The ketogenic or ‘keto’ diet is probably the most popular diet today and it has plenty of advantages for people who want to lose weight without starving themselves.
A keto diet is based on a simple principle: teach your body to start transforming fat into energy rather than using sugars. This means you end up eliminating a lot of junk food from your diet while reducing your carb intake to a maximum of 50 grams per day.
The rest of your meals are filled with fats and protein which will supply 80 percent of your daily calorie intake. This type of diet will keep your body in the state of ketosis which means that your body will use fat for the energy that you need to function.
However, there are certain foods that are considered healthy that they have no place in the keto diet that you absolutely must avoid.
Here are 10 of these foods and why you should actually avoid them while you are on a keto diet!
1. Quinoa
It might be hard to believe that quinoa is not recommended but its effects will not help you when it comes to the keto diet.
While this is the type of quality protein you need in your diet, it also comes with 17 grams of carbs in each half a cup of quinoa.
The carbs are also the main reason why you should avoid this food when you follow a keto diet.
2. Apples
Apples have plenty of benefits for a regular diet focused on balanced meals and healthy eating.
But similar to quinoa, they will increase your carb intake with 20 grams of sugar for each medium size apple you eat.
So, no matter how much you like these fruits or how many good things you’ve heard about them, they are not something to eat while on keto.
3. Black Beans
Black beans, like other legumes, are very good for your digestive system.
They contain a good amount of fiber that has a healthy impact on your body.
However, along with this fiber, you also ingest 12 grams of carbs for only half a cup of black beans.
Needless to say that you should avoid them altogether on keto.
4. Dark Chocolate
When you are trying to lose weight but still want to indulge in your chocolate every now and then, dark chocolate seems to be the best compromise, right? Wrong!
Only one ounce of dark chocolate contains 10 grams of carbs.
Considering that your carb intake on keto should be between 20 grams and 50 grams, you might have to forget about eating dark chocolate for a while.
5. Sweet Potatoes
Yes, you most likely know that potatoes are a big no-no in most diets due to their increased level of carbs.
But the fact is sweet potatoes are not much better.
No matter how you cook them, mashed, fried or even baked, they will add not fewer than 23 grams of carbs to your diet for a medium-sized sweet potato.
6. Yogurt
Let’s say you want to eat a small 8-ounce yogurt cup and you are also on a keto diet.
The bad news is that just this amount of yogurt will have around 10 grams of carbs.
And that is if you go for yogurt with no added sugar.
However, the good news is that if you simply can’t fight your yogurt cravings, you can go for a full-fat greek yogurt and stick with just half a cup.
This shouldn’t add more than 4 grams of carbs to your meal and you should be able to work with that.
7. Oranges
Yes, oranges! They are not as compatible with the keto diet as you might assume.
The main reason would be the increased amount of sugar that these delicious fruits have.
One small orange has around 13 grams of carbs which could easily knock you out of ketosis!
8. Acorn Squash
If acorn squash is one of your favorite treats, you might want to replace it fast because it doesn’t go well with the keto diet.
In spite of the fact that this snack contains 9 grams of healthy fiber, it can also contains 20 grams of carbs.
And that is just for one cup of baked cubes of acorn squash.
If you love acorn squash that much, consider the fact that you will not be able to eat more than a cup of it and that is all the carbs you should be getting for an entire day.
9. Chickpeas
If you love snacking on chickpeas including roasted chickpeas, boiled chickpeas or hummus, you will not be very happy to find out that they are not the best food for the keto diet.
The worst way to eat chickpeas is roasted because they will have 13 grams of carbs.
But if you prefer two tablespoons of hummus every now and then, that will only contain 3 grams of carbs, which is a lot better.
But you have to make sure that you are not eating more just because it is so tasty and you can dip all your veggies in them.
10. Brown Rice
For some people, life without rice is hard to conceive.
But if you are following a keto diet, you should start learning to avoid rice altogether, including brown rice.
Only half a cup of brown rice has around 24 grams of carbs and most likely once you start eating, you will not stop at half a cup of this delicious side dish.
As many recipes as you can make with brown rice, it is wiser to let this type of food out of your daily diet while on keto!
