Keto snacks – the best and the worst

There’s a lack of solid evidence that snacking or eating more than three times a day has any health benefits, and it may be counterproductive for weight loss or metabolic issues:

Diabetologia 2014: Eating two larger meals a day (breakfast and lunch) is more effective than six smaller meals in a reduced-energy regimen for patients with type 2 diabetes: a randomised crossover study [moderate evidence]

British Journal of Nutrition 2010: Increased meal frequency does not promote greater weight loss in subjects who were prescribed an 8-week equi-energetic energy-restricted diet [moderate evidence]

Hepatology 2014: Hypercaloric diets with increased meal frequency, but not meal size, increase intrahepatic triglycerides: a randomized controlled trial [moderate evidence]

PLOS One 2012: Effects of meal frequency on metabolic profiles and substrate partitioning in lean healthy males [moderate evidence]

Obesity (Silver Spring) 2012: Effects of manipulating eating frequency during a behavioral weight loss intervention: a pilot randomized controlled trial [moderate evidence]

British Journal of Nutrition 1997: Meal frequency and energy balance [overview article]
↩

Keto diets often reduce feelings of hunger:

Obesity Reviews 2014: Do ketogenic diets really suppress appetite? A systematic review and meta-analysis [strong evidence]

Obesity 2007: The effects of a low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet and a low-fat diet on mood, hunger, and other self-reported symptoms [moderate evidence] ↩

Eating enough fat can help you feel full on a keto diet. Also make sure that your diet is based on nutritious whole keto foods and contains enough protein.

Eating enough protein might sometimes be even more satisfying than fat:

Advances in Nutrition 2015: Controversies surrounding high-protein diet intake: Satiating effect and kidney and bone health [overview article] ↩

The evidence to date suggests there’s no reason to fear natural saturated fats, including dairy fat in cheese:

Open Heart 2016: Evidence from randomised controlled trials does not support current dietary fat guidelines: a systematic review and meta-analysis [strong evidence]

Read more in our guide to saturated fat. ↩

Net carbs = total carbs minus fiber ↩

We hesitate slightly to recommend commercial mayo. The reason is that most brands are highly processed and made with high omega-6 oils (like soybean, safflower, sunflower, or cottonseed oils). Learn more ↩

Do you worry about saturated fats or cholesterol in eggs? While still a bit controversial, repeated modern systematic reviews find no benefit to avoiding saturated fats or replacing them with unsaturated fats:

Open Heart 2016: Evidence from randomised controlled trials does not support current dietary fat guidelines: a systematic review and meta-analysis [strong evidence]

Nutrition Journal 2017: The effect of replacing saturated fat with mostly n-6 polyunsaturated fat on coronary heart disease: a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials [strong evidence]

Here’s a study investigating if eating eggs for breakfast every day has any negative effects on cholesterol levels. They found none, and the egg-eating group reported greater satiety:

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2015: The effect of a high-egg diet on cardiovascular risk factors in people with type 2 diabetes: the Diabetes and Egg (DIABEGG) study-a 3-mo randomized controlled trial [moderate evidence] ↩

Vegetables are generally considered very healthy, possibly because of the vitamins and minerals they contain. However, the belief in the potential healthiness of eating vegetables is mainly based on weak observational data, so it’s hard to know for sure:

British Medical Journal 2014: Fruit and vegetable consumption and mortality from all causes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer: systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies [weak evidence for a modest positive effect of eating vegetables on heart health and longevity]

We define a keto diet as having less than 20 grams of carbs per day.

The fewer carbs, the more effective it appears to be for reaching ketosis, losing weight or reversing type 2 diabetes.

This is mainly based on the consistent experience of experienced practitioners, and stories from people trying different levels of carb restriction [weak evidence].

As of yet, aren’t any RCTs that have actually tested two low-carb diets of varying strictness head-to-head. But RCTs of strict low-carb diets appear to generally show better results, compared to RCTs of less strict low-carb diets.

RCTs of low-carb interventions for weight loss ↩

Even zero-calorie sweeteners may have some negative effects, including maintaining a preference for sweet tastes and increased food reward, potentially increasing the risk of overeating and even food addiction. This is mainly based on clinical experience [weak evidence].

There is also one RCT study showing weight loss from avoiding artificial sweeteners:

The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2015: Effects on weight loss in adults of replacing diet beverages with water during a hypoenergetic diet: a randomized, 24-wk clinical trial [moderate evidence]

For more, check out our guide to keto sweeteners or have a look at these further references:

International Journal of Obesity 2017: Effects of aspartame-, monk fruit-, stevia- and sucrose-sweetened beverages on postprandial glucose, insulin and energy intake [randomized trial; moderate evidence]

Physiology & Behavior 2016: Recent studies of the effects of sugars on brain systems involved in energy balance and reward: relevance to low calorie sweeteners [overview article; ungraded]

PLOS Medicine 2017: Artificially sweetened beverages and the response to the global obesity crisis [overview article; ungraded] ↩

Too much chocolate is likely to take you over 20 grams of carbs per day, the typical limit on a keto diet. Whether you need to stay below this limit is of course up to you. ↩

Like other salty, crunchy snacks (such as nuts) they are very rewarding to eat, and thus easy to overeat, which may slow down weight loss. Enjoy, but be aware of this. ↩

American Journal of Public Health 2012: Reducing childhood obesity by eliminating 100% fruit juice [overview article]

Zero-sugar sports drinks and vitamin waters may be OK to consume, but read the label to check the carb count. ↩

What fruits and vegetables looked like before ↩

Research shows that whether people go on a low-carb or a low-fat diet, they tend to lose weight as long as they minimize sugar and refined flours in their diet:

JAMA 2018: Effect of low-fat vs low-carbohydrate diet on 12-month weight loss in overweight adults and the association with genotype pattern or insulin secretion [moderate evidence] (analysis)

Here are more studies and overview articles showing a connection between sugar, excess weight and disease:

JAMA Internal Medicine 2014: Added sugar intake and cardiovascular diseases mortality among US adults [weak evidence]

Nutrition & Metabolism 2005: Fructose, insulin resistance, and metabolic dyslipidemia [overview article]

The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2007: Potential role of sugar (fructose) in the epidemic of hypertension, obesity and the metabolic syndrome, diabetes, kidney disease, and cardiovascular disease [overview article]
↩

The following RCT showed reduced cravings in low-carb eaters compared to low-fat eaters.Obesity 2011: Change in food cravings, food preferences, and appetite during a low-carbohydrate and low-fat diet [randomized trial; moderate evidence]

This is most likely caused by avoiding the foods that can cause food addiction, most of which are processed foods full of sugar and/or other refined carbohydrates.

Just like with any other addiction, avoiding the cause is a necessary part of slowly reducing the addiction. A person who is addicted to alcohol normally can’t consume alcohol “in moderation” and be successful. The same thing is likely true for any addiction. [clinical experience, weak evidence]

In the case of the keto diet, it may also be that the hunger-reducing effect can be helpful:

Obesity Reviews 2014: Do ketogenic diets really suppress appetite? A systematic review and meta-analysis [strong evidence] ↩

Clinical Nutrition ESPEN 2017: The role of artificial and natural sweeteners in reducing the consumption of table sugar: A narrative review [overview article; ungraded] ↩

We don’t show ads, sell products or use any affiliate links. Learn more ↩