Watch for Hidden Carbs on Your Keto Diet
Watch for Hidden Carbs on Your Keto Diet
The carbs that you don’t know about can kick you right out of ketosis. These hidden carbs in foods can be high enough to make you hit your maximum carb limit (or even exceed it) and you won’t even know it.
Too many hidden carbs can thwart your diet and cause your weight loss to stop completely. To master the keto diet, you have to know what’s really in the foods you’re eating.
If you want to stay under 20 carbs with your keto diet, you have to learn to count all the carbs, and that means understanding the nutritional information on the packages. Some people on the diet believe that if they simply forego packaged or processed food and make everything at home, they’ll avoid consuming too many carbs.
But this isn’t true. Even if you make everything you eat yourself, you can still consume more carbs than you thought you were. Food items you wouldn’t think contain a lot of carbs can actually have a high amount.
Garlic powder, for example, has six grams per tablespoon. Many people think spices have no carbs, but you have to be extra vigilant when you’re trying to stay in a state of ketosis.
Whole dairy products are better on the keto diet than low fat ones are because low fat means higher carbs. If you haven’t been counting your vegetable carbs, you should. Lettuce contains just 3 grams of carbs, while kale can contain 9 grams.
Remember that the more ingredients contained in your food or meals, the greater the chance of hidden carbs. Have a policy that no ingredient is eaten unless you know the exact carb count.
Learn to investigate foods and food labels to catch those hidden carbs before they catch you. You can make small changes to lessen the amount of carbs you consume. Take condiments, for example.
Instead of using regular ketchup or bar-b-que sauce, switch to the versions that are either lower sugar or sugar-free. You won’t be able to tell a difference in taste, but the effect it has on your body will be better for you because you’ll be able to avoid all of the hidden carbs.
Even when ordering plain items, such as Dominos naked wings, you can encounter hidden carbs. While it looks plain and says plain, the truth is, all of the seasonings mixed in to make it taste good add up to a lot of carbs, so you have to look everything up on the company websites to keep yourself safe from hidden carbs.
