What Does Keto Friendly Mean?


This site may contain links to affiliate websites, and we receive an affiliate commission for any purchases made by you on the affiliate website using such links.

When a food is called “Keto Friendly” it means that the food is very low-carb and fits within your keto diet’s daily limit for total carbohydrates.

How low-carb does a food have to be before it is considered Keto Friendly?

Most keto diet protocols suggest that you eat 30 Net Grams of Carbs or less for an entire day.  That means that the sum total of everything you eat and drink for the entire day will be less than that maximum amount of carbs allowed.

Advice varies. Some ketogenic diet plans call for a much lower carb limit.  Some allow just 30 Total Carbs, while others will set the daily maximum all the way down to 5 Net Carbs. My own plan for starting a ketogenic diet, No Cook Keto, calls for a maximum 25 Grams Net Carbs each day.

As you can see, the large variance in daily carb limits means that what is keto-friendly for one person may not be for the next.

It’s important to remember that the maximum carbs is for the entire day, and not just for one food or one meal.  This makes deciding what is keto friendly even trickier.

For example, you’ll see people calling a whole wheat tortilla ‘keto friendly’ because it has 13 Net Grams of Carbs. This can easily fit within their maximum of 25 net carbs for the entire day.  Yet, eating that tortilla for lunch means that the remainder of their meals will need to be almost no carb. So is it keto friendly? It wouldn’t be for me, but it is for them and that’s ok.

Other Considerations for Deciding if it’s Keto Friendly

Some ketogenic plans consider other factors in addition to carbohydrate content.

Instead of trying to undertake the impossible task of listing the requirements of every keto plan out there, let’s just consider that most plans fall into one of two general categories: Clean Keto or Dirty Keto.

In Dirty Keto, as long as you hit your macros (Maximum Carbs, Minimum Fat, and Target Protein), it doesn’t matter what the ingredients are in what you are eating.  If you’re eating dirty, the only consideration when deciding if something is Keto Friendly will be the carb content.

However, when eating Clean Keto, you consider not only the macros, but the kinds of food that you are eating.  My highest concern for Clean Keto is the quality of fat that you are consuming. I avoid highly processed seed oils whenever possible because they are highly inflammatory.  

For example, for me, traditional mayonnaise would not be considered Keto Friendly despite having zero carbohydrates.  This is because it’s often made with soy and canola oil, which are both highly processed seed oils.  

Instead, to keep it clean, I choose a cleaner product like Primal Mayo (here is an affiliate link to Amazon) because it’s made from avocado oil which is not only inflammatory, it actually has anti-inflammatory properties!

Other considerations used when deciding the keto friendliness of a food while eating clean keto might include avoiding all grains, being very particular about the kinds of zero-carb sweeteners used, and the presence of excessive high fiber ingredients used to lower the net carbs of the food product.

To be clear, I’m not dismissing Dirty Keto in any way; it has its place.

While I feed myself and my family pretty clean, my No Cook Keto Meal Plan is not Clean Keto.  No Cook Keto is designed primarily to make getting into ketosis as easy and stress-free as possible. To that end, my plan includes some pretty highly processed foods and familiar highly processed fats. I coach my keto students to do whatever it takes to get into ketosis and change their eating habits and then work on upgrading their keto diet with higher quality foods.

“Dirty Keto is better than No Keto!” ~Angela

It’s ok to start out Dirty Keto and change as you go along. What you would consider being keto friendly will change after the first few weeks, and may continue to change for as long as you Keto!

Conclusion

When you hear something called ‘keto friendly’ you need to consider that as an indication that it’s worth studying the product more closely to see if it is actually keto friendly for you specifically.

What is keto friendly for me may not be so for you, and that’s ok.  Likewise, what is keto friendly for you today, might not be so keto friendly in a few months. That’s ok too.

Too often I see ugly heated debates on the internet about how friendly a food may or may not be for a ketogenic diet. Such fights always make me sad.  There is no one right way to keto, and what works for me might not work for you. 

Let’s all commit to not trying to force others to keto our way. Instead, let’s celebrate each other’s successes and help each other continue to evolve our personal style of keto until we each hone in on the keto that works best for each of us.

I guess all I’m saying is that we should worry less about what is Keto for other people, and focus on what works for our keto, while being more “Keto Friendly” to each other.

Your Keto Friend,

~Angela

P.S.  If you are just starting a Keto Diet, I’d like to offer you my free Keto Beginner’s Resources here on this website. It will give you the tools that you need to find out once and for all if keto is the solution you’ve been looking for. And if you need a little more guidance, I’m here to help.

Conclusion

When you hear something called ‘keto friendly’ you need to consider that as an indication that it’s worth studying the product more closely to see if it is actually keto friendly for you specifically.

What is keto friendly for me may not be so for you, and that’s ok.  Likewise, what is keto friendly for you today, might not be so keto friendly in a few months. That’s ok too.

Too often I see ugly heated debates on the internet about how friendly a food may or may not be for a ketogenic diet. Such fights always make me sad.  There is no one right way to keto, and what works for me might not work for you. 

Let’s all commit to not trying to force others to keto our way. Instead, let’s celebrate each other’s successes and help each other continue to evolve our personal style of keto until we each hone in on the keto that works best for each of us.

I guess all I’m saying is that we should worry less about what is Keto for other people, and focus on what works for our keto, while being more “Keto Friendly” to each other.

Your Keto Friend,

~Angela

P.S.  If you are just starting a Keto Diet, I’d like to offer you my free Keto Beginner’s Resources here on this website. It will give you the tools that you need to find out once and for all if keto is the solution you’ve been looking for. And if you need a little more guidance, I’m here to help.

Angela Davis

I'm Angela Davis, Co-Founder of Advantage Meals. I have a Bachelors in Anthropology and Masters in Holistic Nutrition. My passion is Ancestral Nutrition and for over a decade I've been helping Keto Diet beginners and those looking for their Primal Diet. "There is no one right way." Below are the most recent articles I've written for AdvantageMeals.com.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts