After all, fruit is real food, unprocessed, whole, full of vitamins, minerals, fiber, and phytonutrients, so what’s the problem?
Right, but fruit also contains fructose and carbs, which can knock you out of your low-carb count of 50g or less a day. Staying below 50g of carbs is ideal for maintaining your weight loss target or optimal weight management.
If you consume 2 or 3 mid to large helpings of fruit per day, including smoothies, you’ll easily add 80g to 100g of net carbs to your diet, depending on the portion size.
It’s important to remember that you can get all the vitamins, fiber, minerals, and more from the nutrient-dense vegetables in your keto diet.
Back to Fructose for a Second.
Fructose turns into glucose in your bloodstream, just like any other form of sugar, such as coconut, palm, sugar-sugar, syrup, or honey, and of course, carbs.
One of the main aims of the keto diet is to eliminate sugar and minimize glucose in your diet.
That doesn’t mean, however, that you can’t still enjoy sweet treats, as long as you make or buy them with stevia or monk fruit.
In addition, if you’re in love with your fruit and consuming a substantial amount, you’ll have a hard time ditching your sweet tooth and cravings. If you’re just starting the keto diet and are struggling to deal with sweet cravings, it’s definitely best to stay away from fruit for a couple of months until you’ve fully transformed and have put your sweet cravings in jail!
Once you’ve got that under control, consuming certain types of fruit in moderation is acceptable. But again, you need to be careful and aware of the carb content of any given fruit so as not to push your carb intake into the weight gain zone again. It’s easily done.
What are the Best Fruits to Consume on the Keto Diet?
The answer is, without a doubt, berries. Sometimes sweet and a little bitter, berries are low in fructose, super high in antioxidants, and have the lowest carb count of all fruit.
Note: Antioxidants are vital as they clean your bloodstream from free radicals, which can cause cancer.
Let’s look at the various fruit groups in portion sizes and carb content.
Berries:
- Strawberries (½ cup halves, 76 grams): 6 grams carb (2 grams fiber)
- Blackberries (½ cup, 72 grams): 7 grams carb (4 grams fiber)
- Raspberries (½ cup, 62 grams): 7 grams carb (4 grams fiber)
- Blueberries (½ cup, 74 grams): 11 grams carb (2 grams fiber)
Stone Fruits:
- Apricot (each, 35 grams): 4 grams carb (1 gram fiber)
- Plum (1 medium, 66 grams): 8 grams carb (1 gram fiber)
- Peach (1 medium, 150 grams): 14 grams carb (2 grams fiber)
- Nectarine (1 medium, 142 grams): 15 grams carb (2 grams fiber)
Melons:
- Watermelon (1 cup cubed, 152 grams): 12 grams carb (1 gram fiber)
- Cantaloupe (1 cup cubed, 160 grams): 13 grams carb (1 gram fiber)
- Honeydew (1 cup cubed, 191 grams): 17 grams carb (2 grams fiber)
Tropical Fruits:
- Papaya (1 cup cubed, 144 grams): 16 grams carb (3 grams fiber)
- Pineapple (1 cup cubed, 165 grams): 22 grams carb (2 grams fiber)
- Banana (1 small, 101 grams): 23 grams carb (3 grams fiber)
- Coconut meat (½ cup, 163 grams): 25 grams carb (15 grams fiber)
- Mango (1 cup sliced, 165 grams): 25 grams carb (3 grams fiber)
Other Fruits:
- Clementine (each, 74 grams): 9 grams carb (1 gram fiber)
- Fig (1 medium, 50 grams): 10 grams carb (2 grams fiber)
- Kiwi (1 each, 69 grams): 10 grams carb (2 grams fiber)
- Orange (1 small, 96 grams): 11 grams carb (2 grams fiber)
- Apple, green (1 small, 144 grams): 20 grams carb (4 grams fiber)
- Grapefruit (1 small, 200 grams): 21 grams carb (3 grams fiber)
- Pear (1 small, 148 grams): 23 grams carb (5 grams fiber)
- Apple, red (1 small, 158 grams): 24 grams carb (3 grams fiber)
- Cherries (1 cup, 154 grams): 25 grams carb (3 grams fiber)
- Grapes (1 cup, 151 grams): 27 grams carb (1 gram fiber)
You can see from the carb content of the more traditional fruit consumed, such as apples, bananas, watermelon, grapes, oranges, etc., why tough to work fruit into a ketogenic diet.
If you overeat fruit, you’ll very quickly hit the 50g a day carb limit for effective weight management and go over that threshold with your remaining food intake throughout the day. Of course, depending on what else you are eating.
You can also see why raspberries, strawberries, and blackberries are your best fruit options, with the lowest carb count.
Please view my video:
In Summary.
I’ve been on the keto diet for 7 years now. I used to love fruit and eat a ton of it, and I also indulged in my daily extra-large fruit-loaded breakfast smoothie for years. By the time I came across the keto diet, I was 60lbs. overweight, felt, and looked terrible. I had no idea why until I did and changed.
I used to have a huge sweet tooth; I loved cakes, cookies, candy, and fruit. Once I transformed and became a fat-burner, all sweet cravings disappeared, and after 8 weeks, I lost the 60lbs. and never gained 1 ounce back.
From time to time, I’ll enjoy strawberries when I make my almond flour pancakes with heavy whipped cream, but that’s maybe once a month, as I rarely even think about sweets or fruit these days.
I love my keto meats, seafood, veggies, eggs, and avocado dishes, and I love how this diet changed my life, made me lose weight, feel great, and look far better than before.
Sacrificing fruit was well worth it for me.
Thanks for reading,
Rob
