Are Sweet Potatoes Keto-Friendly?

 In short, yes, you can definitely have sweet potatoes.

Yes, the stringent keto diet continues to pique people's interest. It entails breaking down your carbs and protein intake and is frequently praised by celebrities (hello, Halle Berry). According to Los Angeles-based dietitian Mona Sharma, a keto diet asks for 70 to 80 percent of daily calories to come from fat, 10 to 20% from protein, and 5 to 10% from carbohydrates. The purpose of consuming so few carbs is to induce ketosis, a state in which your body burns fat instead of carbs for energy.

Erica Zellner, MS, LDN, a health consultant at Parsley Health in California, adds, "It's an extreme diet that women should not contemplate for the long term." “You'll be at a higher risk of developing kidney stones or hurting your kidneys in general, causing electrolyte imbalance, increased urine, cardiac arrhythmia, vitamin shortages, and more,” adds Zellner. These are significant risks to consider before making a commitment.

Furthermore, because consuming “too many” carbs can knock a person out of ketosis, many people who follow the keto diet avoid fruits and vegetables entirely. It is, however, not a good idea. “I recommend that my customers consume a variety of nutrient-dense, colorful, complete meals like vegetables and fruits in moderation on a regular basis. Our gut microbiome suffers from a lack of fiber from a variety of fruits and vegetables, according to Sharma. (Keto constipation is a genuine thing.)

Basically, your body requires fruits, vegetables, and other carbs in order to obtain the necessary fiber and nutrients. If you're still committed to going keto despite the health hazards, you need to know what foods to eat to avoid vitamin deficits. Foods like squashes and sweet potatoes are good sources of carbs and have a lot of nutritional value. According to experts, here's what you need to know about eating sweet potatoes while on a ketogenic diet.

Is it true that sweet potatoes are keto-friendly?

No, not in the strictest sense of the word. “Sweet potatoes are considered too heavy in carbohydrates on a regular keto diet, and they are banned because they make it difficult to stay in ketosis,” Sharma explains. On a conventional keto diet, medium sweet potato provides 27 grams of carbs, which is more than half of your daily carb allowance.

The problem is that there are various sorts of keto diets, and some of them allow for more carbs than others. The cyclic keto diet, for example, allows for one to two higher carb days per week—roughly 140 to 160 grams per day. This form of keto diet will pull you out of ketosis for a short period of time, but it's popular among athletes who require a higher-carb day following strenuous exercise to properly restore their energy levels.

The targeted keto diet is another carb-friendly version of the keto diet, in which dieters consume 20 to 50 grams of carbs around 30 minutes before working out, with the assumption that, while this may temporarily knock them out of ketosis, the extra carbs will be burned off immediately and won't be stored as body fat.

How Carbs Impact Ketosis

Here's the deal: "To begin ketosis, we must consume a very minimal amount of carbohydrates since our bodies prefer carbohydrates to fat as an energy source," Zellner explains. "It takes a few days for your body to deplete its glucose reserves and enter a metabolic state where fat is burned for fuel," explains Zellner. Even a modest amount of extra carbs will knock you out of ketosis since your body prefers to burn carbs for fuel because it's a simpler source to process and use, she explains.

That's why you can easily integrate more starches like sweet potatoes into your daily routine if you're following one of the more carb-friendly keto diets. If you don't, it'll be a little more difficult to eat sweet potatoes and stay in ketosis.

What about other potato varieties and the keto diet?

According to Zellner, the major difference between sweet potatoes and regular white potatoes is the quantity of fiber they contain. One cup of diced white potato has roughly 26 grams of carbs, similar to a sweet potato. A sliced white potato, on the other hand, offers only about two grams of fiber (which isn't much!).

"However, one benefit is that in that same cup of white potatoes, you get 316 grams of potassium, which is one of the electrolytes that may be readily depleted on a ketogenic diet," explains Zellner. In short, other types of potatoes have a nutritional profile that is comparable to sweet potatoes but with less fiber and higher potassium. Because there are benefits to eating potatoes, it's up to you if you want to incorporate them into your preferred keto method's carb intake.

How can I eat sweet potatoes on a standard keto diet?

Many people on the keto diet keep note of not only their total carb intake but also the number of net carbohydrates they consume. The Atkins diet popularized the notion of net carbs, which are the carbohydrates left in a food after fiber and sugar alcohol are removed from the overall carb count. The notion goes that most fiber and sugar alcohols can't be digested by your body, thus they don't need to be counted.

On a conventional keto diet, a medium sweet potato provides 27 grams of carbs, which is more than half of your daily carb allowance.

It's a little simpler to include sweet potatoes into your 40 grams of daily carbs on the keto diet if you track net carbs instead of total carbs. Remove the fiber content (3.8 grams) from a standard medium-sized sweet potato to get an average of 24 net carbohydrates.

It's also worth noting that if you want to keep your carb count low, you don't have to consume the entire sweet potato. Simply slice the servings. According to Sharma, “consider adding in sweet potatoes or your favorite vegetables based on the net carbs acceptable for your activity levels.” Basically, if you go out frequently or at a high intensity, you can eat more carbs and burn them off without completely deviating from your keto diet.

What's the best way to make sweet potatoes keto-friendly?

“Since sugar is a carb, anything produced with it isn't sustainable on the keto diet,” Sharma explains. You can, however, add some savory ingredients like cheese, sour cream, or avocado oil.

According to certified nutritional expert Ariane Resnick, “cooking with a lot of oil helps change the macros of the food toward being more fat-dominant.” "I don't advocate frying since it produces dangerous trans fats," says the author.

The most keto-friendly method, according to Resnick, is roasting with a large amount of an oil that won't oxidize at high heat, such as avocado oil. "Adding quantities of high-fat dairy like butter, heavy cream, and/or sour cream will also modify the macros to be more fat-rich if you want them mashed." Okay, yum.

The bottom line: While sweet potatoes aren't a food to include in a regular keto diet due to their high carb content, you can add them to your diet by preparing them to be more fat-dominant or lowering the amount you consume.

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