If you’re thinking about embarking on a ketogenic diet, you probably already know you’ll be avoiding processed grains and sugar, like pizza and muffins. After all, it’s an extremely low-carb, high-fat diet, and those are two of the more obvious carbohydrate culprits. But many other foods you’ll nix aren’t necessarily unhealthy. Indeed, many “no” foods are packed with health-promoting vitamins, minerals, and fiber but also have too many carbs for a low-carb plan — especially one as restrictive as the keto diet.
Many people following keto aim for 20 to 50 grams (g) of net carbohydrates per day. (Net carbs, though not an official nutrition term, can be calculated by taking the total carbohydrates minus fiber and sugar alcohols, per Atkins.com.) The idea is to switch your body into ketosis, a state where it burns fat for fuel rather than carbohydrates (its preferred and easy-to-access source of energy). As such, some of your favorites, including many fruits, whole grains, and some vegetables, now must be drastically limited.
That said, keto isn’t right for everyone. “For some people, the keto diet can be potentially harmful,” says Alyssa Burnison, RD, the director of program and nutrition for Profile Plan, a weight loss company in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. That includes those people with type 2 diabetes who are on insulin and those who have type 1 diabetes and must take insulin, she says. If you have any chronic health condition that you’re hoping to treat with a keto diet, talk to your doctor first or work with a registered dietitian, who can best advise if this is a safe diet for you.
After you’ve gotten the all clear, spend time planning your keto diet to improve your chances of success. Because of keto’s low-carb requirements, it often helps to think about what foods are off-limits (or mostly off-limits) — and if this doesn’t seem realistic, you may want to rethink.
Here are 15 foods — some healthy, others not so much — that you should try to avoid on keto, and what to choose instead.
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