Ingredients to avoid on a low-carb or keto diet

1. Avoid sugar

Why are there so many names for sugar? This is one of the games that Big Food plays. If food manufacturers call sugar something else, you will be less likely to recognize it and more likely to buy.

Some food manufacturers will even use a couple of different kinds of sugar in a product so it will have less of each kind. That way, they can list the sugary ingredients farther down on the ingredient list, so buyers won’t know how much sugar is in there. Tricky, right?

What might sugar be called in the ingredient list on packaged foods?

Sometimes special sugars (other than sucrose) are listed by their scientific name. And sometimes sugar finds it way into your food as a natural ingredient, like maple syrup. So watch for these possibilities, too:

3. Avoid bad fats

All fats are not created equal. Reviewing the ingredient list on products at the supermarket — before you buy — can help you eat more healthy naturally-occurring fat and avoid artificial trans fats and processed vegetable oils.

We encourage you to completely avoid artificially produced trans fats, usually listed as “partially hydrogenated” oil or vegetable shortening. In addition, we suggest you minimize margarine and the highly processed vegetable oils listed below. These oils are produced in a factory with high heat, solvents, deodorizers, and bleach. They are products of food science and are particularly unstable when heated. Avoid them if you can.

Note that for avoiding trans fat, the ingredient list is a better guide than the nutrition facts label. Artificial trans fats may be present in small amounts, up to 0.49 grams per serving, and the nutrition facts label will still show 0g trans fat. Small amounts can add up, especially when serving sizes are small, so check the ingredients before assuming a product is trans fat free.

And don’t worry about the small amounts of naturally occurring trans fats in some whole foods like meat and butter. It is the artificial trans fats that we need to avoid. So, again, the ingredient list is more informative than the nutrition facts label when it comes to trans fat.

Read more about fats in our guide — Healthy fats on a keto or low-carb diet. And while you are at it, why not check out our guide to eating more of the right kinds of fat — The top 10 ways to eat more fat.
 
 

More

There are two companion guides with more information about navigating the grocery store and deciphering food labels. They are:

Keto diet foods — top three mistakes at the grocery store 

How to use the nutrition facts label 

 
In addition, click through to our main keto foods guide, or our keto diet food list for real-food inspired grocery shopping!

For more basics, check out our simple but thorough beginner’s guide to the keto diet:

About the author

Jenni Calihan created the non-profit, Eat the Butter, to start a mother-to-mother conversation about diet and health. She advocates for real-food-more-fat eating, and has been feeding her family (four kids) for twenty years.

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