keto: The low carbohydrate diet, high fat diet
The traditional keto diet follows the following calculations for determining your macronutrient intakes: 1 gram of protein per kilogram of body weight, 10 to 50 grams of carbohydrates per day, and the rest of the caloric requirements coming from fat.
However, modified ketogenic diets have emerged to allow for more flexibility in the diet while still achieving the benefits of a traditional keto diet. There could be standard ketogenic diets, there's also targeted ketogenic diets and cyclical ketogenic diets.
Depending on the specific type of ketogenic diet you are following, your regular intake of macronutrients can be anywhere from 50-70% of total calories from fat, 5-10% of total calories from carbohydrates and 10-35% of total calories from protein.
How many carbs can you have on keto diet
Using the macronutrient ranges laid out, we can now determine how many carbs you can have on the keto diet to be able to maintain the ketone bodies. Assuming you are eating 2000 calories a day, your intake of carbohydrates can be anywhere from 20 grams - 50 grams a day while your protein intake can be from 50 grams - 175 grams and your intake of fat will be from 120 grams to 175 grams.
Remember that your macronutrient ranges chosen will have to total to 100% after all is said and done! You can also keep it super simple and just set your carbohydrate intake to match the 10-15 gram recommendation of the traditional keto diet. That way you won’t have to do any calculations but still be sure that you won’t be going over your recommended carb intake for keto.
Total carbs and net carbs
The interesting part about all this is that not all carbs are created equal in regards to how they are processed by our bodies. Net carbs refer to the concept that fibre and sugar alcohols are not metabolised by our bodies into glucose and thus do not impede your progress toward ketosis.
To maintain ketosis, a very low carbohydrate diet must be observed and practised.
Remember that ketosis is a state your body gets into once there is little to no glucose available for use. This means that if these carbohydrates come into the body but are not metabolised into glucose, then it is not hampering your body’s ability to enter ketosis.
So total carbohydrates reflect all the carbohydrates present in the product or food item while net carbs is the total carbohydrates minus the fibre and sugar alcohols present in the product or food item. The net carbs should always be equal to or lower than the total carbohydrates of a food item.
Do's and Don't of Ketogenic diet
A lot of information has been presented but a good way to remember them is to always keep these Do’s and Don’t list handy for keto dieters:
DO
- Know how many carbs you’re eating in a day and allocate total calories to choosing nutritious foods
- Eat foods based on meats, fish, fats, nuts, and oils
- Choose monounsaturated fat and polyunsaturated sources over saturated when you can
- Read and understand food labels
- Check ingredient label for hidden carbs
DON’T
- Go over your designated carb requirements
- Choose foods low in net carbs
- Eat starchy and high carb foods or sugary food items like sugars, syrups, fruit, grains, and cereals
- Only eat foods high in saturated fat and eat too much protein
Read food labels
That is why reading food labels is so important for your keto journey. Much of the information that is vital to you knowing whether a product fits in your keto diet is actually in the food labels.
Food labels will list the amount of carbohydrates in the product, as well as the fibre and sugar alcohol present in the food item. If you are interested in finding out the net carbs of a product, all you have to do is check the food label.
If the food label doesn’t explicitly state the net carb amount of the product, you can actually get the amount yourself. Simply look at the total carbohydrates and then subtract the fibre and sugar alcohol from the amount to get your net carb total. Sometimes, food labels won’t include fibre amounts or sugar alcohol on the labels. In this case, it’s safer to err on the side of caution and take the total carbohydrates as the net carbohydrates for your carbohydrate intake tracking purposes.
How to identify low carb foods
Besides simply looking at total and net carbs on a food label, are there other ways to check or verify whether a food item is low carb or not? A good way is to see the main ingredient of the food item.
Typically the food label of a food item will also have an ingredient list. Here on the ingredient list, the food item or ingredient used in the highest amount or quantity will be listed first on the list. So if a food item has a lot of starchy food items, sugar, syrups, or high-sugar fruit then it is not low carb. Focus on food items that are mostly meat, nuts, fats (e.g. butter, ghee), and oil to make your buying decision easier.
Choose Healthy Fats
We’ve been talking a lot about carbs but what about fats? After all, it does make up about 55-80% of your total calories in the day. Such a huge chunk of your calories should be given fair attention. Fat sources eaten in the keto diet should be mostly monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat sources as compared to saturated fats. This means that most of the fats and oils you should be consuming on the diet should be mostly from plant sources. Good examples of these would be extra virgin olive oil, avocados, olive oil, coconut oil, nuts and seeds. For your polyunsaturated fats (meaning omega-3 and 6s), good sources of these would be from your fatty fish like salmon, mackerel, sardines, and tuna.
Summary
Sticking to the keto diet or a low-carb diet can be quite tricky. But with the tips discussed here like reading food labels, understanding net carbs, and focusing on healthy fat sources you’ll be looking and feeling your best in no time! Make sure to be patient with yourself and give yourself room to learn more about keto as you go!
* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
Written By Author
Joyceren Miyah Genobaña, Expert Dietician & Nutritionist
Reference List & Sources
1. Ludwig, David S (2019). The Ketogenic Diet: Evidence for Optimism but High-Quality Research Needed. The Journal of Nutrition, (), nxz308–. doi:10.1093/jn/nxz308
2. Kim JY. Optimal Diet Strategies for Weight Loss and Weight Loss Maintenance. J Obes Metab Syndr. 2021 Mar 30;30(1):20-31. doi: 10.7570/jomes20065. PMID: 33107442; PMCID: PMC8017325.
3. Kim J. M. (2017). Ketogenic diet: Old treatment, new beginning. Clinical neurophysiology practice, 2, 161–162. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cnp.2017.07.001