Everybody loves snacks. Unfortunately, most of the snacks you’ll encounter are definitely not healthy. Delicious? Yes. Keto-friendly? Oh, most certainly not. However, as the Keto Diet and the low-carb trend continues to skyrocket in popularity, the marketplace is reacting. For example, even SlimFast now makes “Keto Snacks.” “The times they are a-changin’.” Is this good news? Bad news? Do you have free rein on these low-carb snacks? Or are you setting yourself up for failure by thinking “low carb” and “Keto” mean you can eat junk food? We’ll explore all that and more in today’s article. We shall address:
I’ll cover the ins and outs of Keto first, and then dive into the best snacks for your money if you’re trying to stay on the low-carb straight and narrow. Let’s dive in! Low-Carb and Keto Diet 101If this article is the first time you’ve heard the term “Keto,” you should really check out our resource The Beginner’s Guide to the Keto Diet. We discuss everything you’ve ever wanted to know about Keto and low-carb diets – including whether or not you should even DO Keto. It’s certainly not for anybody, but I know it’s hot in the streets and it’s probably why you’re reading THIS resource on snacks! Plus, there’s a sweet Ninja Turtles GIF in my article and I’m super proud of it. I’ll wait for you to read it. I’m patient. …and you’re back. Good to see you. I like what you’ve done with your hair. Before we jump into our low-carb snacks recommendations, I want to remind you of the Keto food groups:
Most of what you eat, snack or no snack, should be from the above if your goal is to follow a ketogenic diet And your goal, even if you are Keto, will be to eat snacks and meals that fit into your calorie goals for the day (Hooray thermodynamics). Cool? Cool. If you are hungry, there’s nothing stopping you from eating leftover chicken and a little avocado. A “snack” can be all sorts of things and can look like a small meal. I’ll touch on this again later. For now, let’s get you what you’re here for. 30 Keto or Low-Carb snacks to buyWhen thinking about snacks, the simpler the better. A good way to determine simplicity is through the ingredients. Is the jerky just beef, salt, and pepper? Or is it beef, sugar, salt, soy sauce, fructose, hydrolyzed corn protein… you get the idea[1]. Here are recommendations you can purchase to fill your pantry with some low-carb snacks.
That should get your pantry and fridge full of premade low-carb snacks. 20 Keto or Low-Carb snacks to makeFancy yourself a decent cook? With a little bit of preparation, you can have many, many Keto snacks in your home. Would you say, a plethora of low-carb snacks? Something to note for all of the servings below: KEEP AN EYE ON CALORIE COUNT! Your body still obeys the laws of thermodynamics. Eating 5,000 calories of keto-pancakes won’t result in weight loss. So make sure you are consuming foods that fit into your calorie goals for your weight!
If you make each of the above recipes, I’ll dub thee the “Keto Chef Master.” Re-visiting “Team No Snack”First tough love alert: I’m the captain of Team No Snack. This means I generally don’t eat snacks. So instead, I practice intermittent fasting and try to eat two BIG meals each day (Lunch and Dinner) as opposed to lots of small ones throughout the day. As I point out in the Intermittent Fasting article, the number of times you eat throughout the day won’t impact your waistline as much as the total quantity of calories. That’s right, your metabolism isn’t “stoked” by eating small meals or grazing all day. The science doesn’t back that up. Weight loss comes down to total calories consumed vs total calories burned over the long haul. Said another way: you can get in trouble if you eat big meals and then eat buckets of keto snacks between those big meals. So snacking isn’t my cup of tea. And neither is Keto, though I know it works wonders for some people (Here’s the diet strategy I employ). So Keto or no Keto, snack or no snack, what matters is overall compliance – if snacking in between meals allows you to NOT overeat during your big meals, and ALSO you stay under your caloric intake goal for the day, then snacks can be a good fit for you. Eating a Keto snack while on a road trip or at the airport instead of eating junk food (or unhealthy fast food) can be crucial for staying on track! Speaking of fast food, have you seen our low-carb fast food guide? It’s legit. Second tough love alert: Food manufacturers are responding to the growing popularity of the Keto Diet. For evidence, I will again bring up the Keto Peanut Butter Cup by SlimFast. Their product description says “Weight loss has never been so indulgent.” This should raise a giant red flag. If you want to eat a peanut butter cup, fine. Reese’s are delicious. Just don’t delude yourself into thinking they are a tool for fat loss because you managed to stay in ketosis while eating them by the bagful. By the way, the comparison of the Keto Peanut Butter Cup and the Reese’s is justified:
It boils my blood to see candy marketed as health food. Don’t fall for this! One of the great benefits of Keto is it forces you to think about the foods you choose. I talk about this in our article on “Mental Models.” Instead of mindlessly eating, we ask ourselves a simple question: “Would the healthy badass version of me eat this?” By being able to answer with a yes-or-no, black-or-white answer like: “yes, it’s low-carb” or “no, it’s not vegan,” or “sure, I’ll have some, steak is paleo,” it gives us a chance to track our compliance and actually see some results. The most important point isn’t actually the answer. The critical step is the question asked. Thinking about what to eat is important for achieving “the perfect diet.” No matter which perfect diet you pick: you have to actually STICK with it, for years, in order to have lasting results So, if you make more healthy choices than unhealthy choices, over time your physique will start to reflect these improvements. Up the ratio even more, and then we’re talking a body you’re truly proud of. All this to say: if you’re following Keto, don’t let a corporate executive hijack your Mental Model. Just because something is labeled low-carb, doesn’t mean it will help with weight loss. No matter what snack you select, low-carb or non-low-carb, try to eat REAL food whenever possible. Real food, as defined in some dictionary you don’t have to bother checking, is food that grew from the ground, on a tree, came out of the sea, ran on the land, or flew through the air. Meat, fish, eggs, vegetables, and fruit and nuts. The backbone of most successful Mental Models rests on REAL food. If you want to learn more, check out our Guide to Healthy Eating. If everything I’ve said is freaking you out, and you’re panicking because you haven’t discovered your Mental Model yet, we can help! We designed a private coaching program to help busy people just like you navigate their fitness goals. Here’s how it works: you’ll partner with one of our trained coaches who will build you a custom workout program, and help you make better nutritional choices. We’ll have you take photos of each meal you consume, offer feedback to help guide your decisions, which ultimately can help you hit your long-term goals. Interested? Click below and schedule a free call to see if we are a good fit for each other! Snacking for the right reasonThere’s nothing wrong with eating food. None of us would be here without nourishment. The last time I checked, the “air” diet might stay popular, but doesn’t last long. There’s no rule stating you can’t have that leftover omelet if you’re hungry before dinner, just make sure you adjust your dinner to stay within your goals. For ideas, check out our post on 10 easy meals to cook, all of which are low-carb friendly. You can cook in batches with leftovers in mind. These are great to have in your office fridge in case you’re hungry while at work. Just make sure Jerry from Accounting doesn’t pillage your goods.
If cooking isn’t your thing, having a few low-carb friendly snacks already purchased can really help in a pinch. Better to eat a portion of nuts and olives, than hoping the vending machine has Keto compliant snacks. Now, I want to hear from you:
Let me know in the comments! -Steve PS: If you want to want help moving from traditional snacks to REAL food, we can help. As mentioned above, we have a private one-on-one coaching program to help nerds level up their life. If you want help following Keto, or create your own way of eating, we’ll help you along the way. Click on the image below to chat with a member of Team Nerd Fitness. We’d love to hear from you, no matter what! ### All photo citations can be found in this footnote[3].
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via Tumblr 50 Keto Snacks: The Ultimate Low Carb Snack Guide
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